Comments on: Blaming the Victim: Portrayal of Florida Man Killed for Being Gay Doesn’t Ring True

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:56:53 +0000

Those suspects don’t look ‘hot’ to me…someone as cute as Ryan could easily do better than that. What probably happened: the two loosely knew Ryan as ‘relatives’ of Ryan’s landlord. They asked for a ride. He gave them a ride (it was a short distance) but then they killed him, partly for his car and partly because he was gay.

Also, why do the media report he died on March 14? Given the timeline, he most likely died just after midnight…

By: elotrolado

elotrolado — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 20:03:02 +0000

Whether Ryan was cruising for sex is a non issue. Hello, a person was murdered. Can we focus on that?

Why does everyone go stupid when the words “sex” or “drugs” come up?

By: Editors

Editors — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:49:28 +0000

We deleted a very nasty comment from this thread because hatred and self-loathing are off-topic here.

By: Todd Johnson

Todd Johnson — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:50:28 +0000

I had known Ryan since 2001. I worked with him for a brief time and knew his boyfriend from then as well. I can say for certain that Ryan was a very self-confidant guy and there was NO WAY he would pick someone up at random, whether on the street or even in a bar.
I am glad to see I’m not the only one who found this account of the events in March to be completely false. I am not surprised that the victim is made to be shady if he happens to be gay, just sickened by it. They have PLENTY of people to whom they could speak to get an idea of what Ryan was like, but they chose to make something up out of whole cloth instead.
Though they have tainted him in the eyes of those that didn’t know him (and probably don’t care about his story anyway), the media can never dim the memory of the good person Ryan was in the minds of his friends.

By: iso

iso — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 10:36:13 +0000

Hi-
I know next to nothing about this story (just what appears on this page) and got here in a crazy roundabout way, but wanted to add my 2cents after reading the comments – hope you don’t mind….

First, I was struck by the judgmental tone of those decrying the activity of ‘cruising.’ This is not necessarily something that makes a person a sleaze ball if they happen to indulge such a thing. Even if a person ‘has many friends they can call,’ some people are yet titillated by the excitement of ‘a stranger.’ The level of safety tho’ depends on how you go about it, some thrive on danger aspect, unfortunately.

[just noted Jenna's comment above and I agree]

Sex in our culture is so tainted with issues of shame, guilt, biblical imperatives, etc. that we make it very hard for people to have healthy sex lives and not feel badly about it. Working toward eliminating these things will greatly improve the many ills surrounding it! IMHO

As for the case specifically – again, minuscule info to go by, it is conceivable, that a very nice, respectable young man offered a ride to someone just to see if it would lead to a fun, safe encounter (looking at those perp photos, I would not consider either of them “fun” nor “safe”).

Just using intuition, it seems Ryan was probably being nice, dropped any idea of a ‘romp’ and was duped by two who saw criminal opportunity and were evil. I hope there will be no chance of a ‘gay panic’ defense, because these two seemed to willingly continue keeping their company with Ryan and would have likely known of his orientation early on. So no claim of sudden fear and threat could be made.

Condolences to you all, RS sounds like a great guy indeed, wishing you justice and the best.

By: squiid

squiid — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 22:10:10 +0000

differing standards? for “straight” republican senators and gay men?

It’s unfortunate that political enemies and the news media have turned this past mistake/sin – before he was even in the Senate – into a feeding frenzy and a license to report false rumors.

Some person or persons working in the US Senate has created or copied a list of talking points which they describe â€œKey Talking Pointsâ€

Link

By: jenna

jenna — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:46:49 +0000

i know that all of ryans friends and family know him in the way that they are describing him…but it doesnt mean that the events didnt happen as they were reported. So what if he WAS smoking weed and so what if he WAS looking for someone to pick up on? These are both very personal things and things that Ryan may not have shared with other people. It doesnt make him a low life nor a bad person, if it is true , at the most it means he may have made some bad choices. So what? who doesnt?
It is obvious that Ryan was a wonderful guy by the comments from his friends and relatives…and what anyone else thinks doesnt matter in the least anyhow. The real issue here is that he was murdered. I am very very sad foor those that knew and loved him, and also for those that never had the chance to know and love him. My sincere condolences to you all.

By: Clyde

Clyde — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:35:16 +0000

I am in utter shock. My wife and I were in training with Ryan at a telemarketing company in WH way back in 2004 during the hurricanes. Ryan seemed comfortable with himself but not in your face gay. He was a very awesome person who seemed to brighten up the gloom. My prayers go out to his loved ones.

By: Freedem

Freedem — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:06:11 +0000

This story is only a tiny window on a very large problem, the corruption of the justice system in the area goes far beyond this case of “Blaming the Victim”.

Someone needs to make a much deeper investigation.

By: obscurifer

obscurifer — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:23:02 +0000

I just hope that the “gay panic” excuse burns when the perps do.