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Hate crimes against homosexuals has a high rate, from 1995-2008 there were 15,351 hate crimes against the LGBT community. Homosexuals are expected to be victimized at 8.3 times the expected rate. Research also has shown that homosexuals are like to suffer the abuse of hate crimes than anyone else. Hate crimes against homosexuals have been brutal and gruesome, lives have been ruined and lost. Emotional, physical, and mental scars will be with these victims for the rest of their lives. The problem is there are really no laws protecting individuals who are homosexual from getting abused by people who hate them due to their sexuality. The worse part is that this hatred is spreading to our youth, today’s generation and tomorrow’s future. What kind of example are we setting when we don’t want to allow people to be their selves and to express their uniqueness? Hate crimes against homosexuals are deteriorating the progress we have made in our nation to celebrate diversity and individuality.
Horrendous crimes against innocent people have been going on forever When society does not completely approve of something they do what they think is right to stop it. Youth and young adults are being targeted for feelings that they cannot control or stop. A teen was killed for being gay. He had speech impairment and epilepsy. He was dared to strip at a party then he was drowned in tanning oil. Then members of the party set him on fire .A openly gay man is now paralyzed after being a victim in a hate crime. Scott Jones was stabbed in the back twice and his throat was slashed.In California in 2008, in a junior high school 15 year old Lawrence King was sitting in a computer lab. When out of no where 14 year old Brandon McInerney shot king in the back ...
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...eople just like us heterosexuals, the only difference that they don’t like the opposite sex. We need to begin to discourage this strong hate that we have, what if we discriminated against a person who had down syndrome or cancer? We would be wrong because they can’t help that, but homosexuals can’t help how they feel, they are born like that. We as a nation have to step outside of the box, outside of this idea we consider normal. The fact is that the world is full of diverse and unique people, we live in a world full of differences and we can’t hate someone because they don’t fit into our idea of “normal”. We have to unite and become one even though we are different. So teach our future leaders of tomorrow that members of the LGBT community are not people that we should hate, we should love them and treat them as if they were our friend. Homosexuals are people too.
Have you ever had a crime committed against you? In today’s society we are faced with crime all around us. There are crimes committed out of rage, revenge, jealousy, love, greed, etc; but there is another type of crime, or one could say act of violence, called hate crimes. Have you ever thought maybe that crime was committed against just because of your racial background, or religious beliefs? Throughout this country’s history, hate crimes have taken place, either by known groups who hate and, most commonly, individuals that are inspired by hate. Not until recently have the people of this country ever wanted to pass a law that would punish the guilty to an even higher extent because the crime was committed out of hate. There are two sides to every issue. Whether or not the issue is valid or if it is an unrealistic concept created by the media or by the federal government, then, in my opinion, passing a law of this type is totally unrealistic. It is almost impossible to prove that a crime is committed out of a bias hate. I feel that a law that punishes hate crimes should not be passed.
A hate crime is defined as “a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence” (Oxford Dictionaries). Matthew Shepard’s death caused great disorder in Laramie, despite the fact that it was originally an unknown town. In a sense, Laramie itself has changed due to the media attention of this event. Hate was originally “not a Laramie value” (Kaufman 15), but after this hate crime, the public has great sympathy for Matthew Shepard and distrust towards Laramie’s people. Even with all the support as well as the parade for Shepard, it is quite disappointing that there weren’t any regulations or protection offered to homosexuals, bisexuals, or transgender, after this crime.
In our world there has and will always have social issues that our society that is damaging our people. One of the proponent issue is in our world is Homophobia. As Homophobia is defined has people that dislike of or is prejudice against homosexual people. Recently our society has started to be more accepting with the LGBTQ community. Homophobia has really affected all people in very negative ways regardless of their sexual orientation. As homophobia is based on someone disliking or being prejudice to another person targeted to people that are homosexual. There are many people that want to fight against homophobia and help protect and support the LGBTQ community. The different sexual orientations of all individuals they have the right to be who they identity them selves as. As homophobia not only affects the LGBTQ community but affects every sexual orientation, seeing that much hate and prejudice toward people it is just sad and disturbing that people still hate on something they have no control over.
Not only is violence and hate blatantly expressed in ways that hate crime laws are supposed to prevent and cease, but they are also expressed in these legal settings through physical and abusive mistreatment. This occurs when those incarcerated are denied medical and psychiatric care and resources, however, the system that does the punishing for hate crimes will never be punished for hate crimes, or crimes that it is delegated prevent. It is also extremely troublesome that police and the legal system that continuously and historically commits violent and hateful acts towards marginalized communities such as the trans community, are the ones who are delegated the role of preventing these offenses, and expected to uphold this duty, when history such as the Stonewall riots show that this is a dangerous course of action
Because the crime rates have dropped, crimes against homosexuals have rose in the past years. Laws in several states do not cover crimes related to homosexuals. There are four states in America that have no safe haven for homosexuals, states must establish crueler punishment for men and women that commit heinous hate crimes based on sexual orientation In a statement released by Judy Shepard, Matthews mother, she says:
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals people make up more than ten percent of the population; that means if you are sitting in a classroom of thirty, then more than three of those people are LGBT individuals. However, this overwhelmingly large minority group continues to be one of the least protected by the government as well as most heavily targeted by discrimination and hate crimes. Regardless of the powerful shift in public opinion concerning LGBT individuals during the last twenty years, the laws concerning hate crimes have remained invariable.
Homophobia has been a problem for a very long time, all across the world. For example, during the Holocaust, in which homosexuals were forced to wear the “Pink Triangle”, a pink, upside down triangle, on his or her coat for identification. Of course, the pattern of homophobia is not only shown throughout world history, but American history as well. For example, sodomy laws, laws that rule certain sexual acts as crimes, were established as early as 1963. The penalty for these laws varied from state to state. Some of the punishments include: two to ten year imprisonments or two thousand dollar fines. The cruelty of these homophobic actions should not be accepted any longer. It encourages bullying, denies human beings their civil rights, and continues to foster a mentality of indifference and intolerance towards our fellow man.
Hate crimes are not a new concept for society, because hate crimes have always been around. While the study of hate crimes and the laws that have been passed because of hate crimes is relatively new, hate crimes have always been around. Hate crimes were committed as far back as the 1800’s and even back to The Civil War. Hate crimes are prevalent in society today just like they were in the past; because whether the crimes are aimed towards Muslims, the gay community, or any other minority group; they are fueled by something that every person has come into contact with- prejudice. Prejudice is defined as a preconceived thought or opinion about someone. While prejudice can be positive, in the concept of hate crimes they are negative feelings, thoughts, or opinions that are aimed towards a certain religious, ethnic, race, or even sexual orientation group. The typical definition of hate crime is that a crime has been committed by a majority member against a minority member simply because the victim was a minority. However, as of recent the definition has been expanded to allow for any crime committed by bias towards the victim’s social group such as anti-gay or anti-lesbian. Hate crimes are an extreme, potential effect due to prejudice and discrimination towards someone based on ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. These crimes are committed against an individual or a group of individuals based solely on the fact that they are part of a group that the offender doesn’t approve of whether it is because they are a different race or following an alternative lifestyle. While the hate crimes are not something that is new in society because prejudice has always been around, the concept of a bias-crime and the legal precedent that it ha...
A prevalent issue among individuals in today’s society is the idea of gay marriage. This is the idea that two males or two females can be married. Although many people accept this, there are people that try to argue that gay marriage will destroy the concept of marriage and the idea/concept of procreation. Gay marriage was legalized in 2015, but is still a prevalent issue because the opposing side is trying to get the law revoked. Not only is gay marriage a prevalent issue but so is discrimination against the LGBT community. In reference to the position supporting gay marriage, the discussion will focus on: the overall idea of gay marriage, discrimination against the LGBT community in the workplace and discrimination against the LGBT community
The last figures of studies show a reported 17, 876 hate crimes. While these statistics are alarming, they are only a numerical representation and cannot ever convey the fear, sorrow, and torment suffered by the human beings and communities against whom the crimes were committed.
As the years have passed, homosexuality has become a very controversial topic. The fact that day by day they fight for equality just to be happy, I think it is an injustice that many people refuse to give them the rights they deserve.
Hate crime is still being committed today and many believe that it would benefit victims and communities if hate crimes were punished more severely. However, hate crimes should not be punished more severely than other crimes that are motivated for other reasons; although the motivation (personal belief) and violence that constitute a hate crime are horrendous, criminals should be prosecuted for their wrongdoing, not for their beliefs. The idea that criminals should be punished more severely than crimes that are motivated by greed, anger, revenge is not acceptable. The potential motivations that were just given can constitute several crimes, like, murder. The issue (which, in my opinion, makes a good argument) is that it ‘’creates complicated moral problems by making it appear as if a murder is "worse" when committed because of the victim's race, religion, or sexual orientation.’’ (Hate crime laws, 2014) Murder is one the worst crimes that can be committed and it can have several motives and reasons behind it. Allowing hate crimes to be punished more severely or stating that hate crime is more ‘’aggressive’’ and ‘’brutal’’ is not fair to other victims and treats them
There are individuals that live in fear of showing their true identity to the world because they simply fear that society won’t accept them for having a different sexual orientation. Society advocates that individuals should be able to be proud of who they are, but yet they judge homosexuals for being different. People are taught not to judge others based on their race or religion, so why do they still discriminate against homosexuals? The homosexual subculture is not accepted by society, looked down upon, and misjudged; however, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally.
The treatment of the LGBT community in American Society is a social injustice. What most people think is that they just want to be able to marry one another and be happy but that’s not it. They want to be treated like humans and not some weird creatures that no one has ever seen before. They want to be accepted for who them are and not what people want them to be and they deserve the right to be who they are just the same as any other human being. After all the discrimination they have endured they should be allowed to be who they are and be accepted as equals just like people of different skin color did in the times of segregation. We have a long way to go as a country but being the greatest country in the world in the eyes of many great America will make big steps to make things fair.
1 vols. Issues: Hate Crimes. 14 March 2014 www.hrc.org/the-hrc-story>. Joanna Almeida, Renee M. Johnson, Heather L. Corliss, Beth E. Molnar. Emotional Distress among LGBT Youth: The Influence of Perceived Discrimination Based On Sexual Orientation.