NATIONAL HEADLINES: Here’s How Social Media Reacted to Kathryn Knott’s Sentence

Plus: Black male HIV rates climb, and Marco Rubio gets called out on his anti-gay marriage stance.
By ·
Kathryn Knott walks from the criminal justice center Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, in Philadelphia. Knott is charged with taking part in a violent attack on a gay couple.

Kathryn Knott walks from the criminal justice center Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, in Philadelphia.

Kathryn Knott’s sentence was big news around the country.

Kathryn Knott was trending on Twitter yesterday afternoon after being sentenced to five to 10 months in prison and two years of probation. Various national news sources have took an interest in the fact Knott is the daughter of a police chief, and social media commentators questioned the fairness of the verdict:

“How is 5 to 10 months an equitable punishment for maliciously and sadistically beating 2 people — for any reason — never mind one that doesn’t cause anyone any harm?” a New Jersey commentator wrote on our Facebook page. “A wilding gang of Catholic kids break the law and only one of them serves a short prison term essentially for attempted murder. How is that justice?”

A new report reveals that one out of three gay black men in major U.S. cities is HIV-positive.

Black HIV/AIDS research organization amfAR just released an alarming report that shows that 32 percent of gay black men in major U.S. cities (including Philadelphia) are HIV-positive. The report suggests that many factors have contributed to this high number, including a lack of testing, poor healthcare access, and ongoing social stigma surrounding the black community’s understanding of the epidemic. And no, the “DL” (closeted black men contracting the disease and spreading to their female sex partners) isn’t to be blamed, but a lack of proper funding of resources to aid black gay men in practicing safe sex and health measures is.

GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio was confronted over his opposition to same-sex marriage by a gay voter.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio was challenged on his anti-gay marriage rhetoric while on the campaign trail in Manchester, New Hampshire. Timothy Kierstead, a 50-year-old restaurant owner and married gay man, asked Rubio: “Why do you want to put me back in the closet?” The senator’s response was a simple “I don’t,” followed by: “You can live anyway you want.” The exchange got heated when Kierstead continued to show the contradictions on Rubio’s policy suggestions on the issue, which led to the senator walking away. Kerstead then publically dismissed him as a “typical politician.”

Read More About: