Lgbtq Hate Crimes

Hate Crimes: crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or religion(Federal officials, 2011). Hate crimes have been around for centuries. A hate crime is considered any malicious crime that is derived from hatred towards a certain group of people. African Americans are still victim to hate crimes, even after the Civil Rights movement. James Byrd Jr. suffered a prime example of a gruesome hate crime in 1998, because of his African American descent. Three white men, allegedly, chained Byrd to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him down a gravel road, leaving his body parts severed and bloody (Marty,1998). Recently, a new group of people has been targeted by the hateful view

Prior to 2005, Canada didn’t always have a positive outlook towards the legalization of same-sex marriage. In fact, homosexuality was considered a taboo and crime prior to the 1960’s, in which the person being accused would usually be admitted to jail for years at a time with death sometimes being a possibility during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. All throughout the 20th century, homosexuals have always been victims of violence and discriminated against based on their sexual orientation since many same-sex stereotypes carried fear and ignorance. For instance, one stereotype individuals used to believe was that homosexuals were “sex-crazed maniacs”. Thus, homosexuals were usually removed from government and law enforcement. Despite this negativity in

The phrase “Hate Crime” rose to prominence in the 1980s, in an attempt to describe crimes against someone based on their race or religion. These crimes were motivated, at least in part and sometimes in entirety, by bias against African Americans and Jews. Since that time, the term has expanded to include illegal acts against a person, organization, and their property based on the criminal’s bias against the victim’s minority class. These minority classes include race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or gender reassignment. These are specific crimes because not only are they crimes against someone, they are committed based on who someone is (Martin 1996). This paper will discuss the history of hate crimes and the response of law enforcement officers to hate crimes.

In this Gays and lesbians deserve equal protection against the hate crimes that happen in the world. Aren't we told as young children and also throughout life to treat others as we would want to be treated? So why are some decimated against based on sexual preference? The statistics show the percentages of the hate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community. The violence that they are pitted against, due to people's discrimination against them, in life. And I will also mention the discrimination that the LGBT community goes through and what they miss out based on sexual preference.

Twenty-four-year-old Daniel Zamudio was walking through a park in Santiago, Chile, when four men appeared and began to burn Daniel with cigarettes and beat him with rocks and glass bottles, injuring him in various ways (Saul). The men used the broken glass to cut off a part of his ear, as well as, cut swastikas into his skin because Zumudio was gay (Saul). Less than a month later, Daniel Zamudio passed away due to this violent hate crime (Saul). Although only few instances of homophobic crimes are reported, FBI statistics show that attacks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, and pansexual (LGBT+) community, such as the Orlando gay nightclub shooting, are one of the common occurrences, right behind racial attacks (Saul). LGBT people have made outstanding progress on their goal to reach equality. For example, same-sex couples now have the right to adopt children in all the states of America and thanks to President Obama, federal workers cannot be discriminated upon sexual orientation or gender identity (Clinton). Although the LGBT+ community has civil rights that should be protected, due to society’s narrow-mindedness, the LGBT+ community gets treated as second class citizens.

There are several laws that have been put in place over the years about hate crimes. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the first federal hate crime statute. This statute made it a crime to use, or threaten to use force willfully interfere with any persons because of race, color, religion, or national origin and because the person is participating in federally protected activity such as public, education, employment, jury service, travel, or the enjoyment of public accommodations, or helping another person do so (justice.gov, 2017). In 1968, another act was signed into law that made it a crime to interfere with housing rights because of someone 's race, color, religion, sex or national origin. (civil rights act

Imagine feeling unsafe wherever you go, fearing that you’re going to be the next victim of a hate crime. Being terrified that your family is going to get a call saying that your body was found lifeless, bloody, and nearly unidentifiable on the side of the road. Gay and trans youth are constantly fearing that they are going to be killed, beaten, , kicked out, or unaccepted for something they cannot control. LGBT+ people are twice as likely to be victims of hate crimes than any other minority. Despite these statistics, the media hardly covers their deaths or beatings. Justice should not be taken away from an individual due to their sexual orientation, preference, or gender because we are all equal, regardless of circumstances.

Hate crimes amongst the LGBTQ community have been a product stemmed from prejudices for centuries. The Stonewall Riots were the true catalyst of the Gay Rights Movement, and without it, many laws that affect LGBTQs would still be enforced. The Stonewall Riots were a congregation of events that garnered much attention during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. As many people were fighting for equality for African-Americans and an end to racial segregation, LGBTQ people were inspired “throughout the country to organize in support of gay rights” (2). The Stonewall Riots erupted at a well-known bar, Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village as police were wrongfully discriminating against and harassing crowds.

Domestic violence is also associated with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010). Domestic violence statistics stated by Domestic shelters (2014) notes, “The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV, n.d), two out of every five gay and bisexual men experience abusive partner relationships, comparable to number of heterosexual women who endure domestic violence. The Coalition also found that 50 percent of lesbian women have experienced or will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. In a survey of one year’s time, 44 percent of victims of LBGTQ domestic violence identified as men while 36 percent identified as women (para, 2.).” Moreover, CDC (2014) found that, “45% of lesbian and 61% bisexual women compared to 35% of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and /or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. As well 26% of gay men and 37% bisexual men-compared to 29% of heterosexual men experience the same (para.1).” Staggering numbers for domestic violence with LGBT people, indicates there is a need for laws to be put in place for

Jody Dobrowski aged 24, was brutally murdered in South London in 2005 by two men who believed him to be homosexual. After such a severe, barbaric, inhumane act of homophobic violence, his own mother could not identify him, and his fingerprints had to be used. The judge described this as ‘homophobic thuggery’. Ian Baynham aged 62.Viciously assaulted by a young girl and boy; he punched him, whilst she repeatedly stamped and kicked him screaming ‘faggot’. His injuries were later fatal and he tragically died in hospital 18 days later. Christopher Schliach, Henry Bright, Jaap Bornkamp, Geoffrey Windsor, Daniel Jenkinson and a shocking many more, are all clear examples of hate crimes being metered out on gay men. Homophobia does kill, and isn’t reducing in frequency.

Based on the discussion from the Williams Institute, it is evident that there continues to be a prevalence of discrimination among groups that are not viewed as culturally acceptable in our county. In this article, it is reported that people are more likely to experience hate crimes based on their sexual orientations. For instance, 44% of people reported experience physical violence (without a weapon) because of their sexual orientation, and 80% had been verbally harassed (Herek, 2009). Although the Hates Crimes Statistic Law became effective in 1990, the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ community continues to affect their everyday life. It may defer a person by identified their sexual orientation for the fear of being discriminating in the workplace,

Almost every person in America can pinpoint a time when they saw a news segment about some hate-based crime that was committed. Although some may argue that all crimes in the same category should be treated equally, hate crime should be punished more severely because the law requires it and it promotes safety and equality in communities.

Another factor contributing to the breaking of this country is the split between those who accept members of the LGBT community and those who don’t. Different opinions stand on whether two people of the same sex should be given the right to legally marry, “a majority of Americans (62%) support same-sex marriages, while 32% oppose it” (Mitchell). In other words, about one-hundred and three million U.S citizens are opposed to the idea that homosexual members of the LGBT community should be allowed to marry whomever they please. Unfortunately, these opinions against same-sex couples provoke hate crimes such as the one in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2017. A homophobic group of guys attacked Sabrina Hooks, a lesbian woman who was

The mini series When We Rise is pop culture representation of hate crimes where the LGBTQ community was oppressed by society and that caused them to repel and fight for their rights as human beings to “end the war”. Although this show only includes four episodes, we see the strong impact on different ways that hate crimes could be committed for example, through a psychological view, political view, religious view and how society work as perpetrators to influence society as a whole. Due to the limited amount of pages that we have, I will be only focusing on the first episode. The first episode allows us to examine the root of the hate crimes committed. Therefore, we are capable of viewing the three parts of a hate crime that are interwoven into

“It takes no compromise to give people their rights...it takes no money to respect the individual. It takes no political deal to give people freedom. It takes no survey to remove repression” (Milk). The regulation of LGBT* discrimination in various environments varies by jurisdiction. Many states have established rules that prohibit bias in hiring, promotion, job assignment, termination, compensation and general harassment based on sexual orientation. However, very few of these protections extend to cover sexual identity. The repercussions of these limited protections surfaced from the very beginning in the form of discrimination, attacks and abuse of LGBT* citizens. In fact, over half of US workers in today’s labor force work in a state where it is perfectly legal to fire someone or refuse them employment based on their gender or sexual orientation. Society likes to pretend as though these violent attacks have lessened through the years, though the truth of the matter is that, over the last ten years, though hate crimes in general have gone down, the percentage of hate crime victims targeted based on sexual orientation or gender is on the rise. Many incredible activists have made monumental attempts at understanding the nature of these hate crimes and this discrimination in modern America. However, even the most incredible scholars cannot completely comprehend the nature of the violence until they experience it for themselves, and Clementine Von Radics is one of these