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Loading ...Report: Anti-gay violence on rise
08.05.2008 9:58am EDT
(New York City) The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs said Tuesday that the number of violent crimes against LGBT people is up significantly in 2008.
The coalition supports local LGBT organizations in their work to end violence.Since the February murder of 15 year-old Lawrence King and the brutal beating of Duanna Johnson, there have been at least 13 brutal and violent LGBT hate crimes throughout the country. The organization added that the reported crimes only may be a small number of the total, since many LGBT people are reluctant to go to police, and many of the attacks that are reported are not listed by authorities as hate crimes.
The NCAVP said that the growing hate crimes may indicate a frightening trend of increases in both the number and severity of anti-LGBT violence.
“This is extremely disturbing and saddening. We are witnessing what appears to be an increase in both the occurrence and severity of violence motivated by racism, homophobia, and transphobia,” said Sharon Stapel, Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.
Many of the incidents occurred in late June and July, when LGBT visibility is high during gay pride celebrations.
The report documents the following reported incidents:
- June 18, Memphis, Tenn. Police security camera footage is obtained and released by the attorney for a transgender woman, Duanna Johnson. The video shows Memphis Police officers beating Duanna Johnson in the booking area of a local jail. The beating took place in February after Johnson refused to respond when officers called her “faggot” and “he-she.” One officer punched her with handcuffs wrapped around his knuckles, splitting her skull open. He then maced her.
- June 28, New York City. A gay man is harassed on a subway platform and beaten on the subway after boarding at Christopher Street.
- July 1, Memphis, Tenn. The body of a transgender, African-American woman, Ms. Whitaker, is found near a daycare center.
- July 2, Greeley Colo. Police sergeant Kell Hulsey and his son Dan Hulsey are accused of attacking a man they perceived to be gay, beating him bloody with a bottle. A witness to the attack said: “I heard him say ‘I’m a Greeley cop and I’m a mean (expletive),’ and then he hit him.” Kell Hulsey then allegedly fled the scene. He was put on administrative leave but as of July 9, no charges had been filed.
- July 7, Queens, NY. Father Braxton is beaten while protecting a group of LGBT youth living at Carmen’s Place, a shelter for homeless youth that he coordinates.
- July 12, Central New York. A man who is a self-described neo-Nazi is arrested for allegedly breaking into the home of 65 a year-old gay man at midnight while he slept. The victim was able to flee his home before it was torched and completely destroyed by the assailant.
- July 17, Greeley, Colo. The body of Angie Zapata, an 18-year-old Latina transgender woman is found. She was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. 31-year-old suspect Allen Andrade was arrested on July 31 and charged with first degree murder as a hate crime.
- July 17, Dallas Tex. Jimmy Lee Dean is beaten in an anti-gay assault by two men not far from his home. His injuries were so severe that he was in intensive care and could not be interviewed or identified until July 22. The suspect is not currently being charged with a hate crime.
- July 25, Upstate New York. A man from out-of-state was visiting family and was severely beaten by two men who shouted anti-gay slurs while kicking him, breaking 10 bones in his face.
- July 27, Knoxville, Tenn. Two people killed and seven wounded in a shooting that took place at a Unitarian church. The shooting appears to be at least partially anti-gay motivated.
- July 29, Staten Island, NY. A large group of men verbally and physically assaulted and then stabbed a man they perceived to be gay.
These and the many other lesser incidents that go unreported from all over the western hemisphere are the symptom of an international hardening of anti-gay sentiment. Tolerance is no longer being stressed as a virtue in communities and public institutions and unfortunately this has left room for more negative attitudes to flourish. Legal systems in cities and counties and even at the national level over the last fifteen years have become more willing to investigate and prosecute instances of anti-gay violence but punishing the guilty is only a small part of the solution. Public campaigns against violence and intolerance must be funded by public and private sources alike and an emphasis on diversity and appreciation for diversity must again become a top priority for societies that consider themselves civilized. The alternative is to see an even greater escalation in the frequency and severity of race, gender, sexual orientation based violence.
I post this message as a victim of a gay bashing.
What year is this? How can people continue to hold such vehement hate toward gay and trans people? LGBT tolerance and acceptance needs to be mandatory for all public and private schools.
“How can people continue to hold such vehement hate toward gay and trans people?”
There is one answer that comes immediately to mind: Organized Religion. While I concede that there are times that organized religion has occasionally had a positive impact on various individuals and groups, it is also the source of much hatred and injustice. When one is raised from childhood into a system that demands blind obedience by virtue of faith to those in authority, many times one becomes incapable of thinking logically for themselves. When one of the messages you are taught tells you that GLBT people are living embodiments of evil and sin, that their existance is an affront to your God and that the GLBT community is less than human it is quite easy to understand HOW these people come to hate us. They have been programmed to do so, usually from early childhood. When you factor in that in many of their religious texts condone and even encourage removing undesirables with lethal violence such as stoning one to death, then it is to be expected this tradition of honoring their god will continue by the more extreme element of the religious fringe. Fortunately we have laws preventing the majority of these lunatics from making “Kill the Fag” a daily event in the publc square, but when a society allows an individual or group’s civil rights and equality to be decided by majority vote then the door is open to all possibilities. When these false phophets such as Robertson, Dobson and Falwell tell their followers that the GLBT community is the reason for the 911 attacks, that our “lifestyle” is the cause of our soldiers dying, that AIDS is a judgement from their god, then the more obvious question should be “How can they not hate us?” In their minds we are responsible for the deaths of their friends and family members so killing one of us becomes a matter of protecting their loved ones. History has shown again and again that a combination of religion, greed, ignorance and fear has signaled the onslaught of many crusades and holy wars and make no mistake, this is a war. While some of the sheep in the religious herd may beging to question the morality of their dogma, there will always be those devoted masses who find that serving a wrathful god is a very convenient and justifiable excuse to committ all manner of atrocities upon their fellow human beings.
Following up on TigerTzu’s remarks, it is CLEARLY religion that is the enemy of all humanity, gay or straight. It is the true home of hate. What very little good it has done is drowned by the blood it has spilt to feather the nests and further the ends of its priests and pharisees. Christianity is merely the worst of a bad bunch. Any group of people whose holiest symbol is an instrument of excruciating torture and slow death (the crucifix) and whose holiest sacrament is to cannibalisticaly consume the “symbolic” blood and flesh of its inspiration - well, it can be many things, but civilized is not one of them.
The scope of the report was on the increase of gay hate crimes; because the report does not compare or contrast the increase with violent crimes in general (but does mention increase in hate crimes against other classes) it is very possible that hate crimes are up not due to wider disdain against gays but because all violent crimes are up. It has been shown time and again when the economy declines so does the civility of human behavior.
Another point I would like to make; if many of those people attacked, legally carried a firearm then more then likely they would not have been attacked. In the case that they were attacked (while caring a gun) at least they would be able to defend themselves. The responsibility of individual security begins with the individual. Gays and lesbians should buy a gun and get trained as well to properly use it. The 2nd Amendment gives you the right to defend yourself with a firearm; so exercise that right wisely.
Tomato… ” LGBT tolerance and acceptance needs to be mandatory for all public and private schools.”
What are you the thought police!!! Dude that comment is just as dogmatic and hateful as anything else the religious right throws. The only thing that should be taught in school is reading writing math and history.
Yes it is true many people do need home training. “It is wrong to hit anyone no matter what you may think of them” that should be taught but as a gay man I know it is not the governments place to tell what a private school should and should not do. Just as it isn’t the church’s place to tell you what you should and should not do 2 wrongs do not make a right; and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I am an older,white, very androynous semi trans male who has gone through alot of assaults,verbal and physical.The worst decade for me was the 70’s,then 80’s and 90’s.I was attacked on buses and couldn’t go any where without hateful comments and stares.I noticed that I was much safer,from 2000 on.I might have 1 incident a year now.I live in a large city,and the last barrage against me,was a bunch of punks{white} in a car yelling the “F”word at me as I walked down the street.Always a shock and always hurting,Im just glad it isn’t like its not as bad as it was.
Hate crimes has been on the rise as whole for several years now. This quote is from an article from a 2007 FBI report “Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005. Nearly 62 percent of the crimes were racially motivated and almost 19 percent were motivated by religious bias. Crimes against gays and lesbians were the third larges reported, at 15.5 percent. Of that figure, more than half of the crimes were committed against gay men. The figures also show that two percent of sexuality bias crimes were committed against heterosexuals. The FBI report did not identify bias crimes against transsexuals.”
Duanna Johnson was shot and killed execution style in Memphis, TN last week. Witnesses reported 3 men running from the scene. No suspects…(the two officers who beat her had been fired and the lawsuit was about to come down when she was killed.) She was leaving the following day to move back to Chicago. It’s very sad.