James Lantz, 64-year-old gay man with terminal cancer – known onlineAngry gay grandpa” – He was ordered to pay $16,575 in damages and a $200 fine after clasping his hand at the Pennsylvania Capitol last year to protest anti-transgender lawmakers.
Lantz later accepted a plea deal in which prosecutors reduced vandalism charges to misdemeanor charges. In exchange, he will plead guilty to criminal mischief and agree to pay compensation for damages to the railings and nearby seats in the state senator’s visitor gallery, and will serve a year on probation. Pennlive.
Lantz spoke in court and told Dauphin County Judge William Tully that he held his hand on the railing of a Pennsylvania Senator to protest against lawmakers who believe he put transgender lives at risk through anti-LGBTQ legislation.
“Even one voice felt that if the cycle was interrupted, it could save one story – here or nationwide,” Lantz said. “I believed that time was the essence. I knew I had to act. I also knew I had limited time. I have stage 4 cancer.”
Lantz told Talley he is a documentary filmmaker worried about the happiness of gay and trans young people.
“I remember what I endured as a closet teen in the 1970s,” he said. “I don’t want to see another LGBTQ child commit suicide and die. Our children suffer physically, mentally and emotionally, and I did what I felt I had to do.”
Lantz said five transgender youth committed suicide in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and died in 18 months of stretching between 2022 and 2024.
On April 29, 2024, Landz traveled to the state capitol in Harrisburg to draw attention to his concerns. From the Visitors Gallery on the 4th floor, he disrupts the Senate session for a few minutes. I screamed at the Aument, threw a flyer on the Senate floor, and held my hand on the railing.
“I just wanted to hear in peace,” Lantz told the court in his guilty plea.
But prosecutors at the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office were having problems with his protest.
“Our office disagrees that damaging property is a form of peaceful protest,” said Alisa Davidson, a prosecutor with the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office, in an interview with Penn Live.
Davidson said the judicial agreement was fair as he recovered the money he spent on repairs. She submitted an itemized listing related to the damages that Rantz allegedly caused: $3,775 to remove glue from the railing, $11,250 to replace the carpet, and $1,550 to repair the wooden trim on the railing. She said the cost was high as the chairs, carpets and railings were historic bone que items and inflated their value.
“Our main focus was reclaiming taxpayer dollars,” Davidson added.
Despite pleading guilty, Lantz opposed the compensation he was ordered to pay, claiming that the state appears to value the cost of his historic chairs more than the lives of five transgender youths.
Judge Tully also expressed skepticism about the high cost of repairs, but he said he was not entitled to assess historic property and ultimately levied a sentence.
“You have the right to free speech,” he told Rantz. “But you can’t listen to people.”
Although Lantz accepted his guilty plea, Mark Clatterback is a Lancaster County resident, a Lancaster County resident, one of the transgender youths whose 22-year-old son Ashton allegedly died in suicide, and sat in a court gallery in support. At a press conference after the hearing, Clutterback read out loud. Lancasteronline A few months before his death.
“I beg you to politicians (and others) who defend and spread hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community. Why are you so scared of us? Ashton was writing in response to laws proposed by the Republicans to either limit transgender rights or erase transgender vision.
“Your actions cannot change who we are. All you can change is your own attitude towards us,” he added. “Restricting access to gender-affirming care and other protections will not make your children less transgender.” It only exacerbates their emotional and mental distress.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
