When Homosexual-on-Homosexual Rape Is Called a ‘Hate Crime’: the Felipe Rivera Case

By Peter LaBarbera 

NOTE TO READERS: When we made our initial comments on our story, we were relying on what turned out to be a sloppy and erroneous Chicago Tribune story (see bottom), and we had not seen the Chicago Sun Times story on this crime, which conflicts with the Tribune account. I apologize for reporting this so quickly and for foolishly relying on a single Chicago media story for accurate news (not a good idea).

Here are the essential details from the Sun-Times article, “Alleged gay advance cited in rape” (emphasis added):

Felipe Rivera, 43, is charged with a hate crime as well as aggravated criminal sexual assault and other offenses, said a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. If convicted, he could face more than 30 years in prison, a source said.

 

According to a spokesman for Cicero police, Rivera and the victim encountered each other at a party Friday night in the 1200 block of South 50th Avenue.

 

“Mr. Rivera got upset apparently because he believed the victim, No. 1, didn’t respond to a female and then, No. 2, somehow winked at him — made what he perceived as a sexual advance,” said Cicero police spokesman Dan Proft.

 

30 years possible
Rivera then punched the victim in the face, Proft said, and was asked to leave the party. He allegedly waited outside for the victim. According to Rivera, the victim, 37, then propositioned Rivera for a sex act — a claim the victim denies, Proft said.

 

Rivera followed the victim to the outer staircase of a basement apartment, where he removed the victim’s pants and raped him, authorities said. Afterward, Rivera punched the victim in the head, leaving him semi-conscious, then inserted a metal broom handle in the victim’s rectum, sources said.

 

Rivera gave police these details in a videotaped statement, according to Proft. When asked why he did it, Rivera allegedly said it was “because he hates f – – – – – s, and this is what they get,” according to Proft.

 

A spokesman for the state’s attorney said Rivera also shouted “sexually oriented derogatory comments” during the rape.

 

After the alleged attack, Rivera went to his mother’s residence nearby. Because she has an order of protection against him, she called the police, Proft said.

I just spoke with Cicero spokesman Dan Proft, who says that the Sun-Times story is the most accurate he’s read.

In our original commentary (below), I relied on the Trib account which appears to have mangled Proft’s statement so as to assert that the violent assailant propositioned his male victim for sex. According to the Sun-Times, however, the assailant claims that his victim did the propositioning (which the victim denies actually happened). 

Regardless, what we still have with this case is a maniac who sexually assaulted another man, while later claiming to hate “faggots.” Strange. Most men would never think of sodomizing another man, and last I heard anal sodomy was seen as the defining act of male homosexuality.

So, we come back to this: if this criminal — who is so crazed that his own mother put out an order of protection against him — is a violent “gay-basher,” then he’s one with a homosexual problem.

The fanatical “queer” activists who regularly attack me and AFTAH love to imply — like so many hack psychoanalysts — that because I oppose organized homosexuality, I must secretly be “gay” myself. Columnist John Derbyshire smartly dispensed with such nonsense a few years back on the pages of National Review Online. Believe me: I’ve got plenty of sinful inclinations to overcome in my life; thank God homosexuality isn’t one of them.

Nevertheless, there is a phenomenon of deranged behavior focusing on a problem that is itself a part of the deranged persona, and that appears to be what we have with the now-incarcerated Mr. Rivera, since he practiced the very behavior he “hates.” I hope he gets locked away for a long time. 

We know there is a problem with homosexual-on-homosexual violence (hence the book, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them). It seems ludicrous to call such crimes “anti-gay hate crimes” — for use in the “gay” propaganda cycle that feeds off exaggerated spinning of FBI data to imply an outbreak of (straight) “anti-gay violence” that doesn’t exist.

It is even more ridiculous to treat the victims of same-sex rape with greater deference than, say, straight women raped by men — or, conversely, to punish “straight” male rapists of women any less harshly than, say, a “homo-hating” pseudo-straight guy who sodomizes another man in an act of rage — simply because the latter says he “hates faggots.”

All rapes are hate-motivated at their core. “Hate crimes” is an unworkable concept that should be abandoned.

___________________________

Here are my original comments with redactions based on the better information:

Now here’s an interesting report: a man attends a party with another man, allegedly offers the man cash for sex, then, after the man refuses, he sexually assaults him. Later the assailant tells police that he “hates homosexuals,” and he is charged with an anti-homosexual “hate crime.”

This appears to be a textbook case of homosexual-on-homosexual violence — regardless of what the alleged assailant, Felipe Rivera, considers his sexual identity — straight, gay, or bisexual.

Our question: what percentage of “anti-gay hate crimes” are actually committed by people who themselves are involved in homosexual behavior? If this Chicago Tribune report is accurate, then this is no typical “gay panic defense” — whereby a man blames his assault on a homosexual by claiming that the victim first made an unwanted sexual advance toward him — because the alleged perpetrator here offers to pay his victim for homosexual sex and then sexually assaults him.

We also know that some men may secretly (or even not so secretly) engage (or desire) homosexual perversions yet eschew the “gay” label for themselves — so the fact that Rivera told police that he “hates homosexuals” tells us little. He may hate that part of himself drawn to deviant homosexual acts.

Behavior, not self-labels, is what counts: we wonder how many cases like this end up on the FBI’s list as an “anti-gay” “hate-crime” statistic — to be exploited later, ironically, by “gay” activists lobbying for dubious pro-homosexual “hate crimes” laws …

One more question: if same-sex sexual assaults are classified as “hate crimes,” what about men who rape women (or vice versa)? Shouldn’t these sex crimes also be labeled “hate crimes” against women, as they are typically motivated by contempt and misogyny (hatred of women)?  We’ll follow this story closely. — Peter LaBarbera

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Cicero man accused of rape is charged with hate crime
Tribune staff report, http://www.chicagotribune.com/

4:16 PM CST, December 27, 2007

A Cicero man was charged with a hate crime and sexual assault for allegedly raping a man Friday, Cicero police officials said Thursday.

Felipe Rivera, 43, of Cicero, who allegedly told police in a video confession that he hates homosexuals and the victim got what he deserved, was charged with a hate crime, aggravated criminal sexual assault, sexual assault and aggravated battery. Bond was set at $350,000 Thursday in the Maywood courthouse, a Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman said.

Cicero spokesman Dan Proft said a 37-year-old man was attacked as he was climbing an outdoor stairwell to his Cicero apartment about 9:30 p.m. Friday. Proft said a neighbor called the police, who found the victim unconscious and bleeding on the stairwell.

Proft said Rivera and the victim were both at a party in the 1200 block of South 50th Avenue earlier in the evening. Proft said Rivera allegedly punched the man in the face at the party after, Rivera said, the victim “winked at him.”

Proft said the victim alleged he had refused an offer from Rivera to pay him $50 for sex later in the evening. Police said Rivera was asked to leave the party, waited for the victim outside and followed him home.

Rivera was arrested Saturday morning after his mother found out about the incident and called police, Proft said.

He said the victim was treated at a hospital and released.