I hope they shake up the police department over this. I fail to understand hatred and fear that deep. Tell flipper good job :)

Greetings Agonista's

Carib told me he posted this story here and I'm glad he did, because we both agree that the most likely chance that authorities here will take this issue seriously is if it brings bad publicity to the island.

It is possible I could get hold of Pechtolds direct email, I know a few people who might pass it to me, but I'm not sure how much he could do. Currently the Netherlands Antilles are planning to disband with each island seeking a New Status within the Kingdom of Holland with direct relations with Amsterdam.

Pechtold and the Dutch quite rightly are seeking to impose conditions on this break up, proper governance, transparency, financial and budgetry controls and more. The island claim that the Dutch are putting conditions that are colonial and that this is putting obstacles in the way of their quest for New Status.

I do however know the email of a couple of local prosecutors and I will make sure they are aware of this posting here as well as the one on SXM PE. I know a couple of them visit and read there already. I'm not sure if Pechtold is aware of the site but I have a friend who is meeting him soon and will inform him about it. I think it could be very helpful to him in his dealings and understanding of the problems St. Maarten has and faces.

I would like to get hold of Richard Jefferson, however the hospital would not tell me if he and his companion are still there.

At the end of the day, I do believe bad publicity will shake things up, we rely on US tourists afterall. Our police force is 46% understaffed and many times I have called 911 myself and the phone isn't even answered. It's a disgrace and our local authorities should be ashamed.

Flipper

Gay Americans Beaten In St. Maarten
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

April 8, 2006 - 12:01 am ET
(Philipsburg, St. Maarten) Two CBS News employees were attacked and severely beaten by a group of men on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten where they were vacationing in what is described at as homophobic attack.

WFOR television in Miami reports that Richard Jefferson, a senior producer for the CBS Nightly News and his friend Ryan Smith a producer-researcher fort 48 Hours were attacked as they left a popular bar after an altercation with the men earlier in the night inside the club.

The attackers allegedly hurled homophobic insults at the two and they were beaten with a tire iron. Both men were rushed to a local hospital. Jefferson sustained severe cuts on the back of his head and his lower back. Smith suffered a fractured skull and possible neurological damage.

He was transferred by air ambulance to Memorial Hospital in Miami on Friday. Jefferson is also in Miami receiving medical care.

A doctor said that Smith is unable to speak properly and may have difficulty walking.

Jefferson was critical of the way police handled the situation.

He said that employees of the club called police but no one responded. Jefferson said he called police from the hospital but at no time did any officer come to the hospital to take a report.

Police in Philipsburg did not return calls from 365Gay.com seeking information.

Jefferson said he has been visiting St. Maarten for 15 years but it isn't “a friendly island anymore.”

Earlier in the week a gay man was chased through the campus of the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica by rioting students. (story)

Students on Friday apologized for the attack and the university said it would discipline the ringleaders.

The rioting began when a student claimed the man had propositioned him in a college washroom.

Meanwhile, police on Friday said the victim of the attack was not a student as they had earlier stated. The man is being investigated under Jamaica's sodomy law and will be charged with trespassing.

©365Gay.com 2006

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/040706bashing.htm

I am soon to be a tourist of the Island, but after reading about the crime commited on the two gentlemen I am a bit concerened.
Was the lack of response due to the fact the gentlemen were gay or because the police force is so understaffed/underpaid? I believe it is a little of both. We all know the island dislikes gays, so knowing the police force is understaffed they can commit the crime and get away with it. I have done a little research on the police force and found there are only about 90 men for 35,000 people (with very few cars to get them around). That is 35,000 locals not including visitors.
Now I would think with tourism being a large part of the income for this island, the local govenment would want to make sure the streets are a safe place, not only for the tourist but also for the locals. How can that much tourism dollars not produce enough income to support a well staffed police department?

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_098021757.html

also has link to video report on right side

you should pm caribdube, he lives there and might possibly be able to guide you in areas to avoid. Just click on his name and you can send him a message. Thanks for posting :)

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/04/st-maarten-police-refuse-to.html

Husband wants police to get their act together - 3rd April 2006

Would you be worried if this was your community?

better than I expected.

The islands belong to the Netherlands but do not belong to the EU.

-- There are no income taxes in The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

John Marquis | April 5 | Nassau

Reuters - The Bahamas has banned the gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain," triggering a new controversy over the island chain's reputation for homophobia.

Gay rights groups and other critics called on the Plays and Films Control Board to think again, so far to no avail.

"I cannot understand denying people the right to make their own choices," said theater director Phillip Burrows.

The award-winning 2005 film about two cowboys who fall in love got the thumbs-down from the control board after a request for it to be banned from the Bahamas Christian Council, which has been involved in previous anti-gay action.

The ban does not come as a surprise to Bahamians.

Last September, Miss Teen Bahamas was stripped of her title after she admitted to being a lesbian.

Four years ago, employees walked off the job at an isolated resort cay in the Bahamas after a shipload of gays arrived. The disgusted workers described carnal scenes on the beach as "like Sodom and Gomorrah" and refused to work until they had gone.

In 2004, Christian groups led a protest against the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship, which had docked with 1,600 gay passengers.

Rallied by the Save the Bahamas Initiative, which maintains that family values are undermined by gay couples, hundreds of demonstrators waved banners saying, "If you're gay, stay away," and "Even animals have more sense than homosexuals."

The 2004 protest did not repeat the violence of 1998, when lesbian couples were chased off Bay Street, Nassau's main shopping thoroughfare, by furious protesters and the mooring ropes of a visiting gay cruise ship were tossed into the sea.

In its 2005 Country Report, the U.S. State Department criticized the Bahamas government for actively promoting opposition to homosexuality.

"Although homosexual relations between consenting adults are legal, there was no legislation to address the human rights concerns of homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals or trans-gendered persons," said the report, released last month.

A gay rights organization, the Rainbow Alliance, has called for tolerance and last year opened an office in Nassau.

"We hope this will become a center for social change," said member Helen Klonaris

OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY OF ST. MAARTEN
REGARDING “GAY BASHING” LAST THURSDAY MORNING

2 CBS Newsmen Beaten In Caribbean

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten, April 10, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dick Jefferson (CBS)

Quote

"The police were and are still trying to ignore this situation."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dick Jefferson, victim

(CBS/AP) Police have appealed to the public for help in the investigation into an attack on two CBS News journalists who were beaten with tire irons outside a bar on the Dutch side of this Caribbean island in what the victims described as a hate crime.

Investigators in St. Maarten published a newspaper advertisement Monday seeking witnesses or other information about the attack, which left the two Americans with serious head injuries.

"We do not take the ill treatment of any person, whether resident or visitor, lightly and we are pursuing this matter to find the suspects," said police spokesman Johan Leonard.

Dick Jefferson, 51, and Ryan Smith, 25, both journalists for CBS, were outside a bar with several friends early Thursday morning when three men attacked them and started hitting them with tire irons.

Jefferson, who lives in New York and is a senior broadcast producer for the CBS Evening News, said the attackers yelled anti-gay slurs at his friends earlier in the evening.

Both victims were flown to Miami for medical treatment.

Smith, also from New York, was in intensive care and may have suffered brain damage, said Jefferson, who was treated and released Sunday.

Jefferson faulted St. Maarten authorities for not collecting witness testimony on the night of the crime or pursuing other leads. "The police were and are still trying to ignore this situation," he said from the Miami hospital where Smith was being treated.

St. Maarten, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, is an island shared by France and the Netherlands, and is known as gay friendly.

"It's like they don't want tourists to find out it's not the friendly island," Jefferson told CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/10/world/main1487446.shtml

this morning, they report that the island police say be assured we are NOW on the case. Hey it only took 5 days......

I've just written a post about the news in the local papers here today.

Heads in the Sand

You can also find all the links so far about this story on this page.

Flipper

Official Calls Beating Of Gay New Yorkers 'Barbaric'

POSTED: 8:37 am EDT April 13, 2006
UPDATED: 8:39 am EDT April 13, 2006

Email This Story | Print This Story

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten -- The beating of two gay New Yorkers with tire irons in this Dutch Caribbean island was "barbaric and inhumane" and the attackers will be punished, St. Maarten's top tourism official said Wednesday.

Journalists Dick Jefferson, 51, and Ryan Smith, 25, were outside a bar with several friends April 6 when three men attacked them. Jefferson, who said the attackers had yelled anti-gay slurs at his friends earlier that evening, faulted local authorities for not speaking to witnesses the night of the crime or pursuing leads.

At a weekly press briefing, Commissioner of Tourism Theo Heyliger called it a "barbaric and inhumane crime" and said it has the government's attention.

"These kinds of crimes won't go unpunished on St. Maarten," he said.

Three detectives were investigating the incident, and the public prosecutor's office has ordered a probe into the police response, the local newspaper, The Daily Herald, reported Wednesday.

Chief Public Prosecutor Taco Stein told the newspaper that authorities were speaking to witnesses.

A U.S. gay human rights group has criticized St. Maarten authorities, saying their response to the case has been sluggish. Jefferson, a senior broadcast producer for CBS' national evening news, described the attack as a hate crime.

He welcomed Heyliger's comments but said "it's been a week and the people of St. Maarten continue to hide these barbaric attackers.

"More than one person on that island knows who these people are, and it's up to those people to save their island," he said in a telephone interview from Miami, where he and Smith were airlifted for medical treatment.

Jefferson, who has been released, said Smith was being treated for brain damage.

Officials have received more than 500 e-mails -- mostly from the United States -- about the attack, which the prosecutor's office will respond to, Heyliger said.

The government has held meetings with public prosecutors, police, the private sector and counterparts on the island's French side about the attack, Heyliger said.

The island, a popular tourist destination, is shared by France and the Netherlands.
http://www.wnbc.com/news/8664696/detail.html

in Dutch in Google news

-- There are no income taxes in The Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Hate Crime Victim to Return to St. Marteen
04.13.06

(Miami, FL) - Dick Jefferson, victim of a brutal beating last week, is returning Friday to meet with government officials and appeal to the people of St. Maarten for justice. Jefferson plans to meet with Taco Stein, Senior Prosecutor, and Robert Sorenson, U.S. Consul General to the Netherland Antilles.

"I am heading back," Jefferson says, "because the longer this case goes unsolved the more harm the people of St. Maarten are inflicting upon themselves and the reputation of the island as a vacation spot."

Friday, April 14, will be eight days since several men, believed to be St. Maarten residents first attempted to run over Jefferson and his travel companions with their car, and, failing the attempted vehicular manslaughter, proceeded to jump out of the vehicle and with deadly force assaulted Jefferson with a tire wrench, and then turned their hate on Ryan Smith.

The blows crushed the skulls of both men, who were airlifted off the island last Thursday for treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, where Ryan Smith remains hospitalized with brain damage.

Jefferson is returning to the island for two reasons: First, to thank those residents who came to his rescue. And second, and more important, to remind the residents of both the Dutch and French side of the island that justice exists not only for victims of a crime, but for all society.

"The only people who can solve this crime are the people of the island," says Jefferson. Police depend on the citizens they serve, and justice will only be achieved when residents realize that hiding vicious criminals will only cause further damage to the island's reputation."

Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, the United State's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, sent a letter earlier this week to the Dutch Ambassador to the United States expressing his concern about the way the investigation was preceding thus far.

"Hate crimes are a devastating reality that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face all too often," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "And these crimes of hate are used as weapons to terrorize an entire community of people."

The crime is a hate crime because, shortly before the beatings, the assailants harassed Smith and his boyfriend, Justin Swensen inside a nearby club, Bamboo Bernies. The suspects taunted Smith and Swensen with local slang for "faggot" and at one point threatened to hit Swensen with a chair.

© 2006 GayWired.com; All Rights Reserved.

St. Maarten police looking for help in hate crime investigation

By Associated Press
Apr 13, 2006, 22:23 Email this article
Printer friendly page

Dick Jefferson
Two New York journalists attacked by three men with tire irons outside bar; one victim suffers possible brain damage

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten — Police have appealed to the public for help in the investigation into an attack on two New York journalists, who were beaten with tire irons outside a bar on the Dutch side of this Caribbean island in what the victims described as an anti-gay hate crime.

Investigators in St. Maarten published a newspaper advertisement Monday seeking witnesses or other information about the attack, which left the two Americans with serious head injuries.

“We do not take the ill-treatment of any person, whether resident or visitor, lightly, and we are pursuing this matter to find the suspects,” police spokesman Johan Leonard said.

Dick Jefferson, 51, and Ryan Smith, 25, who work for CBS, were outside a bar with several friends early on April 6 when three men attacked them and started hitting them with tire irons.

Jefferson, a senior broadcast producer for CBS’ national evening news, said the attackers yelled anti-gay slurs at his friends earlier in the evening.
Both victims were flown to Miami for medical treatment.

Smith was in intensive care and may have suffered brain damage, said Jefferson, who was treated and released Sunday.

Jefferson faulted St. Maarten authorities for not collecting witness testimony on the night of the crime or pursuing other leads.

“The police were and are still trying to ignore this situation,” he said from the Miami hospital where Smith was being treated.

Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, sent a letter to the Netherlands’ ambassador to the United States, Boudewijn Johannes Van Eenennaam, urging the island’s government to investigate the attack more thoroughly.

“Hate crimes are a devastating reality that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face all too often. These acts are most certainly used to instill terror throughout an entire community of people,” Solmonese wrote.
“A failure to conduct a full and complete investigation to apprehend a hate crime perpetrator not only allows prejudice to fester but keeps citizens and tourists at risk,” Solmonese’s letter continued.

“I certainly hope that the government of the Netherlands understands the seriousness of this crime and will take immediate steps to ensure a full and complete investigation,” he said.

St. Maarten, a popular Caribbean tourist destination, is shared by France and the Netherlands.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition, April 14, 2006.
http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_1802.php

Suspect Freed In St. Maarten US Gay Tourist Bashings
by Fidel Ortega, 365Gay.com Miami Bureau

April 19, 2006 - 2:00 pm ET

(Philipsburg, St. Maarten) One of two men being held in the homophobic attack on two gay American tourists in the Dutch Caribbean resort of St. Maarten has been set free.

The pair was arrested on the French side of the island.

Police say they have determined the man was not involved in the attack. A judge has allowed investigators to continue to detain the second suspect for another week. At that time a prosecutor can return to court to seek an extension.

St. Maarten Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein said that police have charged the suspect with "overt violence causing severe physical injury," but declined to name him.

The Dutch news agency ANP first announced the arrests in the case on Thursday night. (story)

Richard Jefferson, a senior producer for the CBS Nightly News and his friend Ryan Smith a producer-researcher fort 48 Hours were attacked as they left a popular bar after an altercation a group of men earlier in the night inside the club.

The attackers allegedly hurled homophobic insults at the two and they were beaten with a tire iron. (story)

Both men were rushed to a local hospital. Jefferson sustained severe cuts on the back of his head and his lower back. Smith suffered a fractured skull and possible neurological damage.

He was transferred by air ambulance to Memorial Hospital in Miami last week and is unable to speak properly and has difficulty moving.

Jefferson has been critical of the way police have handled the case.

He said that employees of the club called police but no one responded. Jefferson said he called police from the hospital but at no time did any officer come to the hospital to take a report.

Following Jefferson's complaint three police officers were assigned to the case but he says he is not convinced enough is being done.

On Friday Jefferson returned to the island. (story)

Stein also began an official investigation into the way police dealt with the attack.

http://www.365gay.com/Newscon06/04/041906martup.htm

Authorities close to identifying
car used in gay bashing incident

St. Maarten--Authorities are one step closer to finding the suspects responsible for the brutal beating of two American tourists near Sunset Beach Bar, as they have some details about the car in which the suspects were reportedly travelling on April 6.

St. Maarten Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein disclosed on Wednesday that the detectives assigned to the case were working on finalising details that would conclusively identify the vehicle that was used.

One of the victims, Ryan Smith, was hit by the vehicle just before the suspects, probably three or four persons, exited it and at least one started beating him with a wheel wrench.

He said one suspect was still being held in detention, but declined to give the suspect’s initials saying that the release of the initials would be premature at this stage and could jeopardise the investigation.

He said he had been in constant contact with second victim Richard Jefferson, the senior CBS producer who was also beaten when he walked up to where Smith was being abused and asked what was going on. “I am in contact with him sometimes by phone or by e-mail to give him updates on the investigation,” said Stein.

Jefferson was very vocal both locally and internationally about his dissatisfaction with the treatment he and his friend received from police just after the incident. While Jefferson still resents their seeming lack of interest in the beginning, Stein said he was confident Jefferson was pleased with the progress detectives were making in the investigation of what has been labelled a gay-bashing incident.

http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/i284/gay284.html

Titanium plate for
Ryan Smith’s head

St. Maarten--Ryan Smith, one of the American tourists who were beaten near Sunset Beach Bar, Maho, St. Maarten in the early morning hours of April 6, will soon be moved from the Head Trauma Unit of Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida, to an In-Patient Rehabilitation Centre.

Smith, who suffered severe head injuries from the beating inflicted by some still unidentified suspects, faces more brain surgery, which he will probably undergo in three to four months when doctors will install a titanium plate in his head. The plate is similar to the one installed in the head of Richard Jefferson, who also was beaten.

According to Jefferson, Smith was unable to speak properly for some time, but is now making progress. However, as the reality of his injuries and the incident kicks in he is falling into a depressed state.

Added to the injuries is the concern over the “enormous” medical expenses he faces after his treatment is completed. Meanwhile, Jefferson has reportedly returned to work in New York.

Authorities in St. Maarten have maintained their position and have not released the initials of the suspect still being held in detention in connection with the alleged “gay-bashing.”

http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/i285/gay285.html

OPINION | Anything But Straight
by Wayne Besen
April 24, 2006

It is time for Americans to reassess their relationship with islands such as Jamaica, St. Maarten and the Bahamas due to recent anti-gay events, writes columnist Wayne Besen.

In flowery billboards and endearing television ads, the Jamaicans look so incredibly friendly. On the Web site www.Jamaicans.com, the slogan is "Home Away from Home." In another ad campaign, the residents plead with benign smiles, "Come Back to Jamaica." But it turns out that Jamaica is not home if you're a homo, and you might come back from Jamaica in a body bag. For whatever reason, the locals have gone loco and gay-bashing has replaced bobsledding as the national sport.

An article in last week's Time magazine calls Jamaica the "most homophobic place on Earth." It points out that two of the island's leading gay rights advocates, Brian Williamson and Steve Harvey, were recently ruthlessly slain. If that was not enough, a crowd essentially danced on Williamson's grave by celebrating over his mutilated body.

In 2004, a father learned his son was gay and went to his school to invite a group of peers to lynch his son. Now that's family values!

more from plantet out

: 04/27/2006, Posted On: 4/27/2006

Gay-friendly St. Maarten not so friendly
Lisa Keen

Police, press downplay gay bashing that hospitalized two

A gay bashing incident that left two CBS news staffers seriously injured this month has now exposed a hostile underbelly to what once was considered one of the Caribbean’s most gay friendly islands.

CBS News producer Dick Jefferson said that police on St. Maarten island did not respond to his calls to report the crime until days after the incident and that the detective who did finally contact him discouraged him from filing a report. Then, just days after the widely reported incident, a newspaper in Philipsburg, where the assault occurred, ran an editorial lamenting that “American laws” have now made “beating a person over the head” for being openly gay “a no-no.”

Jefferson and another CBS News employee, Ryan Smith were severely beaten by four assailants outside a Philipsburg bar April 6. Both suffered serious head injuries requiring they be airlifted to a Miami hospital for surgery. Jefferson has since been released, but Smith is reportedly still in serious condition.

The attack is believed to have been perpetrated by four male patrons who were asked to leave the bar, Bamboo Bernie’s, because they were harassing Smith and a friend for being gay. Jefferson later told reporters he had not been in the bar when the harassment occurred and was walking some distance behind Smith when he first noticed the altercation. According to various reports, Smith, Jefferson and four other friends were outside the bar about 3:30 a.m. when four men and two women in a car nearly hit Smith then jumped out of the car and attacked him. When Jefferson ran forward toward Smith to see what was happening, he was attacked.

While at least one local paper condemned the assault and the inadequacy of the police response, another suggested the victims brought the attack on themselves “after apparently offending the St. Martin locals by their gussying over each other in a bar just before closing.”

“Gay bashing has taken many forms over the decades. During and after World War II, it was considered common sport for military guys to let themselves be picked up by a faggot in a bar in Los Angeles or San Francisco…” said the editorial in the April 11 issue of the paper Today. “All that has changed, of course, largely due to American laws that are being spread around the world. Gay bashing is now a no-no. Slurs against homos, a no-no. And beating a person over the head for flagrant public behavior that once was considered criminal misconduct is a no-no.”

While the editorial concluded with an expression of “hope the police find the attackers,” it took its own parting shot at gays in general, saying the “silly homosexuals” were using their media power “to trash a friendly island.”

After receiving criticism for that editorial, the paper then ran another one, on April 15, saying that “too often” in the Caribbean, “homosexuals have spun their tales to serve their own selfish interests and in doing so impugn the hard-earned reputation of Caribbean nations only because the majority of their people do not accept the homosexual way of life and the minority who choose to react violently.” It criticized Jefferson for calling for a boycott of the island, saying it would cause the majority of people on the island to suffer financially.
An article in the April 15 issue of Today reported that Jefferson returned to St. Maarten for a press conference April 14 and quoted him saying he has “not yet” called for a boycott but might unless police respond better to the crime. It also quoted Jefferson as saying, “I was not attacked because I was gay, my friends were.” The assailants, he said, did not know “if I was straight or gay, I just happened to pass by and got whacked on the head.”

But the Daily Herald reported that Jefferson also identified the attack on Smith as a clear gay bashing.

Jefferson told reporters at the press conference that he would discourage two gay-oriented cruises —RSVP and Atlantis — from visiting the island unless the people of St. Maarten “stop protecting” the four attackers from prosecution.

Websites for both RSVP and Atlantis cruises indicate the gay-oriented tour companies have planned stops in St. Maarten during tours early next year.

Bill Ward, a spokesperson for the Minneapolis-based RSVP Cruises, said the company is monitoring the situation in St. Maarten and that, while it has no plans to change its itinerary at this time, “if at any time, we feel our guests would be in danger, we would have no hesitation changing that itinerary.” Ward noted that the company has, in the past, dropped both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands due to anti-gay incidents.

Atlantis Events did not return calls for comment, but Olivia Cruises, which caters to lesbians, had a scheduled stop in St. Maarten on April 19. Amy Errett, chief executive officer of the company, said Olivia’s guests had a “great time” and experienced “nothing that resembled a problem in any way.”

“We always check things out,” said Errett, “and we concluded that this appears to have been a very isolated incident.” Errett said Olivia has never had any problems with anti-gay incidents in St. Maarten or elsewhere in the Caribbean. She, like Ward, agreed their companies would not include Jamaica on their itineraries.

At that same press conference, local prosecutor Taco Stein told reporters that he believes the assailants were simply motivated to beat up “someone,” not necessarily someone gay. He said authorities now have one suspect in detention, but he refused to identify the suspects except to say that “the majority of the suspects are French nationals, based on testimony of eyewitnesses,” according to the Daily Herald.
Meanwhile, although the St. Maarten office of tourism issued a public apology to Jefferson and Smith, gay organizations in the United States are steaming mad over the attitude expressed in the Today editorial.

Neil Giuliano, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), said the Today editorial “glorified gay bashing” and “trivialized the assaults”

“This editorial is so grotesquely defamatory that it almost defies description,” said Giuliano, in a statement April 20. “This is the kind of malignant bigotry — pure, unfiltered hate — that leads to and causes violence.”

In an April 11 letter to the ambassador to the U.S. from The Netherlands, which governs the island along with France, Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese warned that the incident “will most certainly give pause to members of our community who are planning any future travels to the area” and urged the Dutch government to “take immediate steps to ensure a full and complete investigation.”

LINK

GLAAD Denounces St. Maarten Newspaper’s Defamatory Embrace of Gay Bashing
Associated Press
Monday May 1, 2006

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is denouncing a local St. Maarten newspaper editorial that glorified gay bashing, trivialized recent assaults, and called gay people "faggots" and "homos."

"This editorial is so grotesquely defamatory that it almost defies description," said GLAAD President Neil Giuliano. "This is the kind of malignant bigotry - pure, unfiltered hate - that leads to and causes violence."

The April 11 editorial in Today (a St. Maarten newspaper published by Today Publishing, N.V.) ran five days after senior CBS News producer Dick Jefferson, 51, and 48 Hours researcher Ryan Smith, 25, were assaulted in the early hours of April 6 by several men and beaten with a tire iron outside a St. Maarten bar. The same men had hurled anti-gay slurs at Smith and others in his group earlier that evening. Jefferson was treated for injuries, including a skull fracture, and released from a Miami hospital on April 9. Smith remains hospitalized in Miami and is being treated for brain damage.

The Today editorial began by protesting - as anti-gay activists have for years - use of the term "homophobia." The paper then ridiculed the term "gay bashing," claiming such occurrences "might have been a case of a stronger (and non-gay) person taking advantage of a male whose strength may be suspect to the more macho individual."

The newspaper then proceeded to blame and attack the victims of the assault:

"Now we don’t know what the news producer and his male pal, who also works for a syndicated news organization in New York, might have been drinking or ingesting before the unfortunate incident. They were in a bar setting, from accounts of eye witnesses they were ’all over each other’ and four upset young men didn’t like it.

"When a newspaper waxes nostalgic about a time when it was more acceptable to assault gay people, that’s not just condoning violence - it’s endorsing it."They didn’t like it so much that after they were asked to leave Bamboo Bernie’s, they glared at the gay men, who have also been known as faggots, homos, homosexuals and other names that won’t go into this family newspaper. They glared at them hard and they exited the place.

And waited in the parking lot.

Gay bashing has taken many forms over the decades. During and after World War II, it was considered common sport for military guys to let themselves be picked up by a faggot in a bar in Los Angeles or San Francisco. The one who was picked up would pretend to go along for the ride, only to turn around and beat up or rob the homo who picked him up, leaving him without wallet and sometimes teeth.

All that has changed, of course, largely due to American laws that are being spread around the world. Gay bashing is now a no-no. Slurs against homos, a no-no. And beating a person over the head for flagrant public behavior that once was considered criminal misconduct is a no-no.

This is a sorry case and we hope the police find the attackers. But it is made much worse when silly homosexuals use their power in the New York media to trash a friendly island for a one of a kind incident. The homosexual community should be ashamed."

When its editorial generated angry responses, the newspaper backtracked somewhat, claiming in an April 15 editorial that it did not condone violence, but that readers’ outrage over the previous editorial "stems from either an inability to accept a point of view different from their own or from a misunderstanding of what we were attempting to get across."

"Let’s be clear," GLAAD’s Giuliano said, "When a newspaper waxes nostalgic about a time when it was more acceptable to assault gay people, that’s not just condoning violence - it’s endorsing it. I don’t care who you are; you don’t get to editorialize support for gay bashing and then turn around and claim that you’re the victim."

http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ci=108&ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=news&sc3=&id=11985&pf=1

St. Maarten authorities detain 2 more in beating of tourists

May 9, 2006, 10:26 PM EDT

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) _ A man and a woman have surrendered to police in connection with an attack on two gay New Yorkers last month, an official said Tuesday.

The two, who were arrested on Saturday, are suspected of inflicting grievous bodily harm and attempted manslaughter in the April 6 attack, said Taco Stein, St. Maarten's chief prosecutor. He declined to name the suspects. The man is from the Caribbean island of Antigua.

Both he and the woman live in St. Martin, the French side of this Caribbean island. St. Maarten, the other half of the island, is Dutch. The two countries share the island, which is a popular Caribbean tourist destination.

Richard Jefferson and Ryan Smith, both of whom work for CBS News in New York, were attacked after leaving a nightspot in St. Maarten with friends. They were airlifted to Miami for medical treatment.

Jefferson has left the hospital. Smith, who was treated for brain damage, said in a letter to friends that he intended to make a complete recovery.

"The night of the attempted murder, the attackers verbally assaulted me and my friends, hit me with a chair with the intent to do bodily harm, and left me with no doubt that the monsters had every intention of killing me and friends outside the bar," he said in the letter, written on Monday.

Smith could not read, write or understand what people were saying for more than two weeks after brain surgery, but "decided early on in the healing process that I would not let the killers have the power to determine my destiny ... I have every intention to do whatever I can to reach a full recovery, and I know the cards are in my favor," he wrote.

A third suspect _ a man from St. Martin _ was arrested in mid-April. Authorities will probably make more arrests, said Stein.

link

Posted on Tue, May. 09, 2006

Gay tourist healing after Caribbean attack

By STEVE ROTHAUS
Miami Herald

MIAMI, Fla. — Ryan Smith's communications skills earned him an internship in the Clinton White House. He talked his way into jobs with David Letterman and CBS News.

But today, Smith, 25, has trouble saying and writing simple words.

While he and friends vacationed April 6 on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, a small group chased them down, yelled gay slurs and smashed Smith's skull with a tire iron.

Two people were arrested Saturday and are scheduled to appear in court today, Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein told The Miami Herald.

The attack has drastically changed Smith's life.

He and his boyfriend are living in Miami Beach while he undergoes weeks of treatment for his brain injuries. His parents - who didn't know he was gay until they learned of the attack - have come from Ohio to help.

Smith's thought process and memory seem fine. The greatest reminder of the near-fatal beating - not including the surgical scar that circles the left side of his head - is his trouble speaking and writing.

For someone who earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, worked as a page for Late Show with David Letterman and had been working as a production secretary for CBS' 48 Hours in New York, that has been enormously difficult.

''He was never at a loss for words. That hasn't changed. He still has a lot to say,'' his mother, Patricia Smith, said. ``But he was always able to finish his sentences.''

FLOWN TO MIAMI

After the attack, Smith and Dick Jefferson, 51, a senior producer at CBS News, were airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Jefferson suffered a fractured skull and had to have a titanium plate inserted in his head, but he was able to return to New York a few days later.

Smith's injuries were more extensive. His skull was fractured and surgeons needed to remove bone fragments lodged in his brain. There still is a soft spot on the left side of his head where doctors removed part of his skull. He needs at least one more surgery to replace the hole with a plate.

Doctors expect Smith to make a full recovery, though they don't know how long it will take.

''I am by nature very impatient,'' Smith said. ``I realize there has to be time. It's the brain. A lot of great things have happened so far. But you can't expect the impossible weeks after a major surgery. It's going to take a while to get back to the way I was.''

Smith has trouble remembering the attack, which occured about 3 a.m. near Sunset Beach Bar in Beacon Hill, Dutch St. Maarten. His boyfriend, Justin Swensen, can't forget.

'We were just holding each other in the bar. We were not kissing, not making out. Some guys just started screaming. Yelling. Overreacting. I heard one of them say `buttboys.' The bouncer asked if we would move and we did because we didn't want any trouble,'' said Swensen, 23, a New York fashion model.

ATTACKED

As Smith and Swensen left Bamboo Bernie's bar, one of the men tossed a chair at them. Neither was hit. The bar manager ordered the angry men to leave.

Outside, Smith and Swensen met up with Jefferson and a few other friends. Suddenly, a white car with three or four people inside tried to run them down, according to witnesses.

The car clipped Smith, knocking him down.

''I saw the car stop and somebody get out,'' Swensen said.

From inside the car, a man began throwing paint cans at Smith, Swensen and the others. Swensen ran to get help.

''I was panicked,'' he said. 'Then a guy says to me, `You've got to get out of here or something is going to happen to you, too.' All of a sudden, I see Ryan staggering back. ... I can see he's covered in blood. Blood is pouring out of the wound in his head. ... I see Dick with a shocked look on his face. He's holding his head.''

For the first few days after the attack, St. Maarten police did little to investigate, according to the victims. But after CBS and ABC News ran TV reports, the case moved ahead.

TWO ARRESTED

A man and a woman, both French St. Martin residents, were arrested Saturday, and more arrests are expected, said Stein, Dutch St. Maarten's chief prosecutor. The suspects' names were not released.

''The crimes suspected are grievous bodily harm and attempted manslaughter,'' Stein said.

The attack has caused some activists to question whether gay and lesbian travelers should visit the Caribbean.

''It is time for Americans to reassess their relationship with islands such as Jamaica, St. Maarten and the Bahamas. Either they welcome all of us, or none of us. But these `paradises' can no longer be playgrounds for heterosexuals and hunting grounds for homosexuals,'' national gay activist and Fort Lauderdale native Wayne Besen recently wrote on his website blog.

The last four weeks have been trying for Patricia Smith and her husband, Raymond, who live in Sandusky, Ohio, and didn't know their son was gay until he was nearly beaten to death.

''I had an idea but he never shared it with us. I felt he was waiting to talk to us about it,'' she said. ``We love him dearly. Nothing can change that. ... We've had a quick learning curve. But we accept him as he is.''

Ryan Smith regrets not telling his folks sooner.

''You think your parents are going to hate you,'' he said. ``But of all the things that are going on in my life right now, the last of the things is the gay thing.''

HELP EXTENDED

Friends in New York and strangers in South Florida have reached out to Smith, his parents and Swensen. About 150 friends attended a benefit Saturday night in New York City and raised about $2,000 to help with living expenses while Smith recuperates in South Florida (He has medical and disability insurance through CBS News.).

When members of South Florida's gay community heard that Smith was staying in Miami, they moved to help.

Finance writer and gay philanthropist Andrew Tobias loaned a vacant Lincoln Road apartment to Swensen, who got a job waiting tables at Cafeteria on Lincoln Road.

Ray Breslin and partner Patrick Pecoraro donated two units at the Mantell Plaza in Miami Beach for the Smith family to use the first week, then discounted the units for the rest of their stay.

With the support of family and friends, Ryan Smith is pushing himself to recover.

''I know these guys almost killed me. But you know what? They are not going to affect who I am,'' Smith said.

''I have to talk. I am a journalist. I'm all about talking about the truth,'' he said. ``I don't want anyone to go through what happened to all of us. There were times I was in the hospital that I didn't know how to talk. I couldn't read. I couldn't watch TV. I didn't know what people were talking about.''
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Fix Dutch side/French side
cooperation, says Jefferson
~ In wake of Duracell’s detention ~

St. Maarten/St. Martin--A French national who carries the alias “Duracell” turned himself in to authorities on Tuesday, June 13, in connection with allegations that he was the main suspect in a gay-bashing incident near Sunset Beach Bar on April 6.

His incarceration has been welcomed by Richard Jefferson, one of the American visitors who was badly beaten with a car wrench.

Jefferson is now demanding a response from Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday as to why his officers “failed to admit” the incident had occurred and why they did not take his statement on April 6.

He has also expressed concern about the relationship between the Dutch and French sides. “I hope leaders on both sides of this unique two-nation island formalise this working relationship and its value in preventing the Duracells of the future from terrorising one side only to retreat to the sovereign sanctuary of the other,” Jefferson said in a statement to The Daily Herald Wednesday.

He contended that the French seemingly had been reluctant to act and had requested translations of all documents before deciding to detain Duracell and that this had prolonged bringing the suspect to justice. He also said he believed the suspect had only turned himself in after realising that police would finally act.

Duracell, who had remained at large for more than two months, was accompanied by his attorney when he turned himself in to the authorities. He reportedly admitted that he was one of the persons involved in the beating of the American visitors, but denied being the main assailant.

Jefferson, a senior CBS producer who sustained head injuries in the April 6 attack, is back at work, but his friend and colleague Ryan Smith is still receiving medical care for his head injuries.

In his statement to this newspaper Wednesday, Jefferson demanded a response from Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday as to why his officers had “failed to admit” the incident had occurred and to take his statement on April 6.

“While Duracell and his posse may have committed the most violent crime, St. Maarten Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday has committed the most serious one in that he has so far refused to comply with an order by his Government’s top leaders to explain why his department repeatedly denied an attack took place or even take my statement before I was airlifted to the safety of Miami,” said Jefferson.

He said the people of St. Maarten and the millions of tourists the island invites each year are the victims of his contempt. He said, “His (Holiday’s) contempt is now so loud, the people of St. Maarten should demand answers before his screech of disrespect reverberates across the world and silences the brand new airport that would welcome visitors to the ‘so-called Friendly Island.’”

Jefferson had told this newspaper that since the incident occurred he was displeased with police who did not show up at the scene, and who, after visiting him at St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), rudely asked, “Why should I bother with you and take any statement when you going to leave the island and not press charges anyway?”

Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein said Holiday had been asked to investigate the matter to see what had gone wrong. However, Jefferson said that report had not been completed. Stein had also said that action could be taken against officers if it was found that they had been negligent in any way.

According to Jefferson, although another newspaper had “glorified” his and Smith’s beating, he was thankful to the many people who saw fit to do their civic duty and report to police what they knew about the matter.
http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/j024/duracel024.html

4 Convicted of Beating Gay Tourists

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 2, 2006

Filed at 8:45 p.m. ET

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (AP) -- Four French nationals were convicted Thursday of beating two gay American tourists in this Dutch Caribbean island and were sentenced to between six months and six years in prison.

One of the victims, Ryan Smith, suffered brain damage and could not speak properly for six months after he was attacked with a tire iron in April. Smith and the second victim, Richard Jefferson, were employees of CBS News in New York at the time of the attack.

Three citizens of the French part of the island -- Glen Cockly, Micheline Delaney and Allan Daniel -- and a man from the nearby French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, Michel Javois, were found guilty of public violence and causing grievous bodily harm.

Jefferson said it was a hate crime. But prosecutor Taco Stein described it as ''meaningless violence.''

more
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-St-Maarten-Tourists-Attacked.html

I was raised to accept people as who they were, not what they were.
This seems to be a problem to the religious righr and the Israelis.
Colour, race, sex, religious views or other views mean nothing to me.
The person I talk to means everything. The individual is most important.
Everything else is not an issue.
Live with it and accept the person.

_{repressive governments mix administrative clumsiness & inefficiency with authoritarian tendencies.}