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10 Jul 2008, 6:01 pm / Other
On July 9th, 2008, Herman “June” Roy, 58, of Grand Isle, Maine, pled guilty to the charges of Criminal Trespassing and Criminal Withholding (Kidnapping). His sentence was stern, even thought it was his first offence. The judge said that a monetary fine wouldn’t reflect the severity of the crime, but jail time might. Five days in jail, for which he must pay his time during his service, and donations to a victims fund. He was also found guilty of OUI and his license was suspended for 90 days. He is also in counseling for his addiction to alcohol and for his obvious problem with sexuality, and his life as a whole.
Mr. Roy invaded (the judge used this word, so I feel that I can use it also) my house in March 20, 2008 and proceeded to question me about my sexuality, a subject that seemed to fascinate him to no ends. His questions were dehumanizing, degrading to me, and to my relationship, and to my family. Mr. Roy used homophobic slurs, and stereotypical homophobic jargon. For example, asking if my father or a family member had raped me since I was now in a relationship with a woman. Who was the man and who was the woman in our relationship. Why I didn’t like men anymore. He wanted to ‘’take me upstairs to the bedroom and straighten me out.” Once he left, without me having been physically harmed, the police gave him a warning, to which he didn’t heed. On April 1st, 2008, he once again came to my door. This time he left without getting into the house, the door was locked not to protect me from him, but him from me. With baseball bat in hand, I warned him that if I made it outside, he’d never get up again, and that was a promise. He left and when he arrived home, was served his restraining order, and told to stay home. He did not. Moments later, he was back on the road and the Sheriff arrested him for OUI.
I’m posting this for two reasons. One, if something like this happens to you, any type of harassment for your sexuality, your choice in friends, your choice in jobs, for any reason what so ever, the law can and will work for you. But ONLY if you aren’t too scared to do something about it. People like this are why people stay IN the closet, it’s safer to be hidden away because you never know when someone like this will darken your door step.
The second reason is that after 5 days, he will be back on the streets. Albeit sober, but that can change with one drink. He is not to drive any type of vehicle, from his ATV to a riding lawn mower. I hope that Mr. Roy gets all the help he can, he obviously has problems with his own sexuality, or by other peoples. He has issues with alcohol and I do, sincerely hope that his efforts succeed and he gets the help he needs and deserves.
Even though he didn’t treat ME like a human being, I hope that he turns into a better human being because of this incident. This incident didn’t change anything in my life, I am still me, I won’t hide who I am, or who I love. I do hope it changes him and makes him more mindful of the world around him, and the people he deals with. His problem with my sexuality is just that, HIS problem, not mine.
Mr. Roy did apologize in court to me, but he was unable to make eye contact with me, and I can understand why. Not only was he caught, not only was he going to jail, he is now dealing with very serious personal issues, and I hope he overcomes them.
Janet Marie/theJadedRogue
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