Efforts are being made to sweep this story under the rug, but it seems that the truth is leaking out. KnowThyNeighbor.org was on location at the Worcester Anti-Gay Rally this Saturday, and got first hand photos of Sarah Loy 27, of Worcester, who was attacked by none other than Larry Cirignano, executive director of the Boston-based Catholic Citizenship Group. Several witnesses reported to police that Mr. Cirignano left his position standing with others near the podium, walked over to Mrs. Loy, placed a hand on each shoulder, and threw her to the ground. Mrs. Loy hit her head on the concrete sidewalk, but seemed more shaken than harmed by the attack.
Worcester police sergeant Wells said of the attack, "We cannot arrest him right now because the law states we have to actually see the attack, and none of my men did. You will have your day in court though" when speaking to Mrs. Loy. It seemed clear that no one has a right to put their hands on another person, and that Mr. Cirignano's actions did amount to assault is this veteran policeman's opinion. A visibly shaken Mrs. Loy and her husband Brian Loy say that they are outraged that a man of Mr. Cirignano's position would act so hatefully, and they plan on pursuing this in court as advised. I was there to hear this with my own ears.
This story has also been covered by Ryan Adams on Ryan'sTake, Chris Mason on TakeMassAction, and By the Worcester Telegram.
4 comments:
This is outrageous. I am calling Arch Bishop O'Maley's office tomorrow and placing a complaint. No one should be putting their hands on anyone else. This guy is supposed to be a leader? I wouldn't follow him across a street! I wasn't sure where I stood on this issue before, but I do now.
Physical assaults are a natural outgrowth from verbal assaults that have been the hallmark of many professing "Christians." This incident is a microcosm of the damage that homophobic people do to LGBT people every day; deserves to be prosecuted, so that the truth comes out, sees the light of day, and that as many people as possible see the damage that hate-filled people, many of whom claim to be Christians and represent the Prince of Peace, do to others. The news media must be apprised of this incident; this incident must be given as wide exposure as possible, so that decent, sensitive people can express their revulsion so that, hopefully, the expression of hatred will crawl back under the rock where it belongs, and people will finally come to see that our LGBT sisters and brothers are deserving of every bit of dignity and civil and sacramental rights that is afforded every other citizen in this country.
Now Larry’s being charged with a crime, a civil rights violation,
and possible an additional hate crime! The Orwellian absurdity
of this is mind-numbing. The gay “community” has been
celebrating and are determined to punish Larry as much as they can.
more on the story
This was resolved last year when the jury decided to disregard the judge's instructions and found Cirignano innocent so he wouldn't have to face jail time for his actions. No one disputes he put his hands on her, or that his touching violates our assault and battery laws.
I general rule of thmb that's good for all around when you are at a rally with opponents present; keep your hands to yourself. Larry Cirignano is by all means not alone, you have Diane Steele and others, like the man beaten unconscious on film at knowthyneighbor.org.
Let me ask you "bareback", if the shoe was on the other foot, you'd just let the GLBT person who pushed you off the hook, right? ;)
Fat chance, so stop being a hypocrite.
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