Anti-Gay Agitator Feigns Innocence

The victim is not flipping out over this. Maybe we need to chuckle at the predictable outcropping of Catholic Citizenship's exec attacking a small woman at a Worcester anti-SSM rally.

An article in today's Boston Globe reports that by phone Larry Cirignano claims he is innocent, innocent he tells them, despite all the witnesses. As the paper puts it:

In a telephone interview last night, Cirignano acknowledged guiding the woman away from the event with his arm on her back, but said he had a portfolio in his left hand and did not knock her down.

He said he did not see her fall. "I promise you, I did not throw her to the ground."

Among things we might learn from this:

• Some folk just will not take responsibility for what they do. They may even repeat their denial enough times that it migrates to self-delusion.
• Some of us are ever eager to claim that anyone we know even slightly as neighbor, coworker or relative could never mug, steal, kill or whatever. It's the Jeffrey Dahmer effect, as when the murderous cannibal's neighbors attested to his certain innocence. They knew him. There's much chatter over the incident at Blue Mass Group, including this phenomenon -- "I've met Larry on a number of occasions and I cant possibly imagine him purposefully inflicting any type of physical harm on anyone else. He is very conservative, to be sure, but not a hateful or violent person." That person demands to see the video! LOL.

So, there's Larry's take on it. Hustling down from the podium, pushing 30 feet into a crowd, pushing the much smaller, unarmed and surprised woman, who fell to the ground, was no foul on his part. Even though that seems to cover the legal definitions of assault and of battery, he's innocent because he had a notebook.

Hmm. Think. Think. Think.

If you were the Worcester Police Chief, Gary J. Gemme, how would you interpret this? What would you instruct your officers and the district attorney? How would you respond if people were to write or call you at:

Police Headquarters
Lincoln Square
Worcester, MA 01608

(508) 799-8606

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Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, same-sex marriage, Catholic Citizenship, Worcester, Sharon Loy, Cirignano