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A review by mnboyer
American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men by David McConnell
3.0
A true-crime book that examines several prominent murders that involved homosexual men who were killed by idiots that thought they had a right to kill gay men that came onto them.
McConnell begins by discussing the "gay panic" defense, which has roots all the way back to a paper in the 1920s that discussed "homosexual panic" (look up Edward J. Kempf's article if you're interested). Basically, this short-lived legal defense proposed that several men that attacked and killed homosexual men did so not because they were murderers, but because they had to do it to defend their own honor after gay men came on to them, or showed sexual interest in them. For awhile, many thought that this defense was used only by 'repressed homosexuals' but this was not the case.
The "Jenny Jones" case began on a popular television show (think Maury, Springer, Oprah, etc.) when a homosexual man came on the show to announce he had a crush on a heterosexual friend. Jon (the straight man) was so angry over the situation and its possible implications (that others might suddenly believe he was homosexual because another man had a crush on him) that he ended up killing his admirer.
McConnell also discusses the Williams Brothers, convicted of murdering a homosexual couple (1999). Matthew Williams professed that God told him to kill homosexuals, and/or that God's law is above man's laws... so killing homosexuals should be allowed. (What a disgusting human!). Ben (Tyler) Williams would later kill himself.
The Steve Domer, Brad Qualls, and Darrell Madden case is also discussed (2007). Darrell struggles with his homosexuality his entire life and ends up killing, once with Qualls (Steve Domer). It is a grotesque kind of murder where Domer was abducted, beaten, tortured (imho), and then killed.
The Katehis/Weber case is also discussed (2009). Katehis was a 16-year-0ld minor that on the side went on Craigslist and posted in the m4m section. He replied to an ad posted by Weber (who enjoyed suffocation play) and went to his home, where he then decided to murder him. Despite the brutality of the murder, Katehis was only given 25-to-life instead of the death sentence.
The book does a good job of shedding some light onto each of these cases, and discusses how certain groups of men (now murderers) believe they're entitled to kill homosexual men that show any interest in them. It is a type of honor killing, which I don't think McConnell actually delves into enough in his text. I would have preferred a deeper analysis of this. In fact, I very much expected a deeper analysis (the title kind of promised it, as does the book's back cover).
The stories/cases/crimes are all interesting and are definitely worth exploration. My issue is there is a lot of author commentary throughout the text and it would have been nice to see more factual evidence of certain things. While McConnell is not a journalist, I do often expect to have source material (citations, end notes, a bibliography, something!) at the end of true crime books. Here we don't get that so sometimes it is hard to interpret where information is coming from. I don't mind speculation by authors, but I expect to be able to tell what is their words and what belongs to documents, witnesses, interviewees, etc.
Overall, right in the middle. 3 stars.
McConnell begins by discussing the "gay panic" defense, which has roots all the way back to a paper in the 1920s that discussed "homosexual panic" (look up Edward J. Kempf's article if you're interested). Basically, this short-lived legal defense proposed that several men that attacked and killed homosexual men did so not because they were murderers, but because they had to do it to defend their own honor after gay men came on to them, or showed sexual interest in them. For awhile, many thought that this defense was used only by 'repressed homosexuals' but this was not the case.
The "Jenny Jones" case began on a popular television show (think Maury, Springer, Oprah, etc.) when a homosexual man came on the show to announce he had a crush on a heterosexual friend. Jon (the straight man) was so angry over the situation and its possible implications (that others might suddenly believe he was homosexual because another man had a crush on him) that he ended up killing his admirer.
McConnell also discusses the Williams Brothers, convicted of murdering a homosexual couple (1999). Matthew Williams professed that God told him to kill homosexuals, and/or that God's law is above man's laws... so killing homosexuals should be allowed. (What a disgusting human!). Ben (Tyler) Williams would later kill himself.
The Steve Domer, Brad Qualls, and Darrell Madden case is also discussed (2007). Darrell struggles with his homosexuality his entire life and ends up killing, once with Qualls (Steve Domer). It is a grotesque kind of murder where Domer was abducted, beaten, tortured (imho), and then killed.
The Katehis/Weber case is also discussed (2009). Katehis was a 16-year-0ld minor that on the side went on Craigslist and posted in the m4m section. He replied to an ad posted by Weber (who enjoyed suffocation play) and went to his home, where he then decided to murder him. Despite the brutality of the murder, Katehis was only given 25-to-life instead of the death sentence.
The book does a good job of shedding some light onto each of these cases, and discusses how certain groups of men (now murderers) believe they're entitled to kill homosexual men that show any interest in them. It is a type of honor killing, which I don't think McConnell actually delves into enough in his text. I would have preferred a deeper analysis of this. In fact, I very much expected a deeper analysis (the title kind of promised it, as does the book's back cover).
The stories/cases/crimes are all interesting and are definitely worth exploration. My issue is there is a lot of author commentary throughout the text and it would have been nice to see more factual evidence of certain things. While McConnell is not a journalist, I do often expect to have source material (citations, end notes, a bibliography, something!) at the end of true crime books. Here we don't get that so sometimes it is hard to interpret where information is coming from. I don't mind speculation by authors, but I expect to be able to tell what is their words and what belongs to documents, witnesses, interviewees, etc.
Overall, right in the middle. 3 stars.