LGBT Related Hate Crimes

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Recommended: Discrimination towards the LGBT community in general

Equal Rights According to several national surveys, approximately 25.6 million Americans have reported experiencing same sex attraction (H). At least 700,000 people in the US identify as transgender or genderqueer (H). Most of these people do not have the basic legal rights that are given to heterosexual and cisgender people. Legal protection should be extended to all members of the LGBT community. Most states don’t have any laws against hate crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation. According to police agencies, the third most frequent hate crimes are because of sexual orientation, after race and religion (C). Additionally, US News and World Report found that one in seven teens are targets for bullying because they are, or are assumed to be gay (A). Some sources indicate that at least 90 percent of LGBT related hate crimes go unreported (E). These crimes are almost always overly violent (B). For example, on October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard was abducted, tied to a fence, and violently beaten with the butt of a pistol. He died in the hospital five days later (B). Only 15 states have laws protecting all LGBT individuals (F). …show more content…

According to an article in The Guardian, in some countries, including Yemen and Saudi Arabia, people are given the death sentence just for being gay (D). Similarly, 76 countries criminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults, and people can be forced to spend a lifetime in prison (D). The Human Rights Campaign states that only 37 states issue marriage licenses to same sex couples (F) and 11 states do not recognize same sex marriage at all (F). 19 states don’t recognize transgender men and women on official documents such as birth certificates and drivers licenses (F) and 40 states allow transgender health care exclusions

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