In my eight-plus years working for PGN, never have I seen a story capture our readers’ attention as the September 2014 Center City gay bashing did. And frankly, never has a story grabbed me as much as this did.
I reported when the incident first happened, when surveillance video was released, through each suspect who came in for a police interview, through each arrest and through each subsequent court proceeding — leading me to last week’s trial for Kathryn Knott.
Going into the trial, I shared the public’s disdain for Knott, the general persona that surrounds her and, of course, any involvement she had in attacking two members of our community. After the trial and mixed verdict, I still have a disdain for Knott. But seven days at the courthouse covering this case have left me with some unresolved mixed feelings.
Part of what doesn’t quite sit well with me is that Knott faces jail time while Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams basically walked free. Though angered by their seeming slap on the wrist for their involvement, I didn’t really grasp the depth of the chasm between their actions and the punishment until the trial. Witness after witness testified that Harrigan called victim Zachary Hesse “faggot” out of the blue and that Williams “bum-rushed” and brutally beat Hesse’s boyfriend, Andrew Haught. Seeing the victims relive those experiences in person was powerful — and drove home just how little culpability Williams and Harrigan were forced to take.
That’s not to say Knott doesn’t deserve punishment, or even jailtime. Her involvement — which, based on witness testimony, appeared to be hurling antigay slurs, getting into Haught’s face and punching Hesse in the face — was reprehensible. But that the men who started and ended this incident have to take little responsibility is unsettling — though the facts are the men agreed to plead and Knott did not.
Which brings me to one of my observations: Knott is pretty ignorant. Not ignorant in the rude sense of the word, but rather in the completely and utterly out-of-touch and clueless way. That she opted for a trial over the plea deal was a sign of this, which was reinforced by her decision to take the stand in her own defense.
When Knott was questioned about her history of antigay social-media posts, Knott truly seemed to believe that using the word “gay” to mean “lame” was OK, or that the jury wouldn’t object to her explanation that she invoked the word “dyke” when was having a bad hair day. One of the jurors later commented to reporters that Knott seemed to think she was invincible, and I think that speaks to a key point.
In the hallway, I overheard her mom speaking to a supporter that her daughter didn’t need to “beat” the charges because she was “innocent.” That was a notion Knott honestly seemed to believe as well. She clearly has a strong support system — with dozens of friends and family members in the courtroom each day — and has enjoyed private schooling, apparent socioeconomic comfort if not affluence and the comforts of being reared in a suburban setting. But perhaps privilege and support is blinding; Knott seems to not have a clear grasp on the realities her words and actions speak, and how those realities are perceived by others.
To be frank, this case was just as much about Knott’s character as it was about her actions. People love to hate Kathryn Knott. We can tell that just by our “hits” and “likes” every time we post a story online about the case — which made us wonder, would the interest and passion still be there had it been Harrigan and Williams on trial, instead of Knott?
Knott is the archetypical mean girl, blonde hair and all. Seeing someone with that status go down seems to have inspired bloodthirst. Our Facebook post announcing she was convicted of four charges received more “likes” than did our announcement that marriage equality had come to the nation. The court was packed each day with reporters, and camera crews waited outside each morning and evening to get a new shot of Knott. But where was that fervor when Harrigan and Williams walked off just about scott-free? They did even more damage on Sept. 11, 2014, than Knott did. But I think it’s fair to say few people even know their names.
If Knott’s going to be hated, shouldn’t she be hated for what she did, rather than who she is? The comments on some of our coverage advocate for Knott’s hanging or burning; rejoice that the “Daddy’s girl” has gone down; and hope for her rape in prison. “Die, bitch, die” is one of the more eloquent remarks we’ve seen. That type of response does not cloud that the impetus does not stem from Knott’s actions, but rather her identity — not to mention it smacks of sexism and, especially from an LGBT audience, of hypocrisy.
Maybe today’s digital age, where anyone can spew hatred behind the cloak of anonymity, is partly to blame, and maybe it’s that phenomenon of schadenfreude to which we are all susceptible. But a week of observing the defendant and her family and friends makes that level of vitriol a little harder for me to reach: her mom crying quietly in a bathroom stall on the second day of the trial or gripping a prayer card on her bouncing knee the first day of deliberations; her dad sitting for hours on end, often by himself, in the courtroom waiting for the jury’s verdict, with his head bowed; and even Knott herself, who uttered a seemingly surprised “thank you” when I held the courtroom door for her one day. She’s human. Her family is human. And her friends are human.
Yes, Knott deserves punishment for her role in this incident, and it’s encouraging that the jury agreed: That jurors acknowledged that they wanted to convict her of more charges, and that the 67-year-old Catholic forewoman proffered that she was “offended” by “everything” about Knott, illustrate that we’re inching closer to bigotry and violence toward LGBT people no longer being socially acceptable. Jurors called Knott’s ignorance on the stand “disgusting,” and they were right.
Be disgusted. Hate Kathryn Knott if you want. But don’t forget that she’s human.