I don’t expect a lot from our public school system, particularly in Texas where they teach to the test. However, this takes the cake for irresponsibility.

Jayron Martin, a 16 year old freshman at Langham Creek High School, was told by a friend that a group of kids were going to attack him. He advised the administration and was told they would call the group into the office, but they didn’t.

It’s not uncommon for LGBT groups and organizations to suffer at the hands of ignorant, bigoted, hateful people who wish nothing more than… dare I say, fags to die. If you doubt that these hatemongers teach that to their flock and families, just take a look at the messages scrawled on the walls at Equality Florida’s Orlando Office and the results of the anti-gay movements battle against us becomes clear. They want us dead.

That’s just one of the photos from Equality Florida’s website. Other messages were more on point, including the scrawled Swastika, a symbol now associated with the persecution and murders of hundreds of thousands of people during German occupation – and yes, that included us “fags.” Another message for the queers from our fun loving fellows, “”Die Fags.”

A San Antonio man was murdered in front of a local bar after he allegedly made a sexual advance toward another man. Enrique Santos, 22, has confessed to the murder of 50 year old, Jorge Sgetelmeg, stating that a fight broke out after Sgetelmeg purchased some beer for Santos. According to Santos’ confession and affidavit, Sgetelmeg and he were sharing the beer in his SUV. Sgetelmeg made a sexual advance at Santos and Santos punched him several times in the face before removing a rock from his pocket and hitting him several more times – then chocking the man with a neck tie.

Michael was beaten on August 14, 2009. I can’t say it better than Michael:

“I thought it was very important that I do this video right away because I need to let people know that even though there is that much hatred in the world, I will continue to do good things for people.”

You may remember the 2006 convictions of Pete Billiot and Dwayne Adam Racine for the attack of a black offshore worker, but it’s likely you don’t. The story received some national media coverage, but as is the case with most hate crimes, it wasn’t enough. We can all grimace when someone murders another person regardless of the motivation, but when the motivation is bias or prejudice because of the persons race, creed, color, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s particularly painful, particularly to members of that “suspect class.” Lots of thoughts race through the minds of those that could have been attacked and/or murder because of the same violent biases.

There have been many cases wherein those that commit such crimes get nothing more than a slap on the wrist. In fact, a recent case of murder resulted in a full acquittal of the charge against the admitted murderer simply because he was motivated to kill a queer man after the man hit on him.

Dwight DeLee was the first person to be prosecuted in Onondaga County New York under hate crimes legislation for the murder of Lateisha Green (who is often referred to in the media by her birth name, Moses Cannon).

Lateisha, or Teish as she was known by friends, and her brother, Mark Cannon, had received a call from a friend to come over to talk. They headed to the Seymour Street address and were still talking with the girl when the gunman walked up to the care and fired.

The OutGames, a type of gay olympics, are taking place in Copenhagen. As is usual when gays gather, the games have been tarnished with protests and acts of hate. This most recent event marks the second “hate crime” to occur since the games began. The first involving the brutal beatings of three men participating in the events. This time, a 31-year old man threw a bomb onto the track and field of one stadium, then, less than an hour later, threw another bomb at a second event. Police were ultimately able to detain him. It is believed the sexual orientation of the participants spawned the attack.

Brandon McInerney, the teenager who allegedly murdered Larry King after King declared, “Baby, I love you,” to him, faced a day in the courtroom. During the pretrial hearing, Oxnard Police Sergeant Kevin Baysinger, told the court:

“Brandon said if he ever wanted to kill anybody, his dad had a bunch of guns and he had the capability.”

He went on to say that the investigation also revealed that McInerney told one of Larry’s friends before the murder to:

“Tell Larry goodbye because you’re not going to see him again.”

Coalition Reports Gay Bias Killings Up in U.S. – The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports that the number of people of the LGBT community killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28% in 2008. This is the greatest increase documented by the Coalition since 1999. Although the FBI reports slightly different figures – “the FBI doesn’t record bias crimes against transgendered people because gender identity isn’t covered by federal hate-crime law”. The figures reported by both the FBI and the Coalition might be a little lower than reality because some (understandably) fear retribution and do not report the crimes at all. Some victims also do not report the crimes because they are not ready to out themselves to the police – possibly fearing bias from the authorities themselves. Sharon Stapel theorized that some of the violence from 2008 was due to backlash against issues from the presidential campaign. She said, “The more visibility there is the more likely we’re going to see backlash, and that’s exactly what we see here.” Whether or not that is the reason for the increase – hopefully the Hate Crimes Bill will pass in the Senate and there will be more justice and less hate.

British Clergy Fear New LGBT Rights Bill in UK – In the U.S. some Church leaders, and others on the far right, have expressed major concerns that the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill now in the Senate will hurt the rights of the Church to preach to Church members. Well, it looks as though our community here in the U.S. is not alone in trying to correct misinterpretations and misunderstandings. In Britain there is an existing law titled the “Criminal Justice and Immigration Act”, and this year a new “clause” has been proposed. Our brothers and sisters in the UK seem to be experiencing similar frustrations. The Public Order Act of 1986 includes Part 3 which prohibits expressions of “racial hatred”. This new “clause” is simply extending the protection to the LGBT community. The “clause” or Part 3 is not meant to cause any new concerns to leaders of a Church.
LGBT Hate Crime in Cape Cod – A young man named Eric Patten, just 23 years old, was quite drunk and was asked to leave a club in Provincetown. According to police he began screaming anti-homosexual slurs on the sidewalk outside the club and approached and began attacking two lesbian women.