Violence against LGBT people

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Violence against LGBT people, queer identifying and the same-sex attracted are actions which may occur either at the hands of individuals or groups, or as part of governmental enforcement of laws targeting people who are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and who contravene protocols of gender roles. People who are mistakenly perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted.

A hate crime is when individuals become victimized because of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation (Conklin,1992)(CSVR). Hate crimes against homosexuals often occur because the perpetrator is "homophobic". The attacks can also be blaimed on society itself. Being homosexual is regarded as being weak, feminine, and just plain wrong. Along with these factors, religion plays a huge role in this regard as well. Many religious followers believe that the bible says that homosexuality is wrong and believe that "GOD hates gays" (New York Times, 1990).

Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality may include threats, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, rape, torture, attempted murder and murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases, though the extent to which these groups influence violence against lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals is debated.

In the United States, the FBI reported that 15.6% of hate crimes reported to police in 2004 were founded on perceived sexual orientation. 61% of these attacks were against gay men, 14% against lesbians, 2% against heterosexuals and 1% against bisexuals, while attacks against GLBT people at large made up 20%.^[1] Violence based on perceived gender identity was not recorded in the report.

Although violence can be aimed towards homosexuals, it can come from them as well. For instance, the top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay (Cameron, PhD). Among them was Doanld Harvey, who claimed 37 victims, John Wayne Gacy, who raped and killed 33 boys, and Juan Corona, who killed 25 men and had intercourse with their corpses (Cameron). This is not all by coincidence, in fact, many psychiatrists believe that excessive violence is directly related to other forms of social pathology.Also, those who rebel against societal norms, are more likely to be violent.(Cameron)

In the United States, the FBI reported that for 2006, hate crimes against gays increased to 16%, from 14% in 2005, as percentages of total documented hate crimes across the US.^[2] The 2006 annual report, released on November 19, 2007, also said that hate crimes based on sexual orientation are the third most common type, behind race and religion.^[2]

It is true that the number of hate crimes against gay continues to rise, however many of the crimes that occur go unreported, and therefore, unrecorded. This may be due to that fact that many gays feel they can not trust the police and by reporting the crime they will be sublected to further victimization(CSVR). Many homosexauls simply percieve the police as being anti-gay, and these thoughts may be justifed. Research findings in the USA show that 20% of all anti-gay hate crimes are committed by police officers (Berrill, 1922)(CSVR).

1 State-sponsored violence
2 Extralegal violence
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Main article: Homosexuality laws of the world

Throughout recorded History, homosexual activity has been repressed by certain governing bodies and members of society under pains of mutilation, death and social ostracism. Such laws and codes (in English-speaking societies, usually describing male homosexuality as buggery or sodomy), were in force in Europe from the fifth to the twentieth centuries, and in Muslim countries from the beginning of the Muslim era up to and including the present day. Among the states that have historically punished homosexuality with death are:

Abbasid Baghdad under the Caliph Al-Hadi (785-786)
The City of Florence during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
- Illustrative victims: Giovanni di Giovanni (1350 – 1365?), Florentine boy, castrated and "burned between the thighs with a red-hot iron" by court order;
The Swiss canton of Zürich in the Renaissance
- Illustrative victims: Knight von Hohenberg d. 1482, Swiss knight, burned at the stake together with his lover, his young squire;
  
  The knight von Hohenberg and his squire, being burned at the stake for sodomy, Zurich 1482 (Zurich Central Library)
The kingdom of France during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
- Illustrative victims: Jacques Chausson (1618 – 1661), French minor writer, burned alive for attempting to seduce the son of a nobleman;
England from from 1533 until 1861; see Buggery Act 1533
Nazi Germany; see History of homosexual people in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban (1996-2001)

Present-day countries where homosexuality is still punishable by death:

This article or section may contain an inappropriate mixture of prose and timeline.

Please help convert this timeline into prose or, if necessary, a list.

Private citizens have at times taken extralegal action to repress those alleged to manifest variant sexual behavior. In some jurisdictions in the United States, these acts may be legally classified as hate crimes, which increases the resulting penalty if convicted.

Harvey Milk (1930-1978)
American politician and gay-rights activist, assassinated by Dan White.

Sometimes, people have been the target of anti-LGBT violence because they were perceived to be LGBT, whether they were or not.

Some notable acts of violence alleged or proven to have been inspired by hatred of their LGBT victims include:

Tennessee Williams was the victim of an assault in January 1979 in Key West, being beaten by five teenage boys. He escaped serious injury. The episode was part of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper ad run by a local Baptist minister.^[3]
On July 7, 1979, Robert Opel, the man who streaked at the 46th Academy Awards, was murdered in a San Francisco art gallery - which showcased art by gay male artists - that he owned.
On May 13, 1988, Rebecca Wight was killed when she and her partner, Claudia Brenner, were shot by Stephen Roy Carr while hiking and camping along the Appalachian Trail. Carr later claimed that he became enraged by the couple's lesbianism when he saw them having sex. Carr claimed the woman taunted him by having sex in front of him.
The fatal stabbing of James Zappalorti, a gay Vietnam veteran (1945 – 1990)
The rape and later murder of Brandon Teena, a transsexual man (1972 – 1993). The events leading to Mr. Teena's death were made into the movie Boys Don't Cry.
The murders of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill, a lesbian couple in Medford, Oregon in 1995, by a man who said he thought their "lifestyle" was "sick."
The bombing of the Otherside Lounge, a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta, by Eric Robert Rudolph, the "Olympic Park Bomber," on February 21, 1997; five bar patrons were injured.
The death by beating and exposure of Matthew Shepard, a gay student (1976 – 1998)
The murder of Pfc Barry Winchell on July 6, 1999. He was dating Calpernia Addams, a transgendered author.
The bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub by David Copeland in 1999

John Atherton, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, was hanged for sodomy under a law that he had helped to institute. His lover was John Childe, his steward and tithe proctor, also hanged. Anonymous pamphlet, 1641.

The July 1, 1999, murders of gay couple Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder by white supremacist brothers Matthew and Tyler Williams. Matthew Williams claimed that by killing the couple he was following "obeying the law of God," because he believed homosexuality violated God's laws. Williams said he hoped his actions would inspire further violence against homosexuals and ethnic minorities.
The murder of Steen Fenrich by his stepfather, in September 1999. His dismembered remains were found in March 2001, with the phrase "gay nigger number one" scrawled on his skull along with his social security number.
The murder of Arthur "J.R." Warren by three teenage boys on July 3, 2000, who believed Warren spread a rumor that he and one of the boys had a sexual relationship. Warren's killers ran over his body to disguise the murder as a hit-and-run.
The gang-rape and murder of Fannyann Eddy in 2004, shortly after giving a speech about the threats of violence faced by lesbians and gays in Sierra Leone.
The fatal beating of supposedly gay teenager Jeff Whittington in Wellington, New Zealand on May 8, 1999.
One notorious incident of gay-bashing occurred on September 22, 2000. Ronald Gay entered a gay bar in Roanoke, Virginia and opened fire on the patrons, killing Danny Overstreet and injuring six others. Ronald said he was angry over what his name now meant, and deeply upset that three of his sons had changed their surname. He claimed that he had been told by God to find and kill lesbians and gay men, describing himself as a "Christian Soldier working for my Lord".^[4]
The 2002 homicide of Nizah Morris, a transgender in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the mishandling of the case by the Philadelphia Police Department.
The non-fatal stabbing of Bertrand Delanoë, a gay politician, Mayor of Paris, France, in 2002
The killing of Gwen Araujo, a transsexual woman (1985 – 2002). Michael Magidson, Jaron Nabors, and José Merél were charged with the murder as a hate crime, with Jason Cazares charged as an accomplice. Nabors made a deal with prosecution, receiving a manslaughter conviction in exchange for testimony, but his testimony was largely considered unreliable. The jury hung on Cazares, who then pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter to avoid a retrial. Magidson and Merél were convicted of second-degree murder, but the hate crime enhancement was not accepted by the jury.
The killing of Paul Broussard, a Houston-area banker (1968-1991)
The beating death of Charlie Howard in Bangor, Maine in 1984.
Aaron Webster, a gay man in Vancouver, British Columbia, was beaten to death in Stanley Park in 2001.
On June 30, 2001, hundreds of soccer hooligans attacked participants of the first Serbian Pride Parade in Belgrade.
On June 17, 2003, Richie Phillips was murdered by Joseph Cottrell. His body was later found in a suitcase, in Rough River Lake. During his trial, Cottrell's relatives testified that he lured Phillips to his death, and killed him because he was gay.
On July 23, 2003, Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman were murdered by Paul Moore, when Moore learned after a sexual encounter that Johnson was transgender.
On July 31, 2003, 37-year-old Glenn Kopitske was killed by 17-year-old Gary Hirte. Hirte pleaded insanity, claiming he killed Kopitske in a murderous rage after a consensual sexual encounter with the victim, because he felt a homosexual act was "worse than murder."
On January 28, 2005, Ronnie Paris, a three-year-old African American child died due to brain injuries resulting from abuse by his father. According to his mother and other relatives, Ronnie Paris, Jr., would slam his son into walls and force him to "slap-box" because he was concerned the child was gay and feared his son would grow up a sissy.
On March 11, 2005, Jason Gage -- an openly gay man -- was murdered in his Waterloo, Iowa apartment by an assailant who claimed Gage had made advances and was killed when he fought with the victim. The district attorney in the case noted neither the victim or the perpetrator, or the apartment bore any signs of struggle. Gage was bludgeoned to death with a bottle, and stabbed in the neck with a shard of glass.
On June 30, 2005, Yishai Shlisel, a Haredi Jew stabbed three marchers in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, Israel, claiming he acted on behalf of God.^[5]
Jody Dobrowski, murdered in 2005 in London.
On February 2, 2006, 18 year-old Jacob D. Robida entered a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, confirmed that it was a gay bar, and then attacked patrons with a gun and a hatchet, wounding at least three.^[6]
On April 6, 2006, two American television producers, CBS Evening News senior producer Richard Jefferson and 48 Hours producer-researcher Ryan Smith, were beaten with a tire iron outside the Sunset Beach Bar on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten by a group of four men and two women. The attack left Smith unable to speak properly, having suffered a skull fracture and brain damage.^[7]
On July 30, 2006, six men were brutally beaten after leaving the San Diego, California Gay Pride festival. One of the gay men was beaten so badly that he had to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery. All but one of the attackers were adults the exception being a 15-year-old. The attackers were charged with hate crimes.^[8]
On October 8, 2006, Michael Sandy was attacked by four heterosexual young men who lured him into meeting after chatting with him online, while they were looking for gay men to rob. Sandy was hit by a car while trying to escape his attackers. He died five days later, never having regained consciousness.
On May 12, 2007, Roberto Duncanson was murdered in Brooklyn, New York. He was stabbed to death by Omar Willock, who claimed Duncanson had flirted with him.
On July 7, 2007, 30 participants at a gay pride event in Croatia were attacked by multiple assailants. The attackers had also prepared molotov cocktails but were stopped by the police before using them. Many people taking part in Gay Pride marches in Eastern Europe (e.g: Romania, Russia, Serbia) have been beaten after leaving the marches.^{[citation needed]}
May 16, 2007, Sean William Kennedy 20, was walking to his car from Brew's Bar in Greenville, SC when Andrew Moller, 18 got out of another car and approached Kennedy. Investigators said that Moller made a comment about Kennedy's sexual orientation, and threw a fatal punch because he didn't like another man's sexual preference.^[9]