The timing is awkward to say the least, given the murder victims' bodies atm remain unrecovered, the suspect afaik remains basically mum [keeping shtoom], & ofc the whole palaver of trial, evidence etc is still in the distant future.
Even so, don't we already know two important, & uncontested, bits of info here that make Shields' decision to wrap his editorial of longstanding police antipathy to #LGBTQI peeps around this latest tragic unnecessary loss of innocent lives, unwise at the very least, if not exposing him to criticism of drawing too long a bow?
the suspect is gay, along with the victims.
the suspect was until only very recently in a direct partner relationship with one of the victims
As such, it just seems to me that Shields is entirely barking up the wrong tree here, by his blatant & repeated linking of this crime to the historical horrors of terrible cops' misbehaviour against queer peeps.
Am i too far out on a limb here to suggest that it is extraordinarily probable the suspect in THIS case murdered the victims expressly coz of my dot points, not coz "i'm a cop, cops kill gays, ergo i must kill this pair"?
IMO Bevan Shields has made multiple blunders since becoming editor, & here i feel he's made another.
@sister_ratched Is it paywalled? I didn't know. OK, well, i won't copy & paste the whole thing, but i will quote the several specific paras i'm critiquing.
The sickening alleged killing of two beautiful and much-loved young men on the eve of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has once again focused attention on the NSW Police attitude to the LGBTQ community.The intersection of crime and societal change is a risky conflation but there is little doubt that for many in Sydney, the horrific case has stoked deeply held feelings of distrust and fear within the gay community towards police due to a long history of victimisation.
later
Two months and four days later, as Sydney reeled from the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies by police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon with his Glock service pistol, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb apologised for the historic wrongs.
later
we do think police should not march this Saturday given the pain and anger felt by so many following the suspected deaths of Baird and Davies.
later
A picture circulating widely over recent days of Lamarre-Condon marching in full uniform in February 2020 has left many deeply uneasy.The police officers who planned to march this year should not be punished for the alleged sins of a colleague, but their presence would cause an additional layer of unnecessary heartache at a time when those who knew and loved Baird and Davies deserve to be together in a safe space.
Maybe i'm over-egging this, but it just seems to me that, absent of my two dot-points, his editorial stands on its feet as is, with legitimacy, however, we are NOT absent of those points, thus i feel he's badly wrong to include them here. The abhorrent historical hate-based violence of cops against #LGBTQI peeps was, afaict, predicated on ideology & prejudice, not coz in each case the offending cop was also gay & also recently exited from a relationship with their victim, as pertains here.
I think it's a shame the 2 issues have been linked together, apparently the NSW Police have been uninvited this year now
I found it very distasteful that some jumped on this, before the bodies have even been, to push their long held view the police shouldn't be part of the parade
I can see both sides of that argument, it blew up at Pride in Melbourne this year as well. They need to work it out longer term
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