Dan Frisa
Thursday, March 22, 2001

Joshua Macabe Brown, 23, was prosecuted on charges of rape and murder in a case that was sent to a jury today to begin deliberations. His lover, Davis Don Carpenter, 39, is scheduled to stand trial on the same charges in May.

Both could face the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges.

Brown confessed to having sexually penetrated the youth with various objects after binding and gagging him. His lawyer pathetically stated that ''I think we can all agree that Josh didn't knowingly cause his death.”

Hard as it is to even begin to contemplate such a heinous crime, it is even somewhat more difficult to understand how such a case has been kept under wraps by the media.

What are they hiding and whom are they trying to protect? If it was good journalism to report on the murder of Matthew Shepherd – and it was – then why is it not equally good journalism to report on this murder of young Jesse?

Shepherd was gay and was brutally killed by some sick and vile straight men. Dirkhising was a 13-year-old boy who was brutally killed by some sick and vile gay men.

Where is the difference?

Well, there is none.

And that is the problem.

The public is left with only one possible conclusion: that there is an agenda among the media elite who control the flow of our news.

If it was fine to give overwhelming news coverage to the Shepherd murder, but unacceptable to give equal coverage to the Dirkhising murder, what conclusion is possible?

Why is it that news demonstrating intolerance of gays gets top billing while news showing the dark side of the gay lifestyle is ignored?

Such treatment is nearly as confounding as the crimes themselves and serves no purpose but to promote an alternative lifestyle.

That this is true is obvious, while a sound reason for doing so is obscure.

Nothing is to be gained except, perhaps, to curry favor with a vocal pressure group whose influence far exceeds its numbers while depicting a distorted view of reality.

That, ultimately, doesn’t serve anyone well.

E-mail Dan: danfrisa@newsmax.com.

Read Dan's previous column: O’Reilly Is Right, Kinsley Is Wrong

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Dan Frisa represented New York in the United States Congress and served four terms in the New York State Assembly.

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