Posted on
Advocate.com October 22, 2010
Ending the Culture of Hate
By Sharon Stapel
http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/10/22/Ending_the_Culture_of_Hate/Suicides. Gay bashings. Targeting and torturing people just because they are gay. It has been a difficult time for any of us who love our kids, our friends, our families, and our neighbors — to watch people we love beaten and killed because of who they are. Yet this is every day for some people — lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who have lived with fear and violence each time they leave the house, go to work, walk down the street, or kiss their partner goodbye.
Violence against LGBT people has not suddenly increased — it has been increasing all along. In 2008 we had the most violent year for LGBT people since Matthew Shepard was murdered 10 years earlier. October 2009 was the most violent month of the year and the same month that President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. During the latter half of 2009 and early 2010, a gay or transgender person was killed every month in Puerto Rico. What has increased alarmingly is the severity of the violence — anti-LGBT violence becomes more brutal each year.
