Hate Crimes: Opinions Founded on Prejudice
By Josh Aterovis

The great Scottish judge and literary critic Francis Jeffrey once said, "Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence." He was most likely referring to the ferocity of a verbal argument, but his sentiment holds true in every sense of the word violence. As lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues have come to the forefront on an international scale, organized attacks and violence against the LGBT community has increased exponentially.

Several countries saw violence erupt at their Pride events this year. In July, Erik Shkapars, the executive director Latvia's capital Riga, canceled the city's pride celebration, but a judge ruled that the parade could go on. When several dozen brave gays and lesbians showed up to march through the center of the city demanding justice for sexual minorities, they found themselves vastly outnumbered by anti-gay demonstrators. The protests turned violence when the anti-gay crowd began throwing rotten eggs and insults, and scuffles with the police broke out.

A similar scene played out in Poland a month earlier when more than 2500 people marched through the streets of Warsaw in defiance of the city's mayor, who had also canceled all gay pride celebrations. Once again, eggs and insults were tossed, but that time, marchers were physically attacked by protestors.

Things got even uglier at Jerusalem's pride parade. More than a thousand protestors threw bottles of urine and bags of feces at marchers. Three people were stabbed in a series of attacked by religious extremist.

In Australia, the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby reports that Violence and harassment against gays and lesbians in Victoria is increasing to "unacceptably high levels."

According to Human Rights First, in France, violent hate crimes against gay men more than doubled from 2002 to 2003.

Even in Canada, where gay marriage was recently legalized, violence against gays and lesbians has increased. Criminologist and author Doug Janoff says violence against homosexuals in Canada is more 'frenzied' and intense than that perpetrated against other victims of violent crime.

Unfortunately, the U.S. is at the forefront of anti-gay attacks. This summer was an especially violent one for the LGBT community. In July alone, there were four separate LGBT-related arson attacks around the country. On July 9, a gay-friendly United Church of Christ congregation in Middlebrook, Virginia was damaged in a fire set after the arsonist wrote a message on the exterior of the church calling its members sinners. Two weeks later, the only gay club in Fayetteville, Arkansas was torched for the second time in less than a month. Studio 716 was destroyed by the second blaze. A week later, a gay club in Brownsville, Texas was gutted by fire. Then, just days later, a Florida couple were the victims of a targeted hate crime when their home was set ablaze and "Die Fag" was spray painted on their front steps.

It was a violent summer for gays in New York City as well. There were nearly one hundred attacks on gays in the City this summer. In June and July alone there were 85 violent hate crimes against NYC gays and the number rose almost daily in August. According to the Anti-Violence Project, hate crime against gays were about 6% above average in 2004.

In fact, violence against gays is on the rise on a national level. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs' annual report released in April, reported anti-gay violence rose 4% between 2003 and 2004. Included in the rise in incidents for the year, was an 11% increase in anti-LGBT murders. In 2003, NCAVP's report on hate violence detailed a 26% increase in anti-LGBT violence.

"This year's report has to be viewed as a follow-up to our report from a year ago," Clarence Patton, acting executive director of the NCAVP said. "In the last edition of this report it became all too clear that with respect to violence, the nation's LGBT communities had entered a very new, and very dangerous era in which all of us were under attack at levels not seen in recent years."

So what is at the root of this increased hatred and violence against LGBT people? Certainly, it is partially the result of increased visibility. Violent attacks jumped dramatically following the Supreme Court's decision striking down sodomy laws and Massachusetts's allowing same-sex couples to marry. They continued to rise as many states passed anti-gay ballot initiatives, the President repeatedly called for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and the LGBT community found itself being used as a wedge issue by Right-Wing politicians during the 2004 election process.

Some believe it's even more insidious than mere exposure, however. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force lay the blame on conservative religious groups.

"The literal blood of the thousands of gay people physically wounded by hate during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment," said NGLTF Executive Director Mat Foreman.

He could be right.

Studies have concluded that political hate-driven messages have been directly connected to violence against gay and lesbian people. Constant hate speech from religious leaders demonizing gays and lesbians must have the same effect. Every time Falwell, Dobson, Robertson, or Phelps denounce gays as sinners, they are sowing the seeds of bigotry and reinforcing the prejudice many already feel towards LGBT people.

The most recent example of this came in wake of the devastation of Katrina. An evangelical Christian group that calls itself Repent America made a public statement blaming the hurricane on gays. "Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," director Michael Marcavage said.

When will this cycle of hate and violence end? Only when good people begin to stand up and fight back against the bigotry and intolerance. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once wrote, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."

It's up to us and our allies to bring about change. We must elect fair-minded men and women who will fight for equality in our legislative halls. We must encourage and support those politicians who are striving to protect and improve the lives of all minorities. We need to applaud those brave religious leaders and groups who stand up and denounce discrimination and bigotry. Most importantly, we need to make our voices heard. Speak up for what you believe is right. Do not become a part of the appalling silence. We cannot afford to allow those opinions founded on prejudice to go unchallenged. 


© Josh Aterovis, All Rights Reserved. Article provided by GayLinkContent.com.