Weekly News Post #21

Set On Fire In The Name Of Protest 

David Buckel, an important LGTBQ rights lawyer set himself on fire in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on 14th April. Buckel killed himself as a protest to the world's usage of  fossil fuel at the expense of the environment. In the Brandon v. County of Richardson, Buckel was the lead attorney arguing on behalf of Brandon Teena; a murdered transgender man whom Buckel successfully argued that the county sheriff failed to protect. In the 1999 film "Boys Don't Cry", starting Hilary Swank as Brandon teena, the case was made famous.

After working this case, Buckel went on to work for Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organisation whose aim is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights for the LGBT community, and everyone who lives with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work. Lambda Legal released a mournful statement on their website after hearing about his death.

Before setting himself on fire, Buckel sent multiple news outlets a message explaining his intentions and why. In an email received by the Times, Buckel explained how "pollution ravages our planet, oozing inhabitability via air, soil, water and weather". He followed this by saying that most humans "breathe air made unhealthy from fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result- my early death by fossil fuels reflect what we are doing to ourselves". Police also found a note left in a shopping trolley near the body which had a similar message written inside.

This sad event highlights issues the world has with such resources as fossil fuels, and that if have already formed protest movements to spread their message, and people are willing to take their own lives as a form of protest, then surely it's a bigger issue that needs to be looked into further. One movement, BreakFree, is aiming to bring people together to "stand in the form of a unified people-powered movement". BreakFree's "objective is calling for an end to the dirty energy era and for a just, hopeful and renewable-powered future". After researching into fossil fuels and the effects it can have, I believe the world's consumption needs to be looked at and cut. We should try and find a new, effective, and renewable way to produce and supply energy. The US got 82.8% of their energy from fossil fuels in 2015- the US is the largest consumer of fossil fuels. In 2015, 80.71% of energy used in the UK derived from fossil fuels, although this is a lot, it was a decrease as in 2008/2009, 90% of energy came from fossil fuels.

Looking back on the article itself, the title includes the fact that David Buckel was a LGBTQ lawyer. To some people, this fact may seem to cheapen the story; it seems that the article deliberately showed the fact he had connections to the LGBTQ community to lessen the impact the story should have had. On the other hand the inclusion of "LGBTQ lawyer" in the title is to purely show the importance of David Buckel and could actually help gain a larger reading audience. Furthermore, it would help to reach out to a certain type of audience; the LGBTQ community. It can also be argued that the article had a positive representation of the LGBTQ community as although it's a tragic event that happened, it wasn't anything negative about the community instead, showed a more compassionate, caring side; at least on the behalf of Buckel.


Reference;
Bowden, John. (2018). Top LGBT rights lawyer sets himself on fire at Brooklyn park in protest suicide. Available: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/383210-top-lgbt-rights-lawyer-commits-suicide-in-brooklyn-public-park. Last accessed 16th Apr.