The trial is done, the verdict has been decided and the sentencing issued. While many LGBTs heralded the news that convicted gay basher Kathryn Knott is behind bars, the courtroom resolution isn’t necessarily cause for celebration.
One individual has been taken to task for her role in the vicious 2014 attack that left a gay couple beaten. But there were more than a dozen other people involved in the incident, to varying degrees. While Knott is facing punishment for her participation, the underlying factors that allowed this chance encounter to escalate into what it became remain.
The machismo entitlement that enabled Kevin Harrigan to think he could disparage victim Zachary Hesse, setting off the melee in the first place, abounds in our society. The inclination toward snap judgment and physical violence, which Philip Williams exhibited when he mistakenly thought a female friend was struck, is visible in our schools and on our streets every day. The mob mentality that seemingly possessed Knott to get involved and throw a punch is nearly as frightening, and powerful, as the punches themselves.
This situation, above all else, starkly illustrated that these ills still plague our society — and are prevalent perhaps in the most unexpected circles. Few would have, unfortunately, anticipated that a group of affluent, well-dressed, well-educated 20-somethings from the suburbs would be slinging antigay slurs; this is the generation that is supposed to be unprecedentedly LGBT-friendly and accepting. But, when that group was taken out of its suburban enclave of homogeneity, imbibed on alcohol and found itself facing conflict, it fell back on the basest and easiest attack: disparaging one’s sexual orientation. That seed is still there — likely planted in elementary-school settings — that makes people think it’s the ultimate offense to humiliate an individual for being LGBT.
Ideally, this case — and the widespread public condemnation for the defendants’ actions — has made a dent in that notion. But Knott’s sentence is just one small cog in the machine of societal acceptance and awareness of LGBT bias.
It was clear in the courtroom Monday afternoon that there were no winners in this case. Knott clung to her parents, crying and shaking, before she was taken away in handcuffs. Her best friend sat on the floor of the hallway outside the courtroom, crying with her head in her hands. Haught nervously read from his victim-impact statement and wiped away tears after Knott apologized to the victims. The couple and their families made a quiet beeline for the exit as soon as the sentence was read, understandably eager to put this long saga behind them. There was little to celebrate, other than the close, for now, of this chapter of this very-public case.
But the issues remain. And the work remains.