This is the story of Travis Jr. and Travis Sr. and how their religious bigotry nearly destroyed a lovely, vibrant young woman. By now most of you are probably aware of the #JusticeforMallory hashtag and the story behind it, but here’s a quick link and quote for the stragglers.

Mallory Owens, 23, was invited to the home of her girlfriend’s family to celebrate Thanksgiving on Nov. 22. Details of what happened were not immediately available, but various activists websites allege that Owens was severely beaten by her girlfriend’s brother, Travis Hawkins Jr.

Travis Sr. the father, lists an MA in Theology from University of Mobile. Also the victim wasn’t just the sister’s girlfriend, it appears she was her fiancé, the victim announced an engagement on Facebook September 9th.

A little over a year ago the father posted this note to facebook:

Minutes ago, my oldest son asked a very pointed question. He asked, “Dad, I’ve escaped death three times in my life, what does God want from me?” I was floored and fully ill equipped to answer such a question. I was silent for a second, and then, I remembered my own personal struggle with God and his purpose for me. Eleven years ago, during the summer, I was very ill and incapable of working. The children in the neighborhood came over almost daily to help me build a mosaic patio. They thoroughly enjoyed playing in the mortar and designing bricks in assorted shapes. But, as much as their company lifted my spirits, I was aching inside. My life was a wreck. The business I spent the last ten years building was gone. My family and I struggled for continuity, love and peace. Most of all, I needed to know, what is God’s purpose for me. I prayed night and day. I assured God, “I will do whatever you want me to do!” I felt and saw no reply.
One day, while I was alone, I asked God again, “Please show me what you want from me.” In my arrogance, I believed myself to have great potential and worth to the world…all of which was unfulfilled. I had drawn string lines to level my bricks surrounding my patio. Sweat dripping down my face, hands full of dirt and working with as much precision as I was capable, God nudged me deep within. My purpose was as simple as the proper placement of the next brick. In disbelief, I cried out, “What do you mean?” Again in a silent nudge, God replied, “Your purpose is right in front of you. Your purpose is simply to do the next right thing!”
Dear God, I will do my level best! Funny, God has used bricks as examples twice in my life, but that’s another story. Our mutual purpose, my friend, is always right in front of us.

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Travis M. Hawkins Jr. likes this.

Wait, before you think I’m coming down too harshly on the father, the story of these God bothering weirdos gets even stranger. The article below comes from January 2011, which is nine months before the date on the note written above by the father:

“The 17-year-old juvenile and his father were arguing. It started inside in the house,” Officer Christopher Levy said.

Police said the father, Travis Hawkins, then got a 9mm gun and started shooting.

“He fired one shot at the floor of the inside of the house. The argument then went outside. He discharged the second time in the air and then actually after a third shot, then shot his son in the chest. When they were outside, the son appears to have tried to take the gun away from the dad when he shot him in the chest,” Levy added.

“It doesn’t take much for him to snap and go off,” the neighbor added.

Police said the argument should have never escalated to gunfire, and what happened there wasn’t the first crime Hawkins was accused of.

“What we know about him is he actually has a history of domestic violence involving his children,” Levy said.

That’s right, when the son came to his father asking about about escaping death three times, the deaths escaped were at his father’s hands. Here’s the followup to the shooting story which details another, separate attempted murder charge.

“The judge issued a bond of $50,000 with no contact to the family member that had been shot,” Rich said.

Neighbors felt like that was a good thing because of Hawkins’ history.

“He does have an extensive history of substance abuse charges as well as alcohol related charges. He also has one prior offense which was an attempted murder. However that was in 2000 and the state could not go forward because the only witness was his wife and she refused to testify against him, so we were not able to go forward with the charges in that case,” added Rich.

FOX10 News asked Rich who the attempted murder was on?

“Another family member. I’m not sure what family member it was, I think it was his own child but I’m not sure,” Rich said.

So, a year after being given the sermon on God, bricklaying, and doing the next right thing in front of you, which Travis Jr. apparently “liked,” he beats his sister’s girlfriend half to death, smashing her face so badly that she required reconstructive surgery. It appears that for neither of these men was the “next right thing” ever framed or limited by the Golden Rule. Commandments and The Scripture were to be taken literally, Sr. raised Jr. to live in a world defined by the extremes of obedience and abomination.

The Word made flesh. Mallory Owens was a stunningly gorgeous young woman. Now she has metal plates in her face because her cheekbones have been thoroughly crushed by a bigot’s fists. Remember the ugliness of what was done to her, and realize that it was in no small part made possible by everyday people simply accepting bigotry against gays and lesbians without protest. Every single time such bigotry gets a pass, when people vote for bigots, support or condone official bigotry under the law, or attend bigoted religious services they are choosing to perpetuate an environment that incubates and nurtures such hatred.