There is a certain irony that the Academy Awards ceremony will pay tribute to Brokeback Mountain, a movie, which, at least in a small way, deals with the lack of justice for the murders of gay men.

It would be nice if Ang Lee, Heath Ledger or Jake Gyllenhaal used the platform to urge the U.S. Senate, and the president, to sign a Senate bill that would make it a federal crime to kill/injure someone because of the victim’s sexual orientation (a hate crime).

The sad reality is that in the last 10 years, three local gay men (Rob Johnson, Lincoln Astin and Jack Merker) were killed by men they met. And there are more.

And now we have the latest example of a gay man allegedly killed because he was gay. As reported by Russ O’Brien here last week, a 19-year-old Marine named James Alexander Hardy, of New Mexico, was arrested Feb. 11 for the murder of Ray Catolico.

Hardy was detained by military police at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, and pleaded not guilty to murder in court Feb. 16. Images from a bank’s surveillance camera show Hardy using one of Catolico’s credit cards, which was taken and used after his death.

Police found the 39-year-old Catolico stuffed under a bathroom sink in his Little Italy apartment.

Persons acquainted with Catolico suggested he used the popular gay hook-up Web site adam4adam.com. Since Catolico’s death, members of the community have contacted the Gay & Lesbian Times asking why his death is not being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Assuming the worst, that Hardy murdered Catolico for money or because Catolico was gay, the California Penal Code allows the district attorney to charge the murder with special circumstances.

And if District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis finds those special circumstances exist in this case, she certainly will charge Hardy so that, upon conviction of the murder, the jury would then decide whether Hardy deserves the death penalty.

Within the D.A.’s Office, Bonnie has several senior prosecutors who have prosecuted cases involving gay or transgender victims. And they are the most difficult cases.

They know what’s likely to happen in a case like this. It’s pretty much scripted.

The defendant confesses that he was, in some way, responsible for the death of the victim. But he acted in self-defense. The victim, being a 39-year-old gay man in the company of a 19-year-old Marine, couldn’t resist his sexual urges, and he naturally made a pass at the Marine. Regardless of how they met, Hardy was just there to “hang out.” He’s not gay, of course, because he’s a Marine.

Hardy, shocked at the aggressive nature of the pass, reacted in self-defense. Somehow the murder weapon enters the equation and the defendant acted in the face of deadly force. The jury acquits Hardy of murder.

If that doesn’t fly, then it’s simply the standard gay panic defense. The victim makes a pass, and the defendant, so overcome with fear, uses deadly force to repel the aggressor.

It’s a good gamble if you’re a young Marine in San Diego. That’s because the likely jury will end up with folks who are retired military or others who simply don’t like gay people. Their attitude is simply that the victim is a lecherous gay queen and the victim is only 19 and is serving his country. Remember that it only takes one “not guilty” vote to hang a jury.

If convicted of manslaughter, Hardy goes to prison for a few years and gets treated like a celeb because he killed a queer. He can get married, have kids, and walk out in a few years.

These cases are like a modern day To Kill a Mockingbird. People like Bonnie Dumanis and David Rubin play the role of Atticus Finch.

It’s truly remarkable that a legal system allows this “homosexual” and “transgender” panic defense. A bill is pending in the Legislature to try to legislate these out of existence.

But it’s not the typical foes that are fighting us on this. It’s really the criminal defense bar and liberal legislators. Some of them need to be reminded of the assassination of Harvey Milk. The murderer was Dan White, who claimed he couldn’t have intentionally killed Milk. Rather, he suffered from “diminished capacity,” because he had eaten so many Twinkies that the sugar intake altered his state of mind.

The only time since Stonewall that the gay community rioted was over White’s acquittal of murder. And the Democratically-controlled Legislature quickly passed legislation banning the use of the “diminished capacity” defense.

We need to get this law passed now.