Though many people prefer to think of
American society as a welcoming and all-accepting establishment,
discrimination against many groups still occurs quite frequently,
particularly involving LGBTQ communities and the hate crimes that
they are forced to endure. Yet how can such injustices still occur in
a country where supposedly everyone is "equal"? I believe
that the reason these hate crimes are still as common as they are is
that a large amount of people do not consider hetero-sexism to be the
prevalent problem that it really is. Instead they choose to ignore
the overall problem of a society that favors those not identified as
LGBTQ and look at queer hate crimes as isolated incidents.
Early in the morning on January 1,
2012, two men were attacked and brutally beaten outside a restaurant
in downtown Santa Barbara in what is believed to be an anti-gay hate
crime (Santa Barbara, 1). When told this, most people were appalled
and surprised that something so violent had happened, especially so
close to where they live, but they seemed mainly surprised by the
extent of the violence rather than the underlying issue that those
two men were not the only people being attacked; the entire LGBTQ
community was attacked that day. Unfortunately, whereas racism and
sexism are very well known and discussed topics, discrimination
against queer people is often overlooked and ignored. As Barbara
Smith said in her article "Homophobia: Why Bring It Up?",
"homophobia is usually the last oppression to be mentioned, the
last to be taken seriously, the last to go. (Smith p. 99)"
Although this is a very bold statement, there is a lot of evidence
supporting it, particularly in the media. With the exception of the
recent topic of gay marriage, LGBTQ issues are rarely presented to
the public, and much of the reason for that is that people do not
take this sort of discrimination seriously. However, another reason
for the underestimation of anti-gay hate crimes is that many people
only consider a violent act to be a hate crime, which is absolutely
not true. At the beginning of 2012 in Britain, three men were
convicted of having committed a hate crime because they were passing
out fliers encouraging homosexuals to be put to death with no
physical violence being involved (3 men, 1). While some may see this
verdict as extreme or an over-reaction, it is important to understand
that these men were encouraging violence against an entire group of
people solely because of their sexual orientation, and in doing so
caused fear within the gay communities in the surrounding areas. This
fear can be extremely damaging to someone in the group which is being
discriminated against to the point where they no longer feel safe
doing their everyday activities. An example of this can be seen in
the article "Gay bashing-a rite of passage?" in which Van
Der Meer explains that gangs known for anti-gay violence would often
wait at "cruising spots", or areas where they had seen gay
men pass before, and then use any excuse to mug and beat any man they
believed to be gay (Van Der Meer p.157). This kind of behavior would
definitely cause homosexuals to use a different route to walk home if
they even felt safe enough to walk the streets anymore. This goes
back to my original point that hetero-sexism is the real issue behind
the lack of attention given to LGBTQ hate crimes. Instead of doing
something to prevent gangs from attacking homosexuals, many people
attempt to put the blame on the victim by saying things such as 'he
should have known better' or 'he shouldn't have been walking home
alone'. This idea that members of the queer community should alter
their lives to accommodate those who don't agree with their lifestyle
plays a huge role in the continuation of discrimination and hate
crimes occurring against LGBTQ individuals.
Until the underlying issues of
hetero-sexism and discrimination within the queer community are
resolved, these hate crimes will continue to occur and will continue
to be ignored and disregarded. In order for this to happen, further
work toward educating people needs to be done and efforts need to be
made to make every community a safe community. Until this can happen,
we will continue to see hate crimes and discrimination and can only
hope that acceptance will come quickly.
Links
Texts
"Santa Barbara Community Speaks
Out Against Apparent Hate-Crime Attack" Noozhawk.
2012
Smith, Barbara. "Homophobia: Why
Bring It Up?" from The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader.
ed Henry Ablelove et al New York & London: Routledge, 1993.
Van
Der Meer, Theo. "Gay Bashing A Rite of Passage?" in
Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp 153-165
"3
convicted of anti-gay hate crime in Britain" Yahoo
News.
2012
In response to this post, I would agree with the negative impact that hetero-sexism has on our society, as well as point out the extreme levels of homophobia that are also present. One website provides evidence of this according to the statistic that: “Students who describe themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered are five times more likely to miss school because of feeling unsafe. 28% are forced to drop out,” (Come Out). Members of the LGBTQ community are surrounded by such severe homophobia that they do not even feel safe enough to continue on with their education. Just as Jessica commented on the inequality of individuals in a country that is supposedly a place of equal opportunity, the people who are not treated equally are the ones who feel unsafe and out of place in their own homes. The individuals who commit hate crimes toward members of the LGBTQ community claim to do so because they feel threatened. Van Der Meer’s article “Gay Bashing—A Right of Passage” gives the straight man’s perspective on homosexuals and the fear they provoke on straight men: “It was dark there and maybe those ‘fags’ had built underground lairs. Above all, they were afraid that the gays would be in the majority and would rape them,” (Gay Bashing, 157-158). These straight men claim to be ‘afraid’ of members of the LGBT community because they worry one day the LGBTQ community will come together and overpower the straight men. In reality, this is the feat that LGBTQ members do not have to worry about facing one day, but rather are constantly being faced with at the hands of the straight and homophobic community.
ReplyDeleteCome Out Against Homophobia." National Organization for Women. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. .
Van Der Meer, Theo. "Gay Bashing—A Rite of Passage?" in Culture, Health and Sexuality, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp 157-158.