The busts specifically targeted men looking for sex with other men. Have your family tested also, as your behavior may have put them at risk, too. Four of those caught in the sting hired Richmond attorney Joseph McGrath to sue the Richmond police for defamation. Richmond is filled with the walking wounded. They've so internalized the homophobic surroundings they don't even realize the oppression as what it is.
Horrible things occur and people are able to distance themselves.
The FBI won't say the Northington murder is a hate crime. The police don't know. But when I heard that the head was placed in the same park where the busts were, in the middle of a walkway, my ears perked up. The word echoed again and again when people described the reaction to Northington's murder. Decapitation takes it to another level, says Dorothy Hamilton, director of Daily Planet, a homeless center near Richmond's waterfront.