By David Futrelle
On Sunday evening, a man dressed as a FedEx employee knocked on the door of the house of federal judge Esther Salas. When the judge’s husband and son opened the door, the man shot them both, killing the son.
According to the Daily Beast, law enforcement sources are saying that the shooter was Men’s Rights attorney Roy Den Hollander, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Monday morning.
Hollander, the New York Times reports, brought a case before the judge in 2015 concerning male-only draft registration. [See CORRECTION note below]
A publicity-seeking activist attorney, Hollander was perhaps best known for a series of lawsuits taking aim at “Ladies Nights” at bars and clubs, which he felt discriminated against men. (He appeared on the Colbert Report once as a “Difference Maker” eager to show off his hip-hop dance moves.) He also sued a nightclub claiming that it was a human rights violation to be forced to pay $350 for a bottle of vodka. In 2016, he sued an assortment of big names in the news business, claiming they had committed “wire fraud” by broadcasting “fake news” about Donald Trump.
I’ve written about him several times, describing the controversy over a “male studies” course he thought he was slated to teach in Australia (the University in question said it had never approved the course in the first place). Hollander later sued two Australian journalists — in the lawsuit he described them as “modern-day, book-burning, Bacchae reporters from down-under” — for allegedly posting falsehoods about him and getting him fired from the teaching gig the school says he was never actually hired for.
But among some Men’s Rights activists the man was a hero. Paul Elam of A Voice for Men once praised him for
putting his name on the line and his license to practice law at work, taking on everything from financial discrimination against men by nightclubs in “Ladies Nights” to Columbia University’s Women Studies Program which he contends more resembles a religion than not. …
[A]s much as I loathe the idea of anyone claiming authority on what a “real” man is, if I had to venture a guess, it would be men like Hollander.
A Voice for Men also published an article by him back in 2010, making him the first alleged murderer to be linked directly to the hate site.
Strangely, only a week ago another prominent Men’s Rights attorney, a man named Marc Angelucci, was gunned down outside his house in San Bernardino County, California. No suspects have been named, but I can’t help but wonder if Hollendar was somehow involved in this murder as well.
I will likely follow up on both of these stories as they develop.
H/T — @EyesOnTheRight
CORRECTION: I originally reported that the Daily Beast said he had a pending case before the judge; other news outlets, including the NYT, are saying it was in 2015, so I altered a sentence to say that.
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@Naglfar
Well it wasn’t entirely my fault with the oral sex, my husband bucked his hips when he was getting close and it happened. I’m small person and he is not in the pants area so it can cause some problems. The yawning one happened in the middle of class during a lecture. Not my finest moment.
@Lainy
To be clear, I’m not saying it was your fault. Unexpected stuff happens in sex.
@Naglfar
It’s alright, I wasn’t saying that you did think it was my fault. injuries during sex are a part of life, whether you are a gentle lover or into the BDSM, shit can happen.