Day: March 30, 2007

Looking for Answers in Ryan Skipper Mystery

Trish

All three of us at Pensito Review are drawn to the story of Ryan Skipper.

I was attracted by a headline, “Winter Haven Man Killed for Being Gay,” maybe because I have an inordinate number of gay friends. If it’s true the population at large is about 10 percent gay, my immediate circle is at least three or four times that. I feel like I could have known Ryan Skipper. I can see his face among my friends.

We have made a decision at Pensito Review to follow this story wherever it might lead

Buck spent childhood summers in Polk County, Florida, where the vicious crime recently occurred, and serves as our ambassador to an area neither Jon nor I know well.

Jon’s combined sense of justice and mind like a screenwriter/detective won’t take the official version of the killing at face value. And the fact he is himself gay might help him smell rats that would rustle past straight people unsniffed.

In my initial post on Ryan’s murder, I noted that the local newspaper report, in turn repeated by other news outlets, summed up a story with i’s that don’t dot and t’s that don’t cross. As postulated: Ryan was out cruising for a pickup late one night and made a move on two straight guys. They rebuffed his advances by stabbing him 20 times, dumping his body on the side of a road, and stealing his car but later torching it and abandoning it on a dock one town over. Another angle was of a criminal alliance by the three, involving check forging and drugs.

One of those six degrees moments came for me as I read all this. Years ago, a friend of mine was married to a guy who went on to play the squirrelly preacher in the movie, “The Laramie Project,” Michael Emerson. Because Mike was in it, I saw the movie more than once, and the story of the murder of a Wyoming man, Matthew Shepard, allegedly for propositioning straight men, is a bit ingrained. When I read about Ryan, it was deja vu all over again.

After my post, people who knew and loved Ryan came forward to refute the for-publication version, adding many more questions to a growing list compiled by the three of us at PR.

We have made a decision at Pensito Review to follow this story wherever it might lead. So far, little has been written about the suspects, currently jailed without bail, and awaiting the start of a first degree murder trial whose outcome could be death. Please check back if, like us, you want to know what really happened. And why.

Where Not to Stay: Affordable Suites’ Corporate Policy Forbids Renting to Gays

Jon Ponder


This story (which I saw over at the Blend) points up the fact that it is perfectly legal to discriminate against gay people in many states, including especially South Carolina:

‘No, we don’t rent to gay people at all.'”
— Affordable Suites

A gay couple looking to rent a hotel room say they were turned away because of their sexuality.

“She wasn’t discreet about it,” said Jason Pickel, referring to a hotel employee. “She was not apologetic. She just said, ‘We do not rent to gay people.'”

For the past two and a half years, Pickel and Darren Black Bear have been in a committed relationship. During a search for a temporary home, the couple says it went to Affordable Suites of America, a long-term stay hotel located on Gion Street in Sumter [S.C.].

“We were inquiring about the price, deposits, extra person fee, and she asked who the room was going to be for, and I said for my partner and I,” Pickel said. “She said, ‘Oh we don’t rent to multiple people of the same sex.’ I said, so you don’t rent to gay couples? She said, ‘No, we don’t rent to gay people at all.'”

The website for Affordable Suites of America states the company does not allow children or pets in its suites, but there is no mention of same sex couples.

A reporter from the news department at television station in Columbia, S.C., posed as prospective renter and called Affordable Suites to check on the story:

The receptionist who answered the phone told us the following: “Our policy is we don’t rent to two people of the same sex if we only have one bed.”

Reporter: “Is that your policy?”

Affordable Suites: “That’s corporate policy because they only have one sleeping area.”

Reporter: “Okay, but they can’t share the bed?”

Affordable Suites: “I suppose they could, but most men don’t want to.”

Here is what is says on the Affordable Suites FAQ:

Can I bring my dog?

No. We love pets, but we do not allow them as guests.

How about my kids?

We are glad to allow children as visitors only. Our properties are all-adult and a maximum of two people per suite.

So, I can’t pile my buddies in the room and allow them to sleep on the floor?

No.

No pets, kids, buddies or gays. Got it.