A slight, gentle 52-year old gay man in Montgomery suburb Jackson, Alabama clings to life, his head smashed in by a hammer blow delivered by a handyman half his age...the alleged motivation, "an inappropriate advance." The doctors say he will likely die. Police and family suggest it is unlikely the shy man made any agressive advance.

Last summer, also in Montgomery, Alabama, Roderick George was shot in the head as he sat in his van. The killer's motivation, "an inappropriate sexual advance."

Of course neither of these will be tried as a hate crime because lgbt hate motivated crimes are not hate crimes in Alabama.

I remain awestruck by the freakish American masculinity that allows a man to make a pass at a woman expecting, at worse, a polite rejection, but if a gay man makes a pass at him, he sees murder as an appropriate response. What the hell?

Why do I call it lynching? Walk on the streets of Montgomery (and many other cities, south and north), tell people about these two attacks. See how many people say, "they had it coming." THAT's why.

Oh, and if you hear or think, "One gay killing a year is not that bad" check out www.gender.org and learn about the over 200 transgender murders reported there, ir recall the brutality of the Brandon Teena, Matt Shepard, and Billy Jack Gaither (also in Alabama) murders.