The Issue of LGBT Hate Crimes

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Hate Crimes: crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability or religion(Federal officials, 2011). Hate crimes have been around for centuries. A hate crime is considered any malicious crime that is derived from hatred towards a certain group of people. African Americans are still victim to hate crimes, even after the Civil Rights movement. James Byrd Jr. suffered a prime example of a gruesome hate crime in 1998, because of his African American descent. Three white men, allegedly, chained Byrd to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him down a gravel road, leaving his body parts severed and bloody (Marty,1998). Recently, a new group of people has been targeted by the hateful view of society: Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgendered (LGBT).
These damaging acts need to be treated as hate crimes. These crimes are highly damaging to the victim. “According to an article published in the Washington Blade on March 14, 2012, two separate attacks on gay victims took place over a two day period, March 11-12, 2012. In the first attack in Columbia Heights the victim was reported to have been shot by suspects who were alleged to have used homophobic epithets. The second alleged attack took place on March 12, 2012, when a man walking home was reportedly assaulted and taunted with anti-gay slurs.” (PR, N. 2012) These unacceptable acts against the LGBT community are more violent than they ever were.
Not only are they harmful to the victim but they affect the whole community as well. "Hate crimes deserve priority attention because they impact the entire community," Mr. Friedman continued. "Perpetrators of hate crimes send a message to their victims, and everyone else who shares the ...

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...st.com/docview/237519361?accountid=39772

PR, N. (2012, March 16). ADL Deeply Concerned About Recent Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes in the District. PR Newswire US.

Punishing hate crimes. (1992, Oct 01). Call & Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/238449752?accountid=39772

Shaw, J. (2012, Mar 26). Finding the freedom to be LGBT. McClatchy - Tribune News Service. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/940877249?accountid=39772

Sokol, S. (2013, Nov 27). ADL says FBI's national hate crimes statistics are 'seriously flawed'. A quarter of US law enforcement agencies failed to provided data. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1462996075?accountid=39772

Solon wants to address hate crimes against LGBT. (2013, Oct 08). Targeted News Service. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1439987397?accountid=39772

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