Violence against LGBT people

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Violence against LGBT people, queer identifying and the same-sex attracted are actions which may occur either at the hands of individuals or groups, or as part of governmental enforcement of laws targeting people who are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and who contravene protocols of gender roles. People who are mistakenly perceived to be LGBT may also be targeted.

A hate crime is when individuals become victimized because of their race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation (Conklin,1992)(CSVR). Hate crimes against homosexual people often occur because the perpetrators are homophobic. The attacks can also be blamed on society itself. A variety of religious groups as well as proponents of extremist political ideologies condemn homosexuality and relate it to being weak, ill, feminine, and morally wrong.^[1] Violence targeted at people because of their perceived sexuality may include threats, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, rape, torture, attempted murder and murder. These actions may be caused by cultural, religious, or political mores and biases.

Contents 1 The origins of persecution of LGBT people 2 State-sanctioned violence 2.1 Historic 2.2 Contemporary 3 Relationship between religious condemnation and violence 4 Criminal violence, legal and police responses 5 Violence and legal responses in anglophone countries 5.1 Australia 5.2 Canada 5.3 Jamaica 5.4 New Zealand 5.5 Republic of Ireland 5.6 Sierra Leone 5.7 South Africa 5.8 St. Maarten 5.9 UK: England and Wales 5.9.1 1950-1959 5.9.2 1989-1990: West London murders 5.9.3 1999: The Admiral Duncan pub bombing 5.9.4 2002: CPS 'zero tolerance' 5.9.5 2003: Criminal Justice Act 5.9.6 2006: first prosecution for homophobic murder 5.9.7 2007: Metropolitan Police review 5.9.8 2000-2009: Recent cases 5.9.9 2009: Prosecution for verbal violence 5.10 UK: Scotland 5.11 USA 5.11.1 Legal responses to homophobic and transphobic hate crime 5.11.2 1970-1979 5.11.3 1980-1989 5.11.4 1990-1999 5.11.5 2000-2009 6 Violence and legal responses in non-anglophone countries 6.1 Brazil 6.2 Croatia 6.3 France 6.4 Israel 6.5 Norway 6.6 Portugal 6.7 Serbia 6.8 Spain 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] The origins of persecution of LGBT people

An early example of persecution was in the year 342 when the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans declared same-sex marriage to be illegal.^[2] In the year 390, the Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be publicly burned alive. ^[3] The Christian emperor Justinian I (527-565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences." ^[4]

[edit] State-sanctioned violence

[edit] Historic

The first recorded Abrahamic laws against sexual intercourse between men are dated to circa 550 BC, during the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people; they are recorded in Leviticus, and they prescribe the death penalty. Similar laws are found across Indo-European cultures in Lex Scantinia in Ancient Rome and nith in protohistoric Germanic culture, or the Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BCE^[5].

After Constantine established Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire, male homosexual activity became repressed, specifically for the passive role, often sanctioned with mutilation or death and social ostracism.^[3] Laws and codes prohibiting homosexual practice were in force in Europe from the fourth century ^[3] to the twentieth centuries, and Muslim countries have had similar laws from the beginnings of Islam in the seventh century up to and including the present day. Among the states that have historically punished homosexuality with death are:

• Abbasid Baghdad under the Caliph Al-Hadi (785-786)
• The City of Florence during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance;
  • Illustrative victims: Giovanni di Giovanni (1350 – 1365?), Florentine boy, castrated and "burned between the thighs with a red-hot iron" by court order;
• The Swiss canton of Zürich in the Renaissance
  • Illustrative victims: Knight von Hohenberg (d. 1482), Swiss knight, burned at the stake together with his lover, his young squire;
• The kingdom of France during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
  • Illustrative victims: Jacques Chausson (1618 – 1661), French writer, burned alive for attempting to seduce the son of a nobleman;
• England from 1533 until 1861 (see Buggery Act 1533);
• Nazi Germany (see History of homosexual people in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust);

[edit] Contemporary

• Death penalty in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban (1996-2001);
• Iraq, post war (2003–)
  • In January 2007, a United Nations report described the increased persecution, torture and extrajudicial killing of Iraqi lesbians and gay men by the Shia death squads of the Badr and Sadr militias (the armed wings of the two main Shia parties that control the government of Iraq). In 2005, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa on his website calling for the execution of gays in the "worst, most severe way". Following protests from UK based Iraqi gay rights group, Sistani agreed to remove the fatwa from his website except for the section calling for the punishment of lesbianism.^[6][7][8]

As of October 2007^[update], homosexual acts are punishable by death in seven countries through Sharia Law:^[9][10]

• Iran
• Mauritania
• Nigeria
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

In Saudi Arabia, the maximum punishment for homosexuality is public execution, but the government will use other punishments—e.g., fines, jail time, and whipping—as alternatives, unless it feels that homosexuals are challenging state authority by engaging in LGBT social movements.^[11]

Iran is perhaps the nation to execute the largest number of its citizens for homosexuality. Since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, the Iranian government has executed more than 4,000 people charged with homosexual acts.^[12] In Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, homosexuality went from a capital crime to one that it punished with fines and prison sentence.

International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemn laws that make homosexual relations between consenting adults a crime.^[13][14] Since 1994, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has also ruled that such laws violated the right to privacy guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.^[15][16][17]

See also: Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni

[edit] Relationship between religious condemnation and violence

Several media articles discuss the role of religion plays, or has played, in fostering cultures that give rise to homophobic violence.^{[18] [19][20][21][22][23]} However, Christian leaders in the west tend to denounce such violence.^[24] Some religious leaders and followers believe that the Bible, the Koran, or the Torah say that homosexuality is wrong, while others have dismissed as exaggeration and misinterpretation such interpretations of the Bible.^[25]

[edit] Criminal violence, legal and police responses

Otherwise law-abiding citizens have at times been prepared to break the law, either out of prejudice or in order to repress people they perceive as having LGBT identities or engaging in LGBT activity. In many parts of the world, including much of the EU and United States, acts of violence are legally classified as hate crimes, which entails a harsher sentence if convicted. In some countries this form of legislation extends to verbal abuse as well as physical violence. Sometimes, people have been the target of anti-LGBT violence because they were perceived to be LGBT, whether they were or not.

Violent hate crimes against LGBT people are notable because they tend to be especially brutal, "an intense rage is present in nearly all homicide cases involving gay male victims". It is rare for a victim to just be shot, he is more likelely to be stabbed multiple times, mutilated, and strangled. "They frequently involved torture, cutting, mutilation... showing the absolute intent to rub out the human being because of his (sexual) preference".^[26]

Acts of violence considered to have been inspired by hatred of LGBT people, legislative changes, police and judicial responses, by country.

[edit] Violence and legal responses in anglophone countries

[edit] Australia

• On December 3, 2007, Craig Gee was attacked by four men whilst holding his boyfriend's hand walking down Crown Street in Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. Part of his skull was reduced to powder and his leg was broken during the attack. ^[27] This incident prompted a vigil against the rising level of homophobia in the city and alleged apathy from police,^[28], and despite the attack, Gee and his boyfriend joined the Chief of Parade Margaret Cho to lead the 2008 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade.^[29]

[edit] Canada

• On November 17, 2001, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Aaron Webster, a gay man, was beaten to death with baseball bats and pool cues in a part of Stanley Park known for cruising. Ryan Cran, along with two unidentified youths, was convicted of manslaughter in Webster's death. Cran was paroled in February 2009 after serving four years of a six-year sentence.^[30]
• On May 29, 2007, Michael Marcil, better known as drag queen Dixie Landers was beaten outside of an Ottawa, Ontario gay pub. Andrew Lefebvre and Sheri-Lee Rand have been charged for the attack.^[31]
• November 3, 2008 - Anji Dimitriou and Jane Currie were physically assaulted at an Oshawa, Ontario public school, while waiting to pick up their children. Mark Scott, the attacker, punched both women in the face, referring to them as "men," "fucking dyke bitches" and spitting in Dimitriou's face. He is in court in Jan. 2009, for two counts of assault causing bodily harm.^[32][33]

[edit] Jamaica

• On June 5, 2004, Jamaican gay rights activist Brian Williamson was murdered in Kingston. His killer, Dwight Hayden, who used a machete to stab and chop him some 70 times, pleaded guilty^[34] and received a life sentence.^[35]
• In December 2005, a Jamaican mob chased an alleged gay man who, fearful of the crowd, jumped into the water and drowned.^[36]
• In April 2006, students rioted at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and attacked an alleged gay student.^[36]
• On February 14, 2007, a group of gay men, including gay-rights activist Gareth Williams, were stoned by a mob in Mandeville, Jamaica. Their attackers reportedly had earlier demanded that the men leave the community. ^[37][38]
• On April 8, 2007, approximately 100 men gathered outside a church where 150 people were attending the funeral of a gay man in Mandeville, Jamaica. According to mourners, the crowd broke the windows with bottles and shouted, "We want no battyman [gay] funeral here. Leave or else we’re going to kill you. We don’t want no battyman buried here in Mandeville." ^[36]
• In January, 2008, three gay men were attacked in the privacy of their dwelling by an angry mob who had days before threatened them if they did not leave the community in Mandeville, Jamaica. According to reports, two men were hospitalised, one with serious injuries, while another man is still missing and feared dead.^[38][36]

[edit] New Zealand

• The murder in Wellington, New Zealand, on May 8, 1999, of supposedly gay teenager Jeff Whittington, who was beaten, kicked, and stomped to death by two men who reportedly later boasted of beating up a "faggot". Whittington's attackers, Jason Morris Meads and Stephen James Smith, were sentenced to life in prison.^[39]

[edit] Republic of Ireland

• The beating to death of Declan Flynn in Fairview Park, Dublin, in 1983. The murder and subsequent suspended sentences of the perpetrators who pleaded guilty to murder saw the emergence of a more vocal gay community in the aftermath.^[40]

[edit] Sierra Leone

• FannyAnn Eddy was the most prominent Sierra Leonean gay and lesbian rights activist, working for Sierra Leone Lesbian and Gay Association (SLLGA), and had addressed the United Nations on lesbian and gay issues in her country during the discussion on the Brazilian Resolution. Eddy founded SLLAGA in 2002. On September 28, 2004 Eddy was murdered while working alone in the Freetown SLLGA office, it is believed up to three men took part in the attack.^[41][42] Sierra Leone Police Force said that the murder could not be blamed on homophobia, and dismissed the claim that she had been raped, or that there was more than one attacker; Outrage expressed caution in accepting this statement by the police. The one suspect escaped from police custody before his trial and has not been recaptured or prosecuted. Human rights activists are unclear whether this was a hate crime or not, but regard her attack by one or more men in the offices of SLLGA as significant. They have asked why only one suspected attacker was captured, expressed concern over repeated delays in prosecution, and how he was able to escape custody.^[43][44][45] In 2007 the Hirschfeld Eddy Foundation for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people was established in berlin; the name is a combination of Eddy and Magnus Hirschfeld's names.

[edit] South Africa

• In November 1999, Blah Bar, a gay bar in Cape Town, South Africa, was bombed, injuring two people.^[46]

[edit] St. Maarten

• On April 6, 2006, two American television producers, CBS Evening News senior producer Richard Jefferson and 48 Hours producer-researcher Ryan Smith, were severely beaten with a tire iron outside the Sunset Beach Bar on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten.^[47] Three men and one woman were convicted and sentenced to prison for the attack, which was ruled a hate crime.^[48]

[edit] UK: England and Wales

[edit] 1950-1959

• On July 31st 1950, in Rotherham, an English schoolteacher, Kenneth Crowe, aged 37, was found dead wearing his wife's clothes and a wig. He had approached a miner on his way home from the pub, who upon discovering Crowe was male, beat and strangled him.^[49] John Cooney was found not guilty of murder and sentenced to five years for manslaughter.^[50]

[edit] 1989-1990: West London murders

Towards the end of 1989 and the start of 1990, there were a series of unsolved murders in west London over a period of six months.

• In September 1989, Christopher Schliach, a barrister who was gay, was murdered in his home; he was stabbed more than 40 times.^[51]
• Three months later, Henry Bright, a hotelier who was gay, was also stabbed to death at his home.^[51].
• A month later, William Dalziel, a hotel porter who was gay, was found unconscious on a roadside in Acton, west London. He died from severe head injuries.^[51]
• Three months after this, actor Michael Boothe was murdered in west London (see below 2007 Met review)

In July 1990, following these murders, hundreds of lesbians and gay men marched from the park where Boothe had been killed to Ealing town hall and held a candlelit vigil.^[51] The demonstration led to the formation of OutRage, who called for the police to start protecting gay men instead of arresting them.^[51] In September 1990, lesbian and gay police officers established the Lesbian and Gay Police Association (Lagpa/GPA).^[51]

[edit] 1999: The Admiral Duncan pub bombing

• In May 1999, the Admiral Duncan, a gay pub in Soho was bombed by former British National Party member David Copeland, killing three people and wounding at least 70.^[52][53]

[edit] 2002: CPS 'zero tolerance'

On the 27 Nov. 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service announced a 'zero tolerance' approach towards perpetrators of anti-gay offenses; this also covers transsexuals. Crimes considered 'homophobic' or 'transphobic' are to be assessed in a similar way to those considered racist (e.g. the victim regarding them as such).^[54]"There is no statutory definition of a homophobic or transphobic incident. However, when prosecuting such cases, and to help us to apply our policy on dealing with cases with a homophobic or transphobic element, we adopt the following definition: 'Any incident which is perceived to be homophobic or transphobic by the victim or by any other person.'”^[55]

[edit] 2003: Criminal Justice Act

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 is passed, in which section 146 empowers courts in England and Wales to impose tougher sentences for offenses motivated or aggravated by the victim's sexual orientation.^[56]

[edit] 2006: first prosecution for homophobic murder

• On the 14th October 2005, London, Jody Dobrowski was beaten to death on Clapham Common by two men who perceived him as being gay; Dobrowski was beaten so badly he had to be identified by his fingerprints. Thomas Pickford and Scott Walker were given life sentences in what was described as a 'homophobic murder' in June 2006.^[57] This was the first prosecution in England and Wales where Section 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 was used in sentencing the killers; this enabled the courts to impose a tougher sentence for offenses motivated or aggravated by the victim's sexual orientation, in this case a minimum of 30 years in prison.^[58]

[edit] 2007: Metropolitan Police review

In July 2004 an independent inquiry into police procedures carried out by the independent Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Advisory Group for the Metropolitan Police was announced.^[59] In May 2007 the report for the independent review was relased; it had examined how detectives had handled 10 murders of gay men or transsexuals. The report found that some poice inquiries were hampered by lack of knowledge, reliance on unfounded stereotypes and personal prejudices; these problems were mirrored and exacerbated by media coverage. The review recognised that Scotland Yard's work with the gay, lesbian and transsexual communities and its investigative processes had improved significantly since the 1990s, but warned that more radical steps were needed. The cases reviewed, and the findings, included:

• Actor Michael Boothe, in west London died in April 1990, beaten to death by a gang of up to six men close to a public lavatory.^[59] the police said he had been the victim of "an extraordinarily severe beating, of a merciless and savage nature". He managed to give a description of his attackers before he died, and a reward of £15,000 was offered, but nobody was caught,^[51] and the crime was not solved. The police review identified institutional homophobia within the Metropolitan Police as a factor.^[60]
• Colin Ireland, age 43, who in 1993 was jailed for life for murdering five gay men. Ireland picked up the men at pubs in London, and then killed them in their own homes. ^[59] A Scotland Yard review showed that Ireland's capture was hampered by institutional homophobia within the Metropolitan Police.^[60]
• Andrew Collier, a housing warden, aged 33, was one of Ireland's victims; the murder was classified as homophobic and linked with the death of Peter Walker, Ireland's first victim. The report said the police could have done more to warn the community of the links between the murders.^[60]
• Emanuel Spiteri, age 41, who was strangled to death in his flat in Catford by Ireland, after meeting in a pub in Earls Court, west London.^[60]
• Robyn Brown, a 23-year-old transsexual prostitute, was found stabbed to death in her flat in London on February 28, 1997. The original report described her as being 23-year-old Gemma Browne, formerly James Darwin Browne.^[61] The case went cold for over ten years, but her killer, James Hopkins, was eventually caught; in January 2009 he was jailed for life.^[62][63] The report found that identifying her to the public using different names may have hampered attempts to connect with relevant communities.^[60]
• June 2000, south-east London, UK. Jaap Bornkamp, a 52 year old florist, was knifed in a homophobic attack; the murder remains unsolved despite the police displaying 20ft by 10ft images of CCTV footage taken near the murder scene. He was attacked after leaving a night club, and the police are reported as saying there was no confrontation or argument, but that the attack was homophobic and unprovoked.^[59] The report found this case to have been a model of police good practice.^[60]
• Geoffrey Windsor, 57, in south London died in June 2002 from head injuries in a park after he was beaten and robbed. The police said the murder was motivated by homophobia.^[59] A review of this and similar cases in the area highlighted poor policing due to institutional homophobia within the police, particularly in not taking previous attacks in the area more seriously.^[60]

[edit] 2000-2009: Recent cases

• The name of Damilola Taylor is well known in the UK since his death on 27th November 2000 in Peckham, south London; he bled to death after being stabbed with a broken bottle in the thigh, which severed the femoral artery; he was attacked by a local gang of youths. The BBC, Telegraph, Guardian and Independent newspapers reported at the time that during the weeks between arriving in the UK from Nigeria and the attack he had been subjected to bullying and beating, which included homophobic remarks, by a group of boys at his school, "The bullies told him that he was gay."^[64] He "may not have understood why he was being bullied at school, or why some other children taunted him about being 'gay' - the word meant nothing to him."^[65] He had to ask his mother what 'gay' meant, she said "Boys were swearing at him, saying lots of horrible words. They were calling him names."^[65] His mother had spoken about this bullying, but the teachers failed to take it seriously "She said pupils had accused her son of being gay and had beaten him last Friday."^[66] Six months after the murder, his father said, "I spoke to him and he was crying that he was being bullied and being called names. He was being called 'gay'."^[67] In the New Statesman two years later, when there had still been been no convictions for the crime, Peter Tatchell, gay human rights campaigner, said, "In the days leading up to his murder in south London in November 2000, he was subjected to vicious homophobic abuse and assaults,"^[68] and asked why the authorities had ignored this before and after his death.
• In July 2005, Lauren Harries, a transwoman, was attacked along with her father and brother in their home in Cardiff by eight youths who shouted the word "tranny" (transphobic abuse) while beating their victims. One youth pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm and was sentenced to two years probation; his accomplices were not formally identified or charged.^[69][70]
• In April 2006 a man was jailed for a homophobic attack on an openly gay Anglican priest. Rev Dr Barry Rathbone was sitting in a park in Bournemouth, Dorset when Martin Powell and his girlfriend approached and spoke to him. Rathbone informed them that it was a cruising area, then Powell produced a three-foot long metal baseball bat, called him a 'queer', and started to hit him.^[71]
• 25 July 2008, 18 year old Michael Causer was attacked by a group of men at a party in Liverpool, and died from his injuries. It is alleged that he was killed because he was gay.^[72]
• October 23, 2008 - 23 year-old gay hairdresser, Daniel Jenkinson, was the victim of a homophobic attack in a Preston club. His attacker, Neil Bibby, 22, also from Preston, was sentenced to 200 hours' unpaid work, a three-month weekend curfew, and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation after he pleaded guilty to assault. Daniel needed facial reconstruction surgery after the attack, and says he is too scared to go out in the city.^[73]
• On March 3, 2009 in Bromley, south London, UK. 59 year old Gerry Edwards was stabbed to death by an assailant shouting homophobic abuse. His partner of over twenty years, 56 year old Chris Bevan, was also stabbed and admitted to hospital in a critical condition.^[74][75] The police dealing with the case said they had an open mind, but were treating it as a homophobic murder; two men were subsequently arrested.^[76]

[edit] 2009: Prosecution for verbal violence

• On the 15 May, 2009, An English court found two football fans guilty of shouting homophobic chants at footballer Sol Campbell during a match. ^[77] This was the first prosecution for indecent chanting in the UK.^[78] The police reported that up to 2,500 fans shouted chants at the match that included "Sol, Sol, wherever you may be, Not long now until lunacy, We won't give a fuck if you are hanging from a tree," the footballer commented "I felt totally victimised and helpless by the abuse I received on this day. It has had an effect on me personally".^[78] Three men and two boys were given cautions after the match.^[78]

[edit] UK: Scotland

In 2009, the Scottish parliament unanimously passed legislation that means that crimes motivated by hatred of gay or disabled people will now be considered as 'aggravated offences'.^[79]

[edit] USA

In the United States, the FBI reported that 15.6% of hate crimes reported to police in 2004 were founded on perceived sexual orientation. Sixty-one percent of those attacks were against gay men, 14% against lesbians, 2% against heterosexuals and 1% against bisexuals, while attacks against LGBT people at large made up 20%.^[80] Violence based on perceived gender identity was not recorded in the report.

The FBI reported that for 2006, hate crimes against gays increased to 16%, from 14% in 2005, as percentage of total documented hate crimes across the U.S.^[81] The 2006 annual report, released on November 19, 2007, also said that hate crimes based on sexual orientation are the third most common type, behind race and religion.^[81]

[edit] Legal responses to homophobic and transphobic hate crime

In 1988 a Florida judge, trying a case concerning the beating to death of a gay man asked the prosecutor, "That's a crime now, to beat up a homosexual?" The prosecutor responded, "Yes, sir. And it's also a crime to kill them."^[26]

On the 29 April, 2009, The U.S. House of Representatives voted to extend federal laws to classify as "hate crimes" attacks based on a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity (as well as mental or physical disability).^[82]

[edit] 1970-1979

• The beating death of gay man Howard Efland, who had checked into the Dover Hotel under the pseudonym of J. McCann, by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department in March 1970.^[83]
• The arson of the The Upstairs Lounge in New Orleans on June 24, 1973, killing 32 people.^[84]
• The stabbing death of Robert Hillsborough in San Francisco on June 21, 1977 by a man shouting "faggot".^[85]
• On November 27, 1978, openly gay San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk, along with Mayor George Moscone, was assassinated by political rival Dan White at San Francisco City Hall. Outrage over the assassinations and the short sentence given to White (seven years) prompted the White Night Riots.^[86]
• Tennessee Williams was the victim of an assault in January 1979 in Key West, being beaten by five teenage boys. He escaped serious injury. The episode was part of a spate of anti-gay violence inspired by an anti-gay newspaper ad run by a local Baptist minister.^[87]
• The beating death of Terry Knudsen by three men in Loring Park in Minneapolis on June 5, 1979^[88].
• The stabbing death of Robert Allen Taylor on September 7, 1979, near Loring Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A local reporter interviewed the murderer from jail and was told, "I don't like gays. Okay?"^[88]
• The beating death in New York City on October 7, 1979, of 17 year old Steven Charles of Newark by Costabile "Gus" Farace, Robert DeLicio, David Spoto and Farace's cousin Mark Granato. They also beat Charles' friend, 16 year old Thomas Moore of Brooklyn. Moore was critically injured but managed to get help at a nearby residence. It was Moore that identified the four men via a lineup four days after the incident. Farace, the leader of the attack, plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter. He was paroled after 8 years, in 1988. He himself was murdered on November 17, 1989.^[89]

[edit] 1980-1989

• The drowning death of Charlie Howard in Bangor, Maine, in 1984.^[90]
• On May 13, 1988, Rebecca Wight was killed when she and her partner, Claudia Brenner, were shot by Stephen Roy Carr while hiking and camping along the Appalachian Trail. Carr later claimed that he became enraged by the couple's lesbianism when he saw them having sex ^[91]

[edit] 1990-1999

• The fatal stabbing of James Zappalorti (1945 – 1990), a gay Vietnam veteran.^[92]
• The murder of Julio Rivera in New York City on July 2, 1990, by two men who beat him with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife because he was gay.^[93]
• The killing of Paul Broussard (1968–1991), a Houston-area banker.^[94]
• The murder of U.S. Navy Petty Officer Allen Schindler by a shipmate who stomped him to death in a public restroom in Japan on October 27, 1992.^[95] Schindler had complained repeatedly about anti-gay harassment aboard ship.^[95] The case became synonymous with the gays in the military debate that had been brewing in the United States culminating in the "Don't ask, don't tell" bill.^[96]
• The 1993 rape and later murder of Brandon Teena, a transman who was killed when his birth gender was revealed by police to male friends of his.^[97] The events leading to Mr. Teena's death were depicted in the movie Boys Don't Cry.^[98]
• On March 9, 1995, Scott Amedure was murdered after revealing his attraction to his friend Jonathan Schmitz on a The Jenny Jones Show episode about secret crushes. Schmidtz purchased a shotgun to kill Amedure and did so after Amedure implied he still was attracted to him; Schmitz then turned himself in to police.^[99][100]
• The murders of Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill, a lesbian couple in Medford, Oregon, on December 4, 1995, by a man who said he had "no compassion" for bisexual or homosexual people.^[101] Robert Acremant was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection.^[102]
• The bombing of the Otherside Lounge, a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta, by Eric Robert Rudolph, the "Olympic Park Bomber," on February 21, 1997; five bar patrons were injured. In a statement released after he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for his several bombings, Rudolph called homosexuality an "aberrant lifestyle".^[103]
• The October 7, 1998, fatal attack on Matthew Shepard (1976 – 1998), a gay student, in Laramie, Wyoming. Shepard was tortured, beaten severely, tied to a fence, and abandoned; he was found 18 hours after the attack and succumbed to his injuries less than a week later, on October 12. His attackers, Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, are both serving two consecutive life sentences in prison.^[104]
• The July 1, 1999, murders of gay couple Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder by white supremacist brothers Matthew and Tyler Williams in Redding, California. Tyler Williams was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison, to be served after his completion of a 21-year sentence for firebombing synagogues and an abortion clinic.^[105] Benjamin Williams claimed that by killing the couple he was "obeying the laws of the Creator".^[106] He committed suicide in 2003 while awaiting trial. Their former pastor described the brothers as "zealous in their faith" but "far from kooks".^[107]
• The murder of U.S. Army Pfc. Barry Winchell on July 6, 1999, in Fort Campbell, Kentucky by fellow soldier Calvin Glover. Winchell was beaten to death with a baseball bat after rumors spread on base of his relationship with transgendered author Calpernia Addams. Glover was sentenced to life in prison.^[108]
• The September 1999 murder of Steen Fenrich, apparently by his stepfather, john D. Fenrich, in Queens, New York. His dismembered remains were found in March 2001, with the phrase "gay nigger number one" scrawled on his skull along with his social security number. His stepfather fled from police while being interviewed, then committed suicide.^[109]
• Oct 15th, 1999: Sissy "Charles" Bolden, Savannah, Georgia. Found shot to death. Police arrested Charles E. Wilkins, Jr., in July 2003; he admitted the killing, and was charged in two other homicides, according to the Savannah Police Department.^[110]

[edit] 2000-2009

• On July 3, 2000, in Grant Town, West Virginia, Arthur "J.R." Warren was punched and kicked to death by two teenage boys who reportedly believed Warren had spread a rumor that he and one of the boys, David Allen Parker, had a sexual relationship. Warren's killers ran over his body to disguise the murder as a hit-and-run. Parker pleaded guilty and was sentenced to "life in prison with mercy", making him eligible for parole after 15 years.^[111] His accomplice, Jared Wilson, was sentenced to 20 years.^[112]
• On September 22, 2000, Ronald Gay entered a gay bar in Roanoke, Virginia and opened fire on the patrons, killing Danny Overstreet, 43 years old, and severely 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;" Gay testified in court that "he wished he could have killed more fags," before several of the shooting victims as well as Danny Overstreet's family and friends.^[113]
• On June 16, 2001, Fred Martinez, a transgender and two-spirit student was bludgeoned to death near Cortez, Colorado by 18-year-old Shaun Murphy, who reportedly bragged about attacking a "fag".^[114][115]
• On June 12, 2002, Philip Walsted, a gay man, was fatally beaten with a baseball bat. According to prosecutors, the neo-Nazi views of Walsted's assailant's, David Higdon, led to what was originally a robbery escalating to murder. Higdon was sentenced to life in prison, plus an additional sentence for robbery.^[116]
• The December 2002 homicide of Nizah Morris, a trans woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• The killing of Gwen Araujo(1985 – 2002), a trans woman, by at least three men who were charged with committing a hate crime. Two were convicted of murder, the third manslaughter; however, the jury rejected the hate crime enhancement.
• On May 11, 2003, Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian, was murdered in a hate crime in Newark, New Jersey. While waiting for a bus, Gunn and her friends were propositioned by two men. When the girls rejected their advances, declaring themselves to be lesbians, the men attacked them. One of the men, Richard McCullough, fatally stabbed Gunn. In exchange for his pleading guilty to several lesser crimes including aggravated manslaughter, prosecutors dropped murder charges against McCullough, who was sentenced to 20 years.^[117][118]
• On June 17, 2003, Richie Phillips of Elizabethtown, Kentucky was killed by Joseph Cottrell. His body was later found in a suitcase in Rough River Lake. During his trial, two of Cottrell's relatives testified that he lured Phillips to his death, and killed him because he was gay.^[119] Cottrell was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years in prison.^[120]
• On July 23, 2003, Nireah Johnson and Brandie Coleman were shot to death by Paul Moore, when Moore learned after a sexual encounter that Johnson was transgender.^[121] Moore then burned his victims' bodies. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 120 years in prison.^[122]
• On July 31, 2003, 37-year-old Glenn Kopitske was shot and stabbed in the back by 17-year-old Gary Hirte, a straight-A student, star athlete^[123] and Eagle Scout,^[124] in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Prosecutors contended that Hirte murdered Kopitske to see if he could get away with it.^[125] Hirte pleaded insanity, claiming he killed Kopitske in a murderous rage after a consensual sexual encounter with the victim, because he felt a homosexual act was "worse than murder". The 'temporary insanity' mitigation plea was not upheld, he was found guilty, and received a life sentence.
• On October 2, 2004, multiple assailants in Waverly, Ohio, attacked Daniel Fetty, a gay man who was hearing-impaired and homeless. Fetty was beaten, stomped, shoved nude into a garbage bin, impaled with a stick, and left for dead; he succumbed to his injuries the next day. Prosecuters alleged a hate crime. Three men received sentences ranging from seven years to life.
• On January 28, 2005, Ronnie Antonio Paris, a three-year-old boy living in Tampa, Florida, died due to brain injuries inflicted by his father, Ronnie Paris, Jr. According to his mother and other relatives, Ronnie Paris, Jr., repeatedly slammed his son into walls, slapped the child's head, and "boxed" him because he was concerned the child was gay and feared his son would grow up a sissy. Paris, Jr., was sentenced to thirty years in prison.^[126][127]
• On February 27, 2005, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 21-year-old James Maestas was assaulted outside a restaurant, then followed to a hotel and beaten unconscious by men who called him "faggot" during the attack. Although all of his attackers were charged with committing a hate crime, none was sentenced to prison.
• On March 11, 2005, Jason Gage, an openly gay man, was murdered in his Waterloo, Iowa, apartment by an assailant, Joseph Lawrence, who claimed Gage had made sexual advance to him. Gage was bludgeoned to death with a bottle, and stabbed in the neck, probably post-mortem, with a shard of glass.^[128] Lawrence was sentenced to fifty years in prison.
• On February 2, 2006, 18-year-old Jacob D. Robida entered a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, confirmed that it was a gay bar, and then attacked patrons with a hatchet and a handgun, wounding three.^[129] He fatally shot himself three days later.^[130]
• On June 10, 2006, Kevin Aviance, a female impressionist, musician, and fashion designer, was robbed and beaten in Manhattan by a group of men who yelled anti-gay slurs at him. Four assailants pleaded guilty and received prison sentences.^[131]
• On July 30, 2006, six men were attacked with baseball bats and knives after leaving the San Diego, California Gay Pride festival. One victim was injured so severely that he had to undergo extensive facial reconstructive surgery. Three men pleaded guilty in connection with the attacks and received prison sentences. A 15-year-old juvenile also pleaded guilty.^[132][133]
• On August 18, 2006, an altercation occurred in Manhattan between a man and seven black lesbians from Newark, New Jersey. During the altercation, the man was stabbed. The women claim that they acted in self-defense after he screamed homophobic epithets, spit on them, and pulled one of their weaves off,^[134] while he has described the attack as "a hate crime against a straight man."^[135]
• On October 8, 2006, Michael Sandy was attacked by four young heterosexual men who lured him into meeting after chatting online, while they were looking for gay men to rob. He was struck by a car while trying to escape his attackers, and died five days later without regaining consciousness.^[136][137]
• On February 27, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan Andrew Anthos, a 72-year-old disabled gay man was beaten with a lead pipe by a man who was shouting anti-gay names at him. Anthos died 10 days later in the hospital.^[138]
• On March 15, 2007 in Wahneta, Florida, Ryan Keith Skipper, a 25 year old gay man was stabbed to death. Four suspects were arrested for the crime. The Sheriff is calling it a hate crime.^[139]
• On May 12, 2007, Roberto Duncanson was murdered in Brooklyn, New York. He was stabbed to death by Omar Willock, who claimed Duncanson had flirted with him.^[140]
• May 16, 2007, Sean William Kennedy, 20, was walking to his car from Brew's Bar in Greenville, SC when Andrew Moller, 18, got out of another car and approached Kennedy. Investigators said that Moller made a comment about Kennedy's sexual orientation, and threw a fatal punch because he didn't like the other man's sexual preference.^[141]
• On December 8, 2007 25 year old gay man Nathaniel Salerno was attacked by four men on a Metro train in Washington, DC. The men called him faggot while they beat him.^[142]
• In February 2008, Duanna Johnson, a transsexual woman, was beaten by a police officer while she was held in the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Tennessee. Johnson said the officers reportedly called her a “faggot” and “he-she,” before and during the incident.^[143][144] In November 2008, she was found dead in the street, reportedly gunned down by three unknown individuals.^[145]
• On February 12, 2008, Lawrence "Larry" King, a 15 year old junior highschool student was shot by a classmate at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, California. He was taken off life support after doctors declared him brain dead on February 15.^[146] According to Associated Press reports, "prosecutors have charged a 14-year-old classmate with premeditated murder with hate-crime and firearm-use enhancements".^{[147][148][149]}
• In Rochester, New York on March 16, 2008 police say Lance Neve was beaten unconscious because Neve was gay. A man attacked Neve at a bar leaving him with a fractured skull, and a broken nose.^[150] Jesse Parsons was sentenced to more than five years in prison for the assault.^[151][152]
• In Baltimore County, Maryland on May 29, 2008 eighteen year old Steven Parrish—a member of the Young Swans subgroup of the Bloods—was murdered by Steven T. Hollis III and Juan L. Flythe after they found "gay messages" on his cell phone. They felt having a gay member would make their gang appear weak and that by killing Parrish they could prevent that perception.^[153]
• 17 July 2008, In Colorado, 18 year old Angie Zapata, a trans woman, was beaten to death two days after meeting Allen Ray Andrade. The case was prosecuted as a hate crime, and Andrade was found guilty of first degree murder on April 22 2009.^[154]
• September 7, 2008 - Tony Randolph Hunter, 27, and his partner were attacked and beaten near a gay bar in Washington DC. Hunter later died from his injuries on September 18. Police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.^[155][156]
• September 13, 2008 in Denver, Colorado 26 year old Nima Daivari was attacked by a man who called him faggot. The police that arrived on the scene refused to make a report of the attack.^[157]
• September 15, 2008 - A Bourbonnais, Illinois elementary school bus driver was charged with leading a homophobic attack on a 10-year old student passenger. The boy was taunted by the driver who then encouraged other students to chase and beat the child.^[158]

Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Jay Boyarsky attributed a surge in anti-gay hate crimes, from 3 in 2007 to 14 in 2008, to controversy over Proposition 8. However, the DDA cautioned against reading too much from small statistical samples, pointing out that the vast majority of hate incidents don't get referred to the DA's office.^[159]

• On November 7, 2008 in Newton, NC the home of openly gay Melvin Whistlehunt was destroyed by arsonists. Investigators found homophobic graffiti spray painted on the back of the house.^[160]
• On November 14, 2008, trans woman Lateisha Green was shot and killed in Syracuse, NY because the alleged perpetrator thought she was gay.^[161] Local news media reported the incident with her legal name, Moses "Teish" Cannon.^[162]
• On December 7, 2008 Romel Sucuzhanya, a 31 year old straight Ecuadorean and his brother Jose, were attacked on a Brooklyn, New York street for appearing to be gay and for being Latino; they were walking arm-in-arm, which is normal for brothers in their culture. Romel later died from his injuries.^[163]
• On December 12, 2008 in Richmond, California a 28 year old lesbian was kidnapped and gang raped by four men who made homophobic remarks during the attack.^[164]
• On December 27, 2008 in Dayton, Ohio 24 year old Nathan Runkle was brutally assaulted outside a gay nightclub.^[165]
• On February 15, 2009 in New York City Efosa Agbontaen and Branden McGillvery-Dummett were attacked by four young men with glass bottles and box cutters who used anti-gay slurs during the attack. Agbontaen and McGillvery-Dummett both required emergency room treatment for their injuries.^[166]
• On February 18, 2009 two men were arrested in Stroudsburg, PA for the stabbing death of gay veteran Michael Goucher.^[167]
• On March 1, 2009 in Galveston, Texas three men entered Roberts Lafitte bar and attacked patrons with rocks. One of the victims, Marc Bosaw, was sent to the emergency room to have twelve staples in his head.^[168]
• On March 14, 2009 a gay couple leaving a concert in Newark, New Jersey were attacked by 15 teens. Josh Kehoe and Bobby Daniel Caldwell were called "faggots" and beaten. Caldwell suffered a broken jaw.^[169]
• On March 23, 2009 in Seaside, Oregon two gay men were attacked and left lying unconscious on a local beach. The men regained consciousness and were treated at a nearby hospital.^[170]
• On Monday, April 6, 2009, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, an 11 year old boy in Springfield, Massachusetts, hanged himself with an extension cord after being bullied all school year by his peers. His peers said he "acted feminine" and was gay. ^[171]
• On Saturday April 11, 2009 a gay man in Gloucester, Massachusetts was attacked and beaten by as many as six people outside a bar. Justin Goodwin, 36, of Salem suffered a shattered jaw, broken eye socket, broken nose and broken cheek bone.^[172]

[edit] Violence and legal responses in non-anglophone countries

[edit] Brazil

• In September 2007, Osvan Inacio dos Santos, 19, was attacked and murdered in a street near a bar where he had just won the local "Miss Gay" competition in the town of Batingas in northeast Brazil. dos Santos' naked body was found on Sunday morning and forensic examination found his skull had been fractured and indicated sexual assault.^[173]
• In February 2008, Brazilian gay rights activist Alexandre Peixe dos Santos was attacked and beaten at the Sao Paulo's Gay Pride Association offices in Brazil. Activists estimate that more than 2,680 gay people were murdered in Brazil between 1980 and 2006.^[174]

[edit] Croatia

• On July 7, 2007, 30 participants at a gay pride event in Croatia were attacked by multiple assailants. The attackers had also prepared Molotov cocktails but were stopped by the police before using them. Many people taking part in Gay Pride marches in Eastern Europe (e.g: Romania, Russia, Serbia) have been beaten after leaving the marches.^[175][176]

[edit] France

• The non-fatal stabbing of Bertrand Delanoë, the openly gay mayor of Paris, in October 2002.

[edit] Israel

• On June 30, 2005, Yishai Shlisel, a Haredi Jew, was charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing three marchers in a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, Israel, claiming he acted "in the name of God".^[177]

[edit] Norway

• The killing of an unknown homosexual man in Lillehammer, on August 21, 1992. The police investigation took about a year before Bård Faust, the drummer of the band Emperor, was tried and convicted of the killing. He was released from prison in 2002.^[178][179]

[edit] Portugal

• In February 2006, Gisberta Salce Júnior, a Brazilian transsexual living in Oporto, Portugal, was tortured and raped with sticks over a period of three days, then tossed into a water-filled pit and left to die. A group of adolescent boys admitted to the attack^[180] and received suspended sentences.

[edit] Serbia

• On June 30, 2001, hundreds of Serbian nationalists, skinheads, and soccer hooligans attacked participants of the first Serbian Pride Parade in Belgrade.^[181]

[edit] Spain

• On January 13, 2006, Julio Anderson Luciano and his fiancé, Isaac Ali Dani Peréz Triviño, were killed in the home they shared with Peréz Triviño's mother in the Spanish city of Vigo. Jacobo Piñeiro Rial, who stabbed them 22 and 35 times, respectively, then set fire to the home, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for arson after being acquitted by a jury of murder charges on a "gay panic" defence.^[182]

[edit] See also

• Anti-gay slogan
• Biphobia
• Gay bashing
• Gay panic defense
• Hate crime
• Hate speech
• Heterosexism
• Lesbophobia
• Murder Music
• Pink Pistols
• Transphobia
• List of unlawfully killed transgender people

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Barry Yeoman, Murder on the Mountain, Out Magazine
• Gay Bashings In Schools- A survey released in 2006 shows that gay teens still experience homophobic attacks in their schools
• Pictures from Belgrade (Serbian) Pride Parade 30 June 2001

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