Lesbian attack in Jackson, TN

There's a reason I don't read the newspaper or watch the news on TV. Most of it's bad - and most of the time the news is revealing how one person violated another's rights. And it makes me mad.

Somehow this morning I ended up reading the article in the Jackson Sun about a woman who was attacked at a local night club. Supposedly she was attacked because a man approached her with some slur - thinking she was a male. She apparently revealed to him she was not male but was a lesbian. At which point he beat her and stabbed her in the eye 4 or 5 times with a beer bottle. That in itself is disgusting enough for me to read.

But to read the comments on the forum to one of the articles about this tragedy was equally disgusting. Go ahead - read for yourself --> Click here.

We've got people saying she brought it on herself because she was in a bar. Or told him she was a lesbian. We've got people arguing whether this is a hate crime. We've got a preacher saying basically - gays don't deserve to exist....much less be in the military? (I guess that was brought up because this woman had served in the military) I'm sure glad I don't go to his church, and that PRECISELY is the reason I have never found a church home in TN because that is the attitude I have come across in every church (except for the one I am attending now - which was discussed in my previous post).

To me, it doesn't matter if she was gay, straight, yellow, black, green or white, has purple hair, is overweight, dresses different, or drives a piece of crap car. The fact is - she is deserving of what I feel we all are deserving, and that is an expectation of respect for our personal space. As soon as this idiot stuck that beer bottle on her physical body, he violated her personal space.

In my opinion, that's a big part of what's wrong with our world today - people cannot seem to keep their hands to themselves! For some reason, we have so many humans who think it's okay to take what doesn't belong to them and to touch what isn't theirs to touch.

I've had someone break into my car and steal money from my purse at a private residence where I had taken my daughter for horse riding lessons. He violated my personal space.

I've had men try to assault me on my morning walk, and men try to come onto me when I walked in the convenience store to pick up some milk.

I've had someone just recently come up under my private carport and break into my car.

And if you've been following my blog, you all know the story about my original painting which was stolen from the buyer's doorstep in South Florida.

Now I'm sure some of those idiots on the talkback forum at the Jackson Sun would come up with some reason about why *I* deserved those things. Must be because I'm straight. Must be because my car's too small. Must be because I had the nerve to exercise to get this extra 20 pounds off. Must be because I painted a flower in a color other than one they thought I should. Must be because the sun was shining. Or it was raining. And on top of that, I probably shouldn't be allowed to be in a certain organization because I have gray hair which I color brown. As John Stossell would say - GIMMEE A BREAK!

All of those things happened to me because some people think they have the RIGHT to violate my personal space. And any time someone feels they have that right when I have not given it to them - they will pay. The guy that stole the money out of my car was fired from working at the stables. The guys who used to bother me on my walk now have their discussions with my GSD (german shepherd dog) and I'm no longer even APPROACHED. (and if they *do* approach...well, let's just say I don't feed my dog before the walk...so he's awful hungry...:)) The next time someone enters my carport in the middle of the night...well, to say the least they'll get a little surprise. The person who stole my painting won't get too far with it, because it's been posted all over the internet. And if they thought they'd get some huge amount of money from their thievery, they're going to be sadly mistaken.

No one has the right to violate my personal space. And this woman who was attacked has the same expectation - as many of us do - that we have the right to be left alone. We certainly have the right to demand that we are not physically assaulted, and those who do such things should get the maximum punishment. And the fact that the bar owners helped him get "away" out the back door makes them just as bad as the idiot who stuck the beer bottle in the woman's eye.

My motto has been and always will be - "Keep Your Hands To Yourself". If I teach my kids nothing else in this world, that right there will be enough.