This morning I woke to my husband watching television after having worked overnight. He was smoking his hookah and relaxing, contentedly. The sun was shining through the window, bright as ever, and the sky was a nice cerulean blue. I thought to myself, "what more could I need." I rose for my morning cup of coffee, and as I smelled its comforting aroma calling my body to start the day, I made the mistake of reading the news. Yet another LGBT youth was bullied to the point of not wanting to live. As a result, Asher Brown, at the age of 13, took his own life, because he couldn’t live in a world where he wasn’t accepted. It begs the question, just how many LGBT people have to die before we do something? Let’s take a look…
Hate crimes against gay men and women have existed for centuries, so much so that they were forced to live their lives in shadow and secrecy. It started with the exile of Sapho and the stoning of Democles (both historically gay). Over the centuries, it has become more and more prevalent. You’d think that as time past, hate crimes against the LGBT community would diminish as the world becomes more tolerant and accepting of our existence, but according the numbers reported by the FBI and the national JANUS report, they are actuallly on the rise. In 2004, when the FBI began official records for hate crimes committed based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the numbers were considered "low": 1167 (keep in mind these were the ones that were reported). Now, 6 years later, the number has climbed to a little over 2000, almost double of what it was. Based on the data collected, they estimate that the number of reported crimes is less than 10% of the actually number of hate crimes against LGBT people. So for those that don’t do math, that means that 20,000 people have been a victim of an LGBT hate crime since January 1 of this year. Does anyone else find that staggering?
I thought I’d list a few of those hate crimes here, since so many people seem to avoid the unpleasant reality of being gay in a straight world. You already know the story of Asher Brown from above, and we all know about Harvey Milk and Mathew Shephard… Do you know any of these people?
Dick Button, world class figure skater? Assaulted and repeatedly beaten by an angry mob organized with the specific intent of hunting down gay men in Central Park. Mr. Button was there watching a fireworks show, when he was grab and throw to the ground. His ribs were broken, along with 1 leg, his upper jaw, and sternum from being stomped and kicked. A New York city cop watched from a distance before breaking up the mob.
Tennessee Williams, American playwright and author, was assaulted while on vacation in Key West, by a group of teenage boys. The boys were acting on the encouragement of a local baptist minister, who had that week, placed an add in the local newspaper calling for the cleansing of Florida of homosexuals. The boys testified that they were told they were "doing God’s work" and would not be held accountable.
Robert Allen Taylor, Terry Knudson, and Robert Hillsborough were all stabbed to death walking down the street. Hillsborough was on his way home, when someone jumped him and stabbed him 32 times. Knudson was attacked by 3 men while walking his dog in Loring Park in Minneapolis. Three months later, in the same park, another man stabbed and killed Taylor. When asked why he did it, Taylor’s killer said, "I don’t like gays, OK?"
Steven Charles and Thomas Moore were attacked by 3 other young men in New York city in a "nice" part of town. Charles was beaten to death, while Moore escaped with serious injuries. Moore was able to call for help from a nearby residence and later identifie the attackers. Of the 3, only one received jail time. He was pled out for first degree manslaughter, and released after 8 years.
Charlie Howard and Roy Ogden were walking down the street, when three teenagers, aged 15–17, harassed Howard for being gay. The youths chased the pair, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his friend escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Charlie Howard’s body was found by rescue workers several hours later. This story actual inspired a scene in Stephen King’s It.
Rebecca Wright was killed by Roy Carr while hiking with her lover in the Appalachian mountains. Carr stated that he was "enraged" by their "lesbianism," which led to his actions. At trial, Carr claimed he had been enraged by the sight of the two women having sex, that the two women had taunted him by having sex in front of him. His public defender said he’d been raped in a Florida prison, and raped as a child. His public defender claimed that the couple’s lesbianism was provocation that caused her client "inexplicable rage."
The fatal stabbing of James Zappalorti, a gay Vietnam veteran. He served multiple tours in Vietnam and was awarded the Congressional medal of honor. He died at the hands of bashers after surviving the Vietnam war? The murder of Julio Rivera in New York City on July 2, 1990, by two men who beat him with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife because he was gay. Mr. Rivera’s skull was caved in, his brains were exposed, bleeding from eyes and ears. The stab wounds were post mortum, meaning that he was stabbed after he was dead. How much hate does a person need to stab a dead man? The killing of Paul Broussard, a Houston-area banker. He was beaten and stabbed to death in a gay-bashing outside a Houston nightclub on July 4, 1991 by ten teenaged boys. The youths had driven from the northern Houston suburb of The Woodlands to the heavily gay area of Montrose solely to "beat up some queers," in the words of one of the convicted teens.
Brian Jacobson witnessed the death of his partner Russel and their two year old son Andrew, when they were pushed over the blacony of the second level of a shopping mall. The toddler was killed instantly by the fall, while Russell was rushed to a local hospital. He lived 3 days in ICU suffering from a crushed backbone, broken pelvis, 6 broke ribs, and compound fractures of the femurs in both legs. His skull was split and blood was leaking into his eye sockets from his brain. The doctor’s said that even on morphine and in a coma, he was still experiencing agonizing pain, and that if he woke up, he would die from a heart attack due to said pain. He finally passed from a combination of DIC (a clotting disorder caused by severe falls and traumas) and infections. The man responsible was found incapable of standing trial by reason of mental defect, and is now living in a mental resort on my tax dollars for having killed a two year old. Justice is fucked up.
I have a list of 800 names and their stories: the ones that made the papers or at least had a friend or family member who wanted their story told, whether by the internet or some other media. I have to wonder, again about the unreported crimes? The stories that haven’t been told? The numbers are climbing, the crimes are more violent. And young men, like Asher Brown, are taking their own lives because of bullies, liars, and the purveyors of hate. The school board at his school did nothing when the bullying was reported. The principle did nothing. The teachers did nothing. The counselors did nothing. Despite repeated phone calls for over a year from Asher’s parents, they did nothing, and now have the audacity to say "they were unaware" of the negative behavior displayed toward Asher. BULLSHIT! It’s Texas, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Hell, I’d even go so far as to say that they probably encouraged the bullying.
You know what? Enough is enough is enough is enough. Exactly how many of us have to die before we’re allowed to fight back? Seriously, talking isn’t doing anything. The numbers are climbing! Legislation isn’t stopping them. They don’t give a shit about your Mathew Shephard Act. It’s passed and still the bashing continues. People are still being killed for their gender identity. They are still being stabbed, maimed, bludgeoned, kicked and stomped, drowned, throw off buildings, and set on fire by the people that hate them, and no amount of inspirational speeches, writs and edicts, or legislated changes to our justice system will stop them. If we want it to stop, we are going to need action, mobilization, and a way to fight that does something other than pay lip service to a redneck, back woods, close minded bigoted mentality. They aren’t talking. They’re doing. And whether you like it or not, it’s working. They are doing exactly what they want to and getting what they want out of it…so why can’t we? Let young men like Asher Brown serve as an incentive to do something more than talk. Am I telling you to go out and kill a straight man? No…I’m just saying it’s time we stood up, marched forward, and proved that we aren’t going to back down…and if some right winged, bigoted, archaic jackass gets his ass beat in the process…sucks to be him.
