The LGBTQ community consists of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer. This diverse group is united based on their shared history of discrimination based on their breaking the norm of heterosexuality. The groups within this community, while vary in experiences, are able to maintain some amount of solidarity by agreeing on the importance of advocating for rights to better the safety of the LGBTQ people. Throughout history prejudice people who look down upon those with differing sexual orientations have bullied, harassed, raped and murdered people from all the categories of the LGBTQ community. It was not until 2009 where President Barrack Obama signed a law that has made it a federal crime to assault someone based on …show more content…
In a study conducted by Doug Meyer, he interviewed women and men who are gay and lesbian and have been the victim of violence and asked them why they thought they were attacked. The women who are lesbian tended to say that it was because they were being punished for “converting” their partner to being gay. A 50 year old black women named Latoya, had a violent experienced based portraying the hardships of not only being black and gay but also a woman. In the interview she states, “They act like I did this to her. And it’s like I’m not supposed to because then I’m making Black people look bad. Like if I left her alone, she wouldn’t be gay. . . They act like she has no control over herself” (Meyer 859). Because Latoya is butch, meaning she dresses and acts more masculine, they consider her to be more dominant since our society has socialized people into relating masculinity with dominance, and femininity with passiveness. Which is why society tends to think it is the fault of the butch lesbian for taking control of the feminine girl who doesn’t know what she wants. Latoya received prejudice based on not only because of her sexuality but because of her gender as well as being African …show more content…
Matthew Shepard was gay and white, which is why his death received the most publicity and managed to create foundations and programs. People like Islan Nettles receive less media coverage and less support because as is well known, those who are black and trans are not as respected in society. While much change is needed, there has been some amount of progress for the trans community with the development of The Transgender Violence Tracking Portal (TVTP) in May of this year. A.J. Walkley, one of the writers for Huff Post Gay Voice, writes, “TVTP is still getting numbers in from countries around the world and hope to update their statistics over the next few months . . . The fact that we at least have information about these 102 violent acts, however, is a tremendous step forward” (Walkley). Before this organization there was not a place to find the statistics for violence against this side of the community. More work needs to be done to improve the lives of all members of the LGBTQ community but there needs to be more focus on the transgendered
After reading chapter 3: "Prejudice and Discriminations" and as well the article "Transgender African-Americans' Open Wound: ‘We're considered a Joke’”, I have a better understanding of the challenges that certain group undergo due to prejudices and discrimination that exist within their own racial group and other groups of our society. Although the LBGT community has made its social conditions a little more better, there is still those within their group that are even more marginalize, this is the case of a African-American transgender. African Americans transgender face twice as much prejudice and discrimination. They battle prejudice and discrimination from their own racial group and from society because of their skin color and their gender
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,
Horrific, unthinkable acts of violence against a young gay man, Matthew Shepard, took his life in 1998. This social problem was thrust into the mainstream media largely by his mother, Judy Shepard. She used her tragedy to create awareness, outrage and support exposing violence based solely on sexual orientation. Her work along with activists that joined her helped create our nation’s first hate crime legislation that included crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It also made several other important provisions such as tracking hate crimes based on gender identity (transsexuals), funding to investigate and other critical supports. The Matthew Shepard Foundation does significant work on hate prevention programs in communities and continues to work toward tolerance today through its efforts to provide a voice and support for LGBT youth. Although some progress has been made, different forms of violence against gay and transgendered youth remains a troubling condition.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reported, “60.6% [out of] 1,402 hate crimes . . . based on sexual orientation [are] classified as anti-gay (male) bias” (Latest Hate Crime Statistics Report Released). Crimes against homosexuals have been reported nationwide, but a hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming has changed the gay community. October 12, 1998, twenty-one year old Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and murdered by two young Laramie citizens because of Shepard’s sexual orientation. In The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, the town of Laramie consisted of many social problems, which led to individuals violently projecting their bias towards homosexuals. These individuals otherized homosexuals because of the public attitude, morals, education, class, religion, politics, and their leaders. These biases have led to social problems nationwide, but outside of the town of Laramie, change has arisen for the better. Thanks to Matthew Shepard, homosexual awareness has spread nationwide creating a homosexual movement. Laws have been passed throughout the nation, giving homosexuals equal rights. Although gender equality has made progress for homosexuals, hate still roams throughout the nation causing many violent crimes. Fag, homo, queer, flamer, and pansy are words individuals use to otherize homosexuals throughout our nation. This type of name-calling is called gay bashing and is typically used by males. Queer theorists say individuals “seek to show
Currently, in the United States there are 9 million people who are openly a part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community; that is roughly equivalent to the entire population of New Jersey. The LGBT community stands for and places their beliefs in equality, individuality, and pride. Despite their efforts, they are still faced with degrading discrimination and cruel hatred. Today, fourteen percent of all hate crimes are directed towards to LGBT community. (fbi.gov) The number of hate crimes towards the community is quickly increasing and evolving into a worldwide problem. One of the most recent and impactful hate crimes was in 2016 when a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was attacked by a gunman. That night, nearly fifty
Hate crime is a motivated violent act by a group or individual perpetrator towards a specific race, colour or religion (Collins, Pg 93,192). For many years, authority figures and the media have ignored hate crime offences towards individuals who identify under the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) umbrella. Up until the 20th century and prior to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, LGBTQ persons have been victimized in violent crimes based solely on gender identification and orientation. With a myriad of events, cases and unreported individual incidents the burden of proof towards hate crime on LQBTQ increased. The development of North American law towards LGBTQ citizens has improved throughout the last two decades. However, there
Many of the respondents experienced violence due to the violation of gender norms, such as cross dressing, and their attackers obviously “hate gay people,” which is determined by the overall act of the crime (Meyer 2009). Some gay, black males were attacked by officers and claim to have been attacked because of their gender, sexuality, and color. In the study, a black gay man, describes himself as being sodomized by a white officer and the officers remarks during the attack were racist and implied that the officers disapproved of his sexuality. (Meyer 2009). In another case, a woman, that carried a more dominant appearance, and appeared to be a lesbian was attacked by multiple men who made remarks about her appearance, attire, and sexuality while she was walking alone at night. The impact of the hate crimes, according to Meyer’s study, has a stronger impact on the victim based on class, gender, and
Matthew Sheppard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was the victim of a very brutal hate crime. His ordeal ties back to his homosexuality. Shepard was befriended by two men, Aaron McKinney and Russel Henderson, who were “posing as gay in order to lure him away from a local bar” (Matthew). They drove him to a rural area where “they tied him to a fence, administered a brutal beating, and left him die in the cold (Matthew). The only thing different about this hate crime from others is that this one made it to the news. Even though his death sparked a revolt against hate crimes, this one is just one of thousands that occur every year in the United
Courage is standing up for what you believe is right, even when you know others will hate you or worse. There are multiple activists for the LGBTQ+ community, yet there have still been more hate crimes against the community. The community has been involved in hate crimes since the 1960s, and even before that. 50-60 or more years may seem like a long time to teenagers and young adults, but it’s actually not. People in the community have died to others acts against a person being with someone of the same sex or changing their gender identity. There are multiple reasons why hate crimes on the LGBTQ+ community need to be lowered drastically.
In addition to social persecution, people who identify on the LGBTQ spectrum are at a higher risk of experiencing violence In 2010, the FBI reported in a hate crime statistics report that 19.3% of hate crimes in that year were motivated by a sexual orientation bias. Based on national statistics, more than 50% of transgendered youth will attempt suicide at least once by the age of 20 “Statistics About Youth Suicide”. These numbers are shocking, and it’s baffling that these youth have to live under the pressure of violence and mental illness all while being barred from the rights they
Homophobia has destructive effects within the Black LGBTQA community due an increase in discrimination. Young kids who identify as LBGTQA may find the people around them as unsupportive due to the homophobic environment they may be exposed to by their families, friends, and peers. They are often targets of vicious, violent attacks, which include emotional and physical abuse from their families or peers. Parents who resent their child that identifies as LGBTQA often resort to name-calling, physical violence, and abandonment to show their child the wrongs of homosexuality to convince them to change their sexual orientation. Some of the children that go through this repetitive abuse, find an escape by running away from their families, about 40%
Throughout history, members of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, and queer community (LGBTQ) have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation. There has been a tremendous struggle for power, within the LGBTQ community. Throughout the years, people have tried to suppress the rights of these individuals, because of their own moral beliefs. Some methods they pursue are more aggressive than others. Certain individuals will stop at nothing to keep this community down, and will even act with ruthless aggression to do so. There are a multitude of cases within the last decade to prove this true. When someone does decide to this, they are considered hate crimes.
Each and every day, thousands of members among the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual) community are affected by hate crimes, bullying and even homicide. In fact, in just 2015 alone, the number of crimes and homicides reported against these members are staggering. According to The National Coalition of Anti-violence Programs, there were fifteen reported homicides. (Jindasurat & Waters, 2015) That is only the reported number of victims who were confirmed as part of this community. Can you imagine how many are actually affected each year? These people are being targeted because of who they are and how they choose to live their life. They are being targeted because they have stood up for who they are. I couldn’t imagine being targeted
People of color, women, and members of the LGBT community are often erased or excluded from history/education because of oppression based on their identities. The project will consist of creating a series of posters that will be placed in different areas around the Delta State University campus that will strike will be visually attractive, academically relevant, and have accurate descriptions of different individuals who have been excluded from history because of their gender, the color of their skin, and/or their sexual orientation. The goal of the finished project is to increase education on these individuals as well as illustrate, increase awareness of, and begin discussion about the systems of oppression that caused the erasure of them
There are differences between what is considered to be prejudice and what discrimination is. Prejudice is identified as a typically negative attitude that is directed towards an individual 's social status, or group. Discrimination is reported as completing a negative act, or acts, towards a group, or individuals in a group, on the bias of the same reason or reasons. Given what is known, or inferred, about prejudice and discrimination, it can be related back to how LGBT associates are effected within athletic fields. Understanding the terminology, methods of research, development, and corrective/preventive procedures are well discussed in the field of Social Psychology.