Freedom from Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation

       Due to Discrimination, violence against lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered (LGBT), sometimes called Hate Crimes can occur either at the hands of individuals or groups, or as part of governmental enforcement of laws targeting people who are seen to violate heterosexual standards. People who are merely perceived to be LGBT (but who are actually not) may also be targeted. Anti-LGBT violence can include; threats, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, rape, torture, attempted murder, or murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases. In the United States, the FBI reported that 15.6% of hate crimes reported to police in 2006 were based 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%.

Wikipedia defines Discrimination as:

1) Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.

2) Unfair treatment of a person or group on the basis of prejudice.

3) Synonyms; Racism, Sexism, Antisemitism, Classism, Homophobia.

According to the international 2007 Hate Crime Survey by the Human Rights First organization, " Bias crimes motivated by sexual orientation, like those motivated by antisemitism, hatred of Roman and Sinti and disability bias have antecedents in the Holocaust. Nazi campaigns to exterminate Jew and the Roma and Sinti were accompanied by a program called "Operation T4" designed to annihilate the disabled, and by the persecution and murder of tens of thousands of Europeans identified as homosexuals. Although no longer forced to wear pink triangles..., sexual orientation is still a bias for stigmatization and oppression, often with the open support of government at some level and by influential political and religious organizations. Bias today towards those distinguished by their minority sexual orientation is vigorously promoted by both extremist and mainstream political and religious leaders across much of Europe and North America. Continuing violence motivated by hatred and prejudice based on sexual orientation, though largely unseen is an intimidating day to day reality for gay men and lesbains, bisexual and transgender people in many parts of many countries. Discrimination by reason of sexual orientation, often termed homophobia, embraces prejudice against gay men and lesbians and bi-sexual and transgender individuals, as well as those perceived to have these attributes. This form of discrimination also extends to gender identity bias, in which individuals are targeted for violence on the grounds that they do not conform to gender sterotypes in their appearance or in behavior.

While governments have an obligation to combat all crime, the hate crime concept is a simple acknowledgement of the greater seriousness of violent crime motivated by racial, religious, homophobia or other hatred that harm whole communities. This is an important part of the rationale by which hate crimes should be accorded a higher priority within the criminal justice system. Hate crime legislation should also provide more severe punishments towards crimes that are, " most destructive of the public safety and happiness. In the United States, federal hate crime legislation does not extend to sexual orientation, gender or disability."

The National School Climate Survey also reveals that anti-LGBT harassment remain commonplace in America's schools," said GLSEN Founder and Executive Director Kevin Jennings. Students across the country draw awareness to homophobia in classrooms and a new study shows that gay bashing remains a major problem in the nation's schools. Three-quarters of students surveyed across America said that over the past year they heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school, and nearly nine out of ten reported hearing "that's so gay" or "you're so gay" - meaning stupid or worthless - frequently or often. Over a third of students said they experienced physical harassment at school on the basis of sexual orientation and more than a quarter on the basis of their gender expression. Nearly one-in-five students reported they had been physically assaulted because of their sexual orientation and over a tenth because of their gender expression.

Only nine states and the District of Columbia have comprehensive laws that specifically address harassment based on sexual orientation and only three of these laws mention gender identity. Nine other states have "generic" laws that do not specifically define categories of protected classes such as sexual orientation or gender identity. The remaining 32 states have no laws against Hate Crimes.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pub.L. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241, July 2, 1964) was landmark legislation in the United States that outlawed, under certain circumstances, discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Originally conceived to protect the rights of Black people, the bill was amended prior to passage to protect the civil rights of everyone, and explicitly included women for the first time. We the People of the United States, petition for an Amendment to the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include "No Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation."


In Honor Of Those Affected by Hate-Crime Assaults:

-Tennessee Williams was the victim of an assault in January 1979 in Key West, being beaten by five teenage boys, but he was not seriously injured. The episode was part of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper ad run by a local Baptist minister.

-The fatal stabbing of James Zappalorti, a gay Vietnam veteran (1945)

-The rape and later murder of Brandon Teen, a transsexual man (1972)

-The beating death of Matthew Shepard, a gay student (1998)

-The murder of Pfc Barry Winchell 1999. He was engaged to Calpernia Addams, a transgendered author.

-The bombing of the Admiral Duncan pub by David Copeland in 1999.

- The murder July 5, 1999 of Private First Class Barry Winchell at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Winchell was beaten to death with a baseball bat by another soldier, Private Calvin Glover, whose court martial produced testimony that Winchell had been harassed long before his death because of suspicions he was gay.

-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".

-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)

-The killing of Paul Broussard, a Houston-area banker (1968-1991)

-The beating death of Charlie Howard in 1984.

-Jody Dobrowski, murdered in 2005 in London.

-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.The attackers were all adults, except for a 15-year-old and were charged with hate crimes.

-As the process of identifying non-heterosexual traits is often sloppy, violence has been committed against heterosexuals who are merely perceived to be gay.

-Actor and comedian Norm MacDonald (of Saturday Night Live) was attacked by two men in New York City. They thought he was a gay man because he was well-dressed, with styled hair, and lanky; he was walking through Greenwich Village, a center of the city's gay community. He suffered a concussion.

- February 2, 2006 an 18 year old man entered a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, asked a bartender whether it was a "gay bar," and then attacked men there at random, first with a hatchet and then with gunfire. One man suffered deep cuts on his head and was shot in the back and chest. The assault was investigated as a hate crime.

-Lawrence Larry King (1993-2008) Shot in the back of the head by another classmate because he was gay.