The Problem Of Gay Bashing
Brazil is a place that has earned the highest ranking of the world deadliest place for the LGBT community. People apart of the LGBT community can't live in peace because no matter where they go they are discriminated against. This is a problem because gay bashing makes the LGBT community afraid of being themselves and is starting to become a huge hate crime, which is leading to death. This can be solved by actually enforcing more awareness on hate crimes such as no transgender healthcare, no law that addresses harassment or bullying, no conversion therapy, and no change of gender on documents. There are many locations where the LGBT community feels safe, but on the other hand there are places where they are discriminated against. According to a study published in 2016 in the journal BMC Public health revealed that half of the canadian gay and bisexual men have been bullied or harassed for their sexuality, that one in ten has experienced gay bashing and that one in seven has been discriminated on the basis of their sexuality in the workplace. This is an issue because the Canadian men can't be themselves because of how others act towards them.
Another instance, Jason, as a child children called him a fag, beat him up at school and sexually assaulted him in the locker rooms. Every day he was punctuated with violence. How can a student be comfortable in their own body when they can’t even pursue education without being bullied. Gay bashing has become so bad that it has come to the point where it results in attacks or death. In West Virginia, April 2015, a running back with the Marshall University football team, attacked two men, Casey Williams and Zachary Johnson after they were spotted kissing in public. Prosecutors said Mr. Butler shouted homophobic slurs at them from his car, then got out and attacked them. These two males were minding their business when they were attacked for their sexuality. People are harming others for what they prefer. Also, according to Vancouver Sun, it is estimated that more than 150 Canadian gay and bisexual men take their lives each year- which is more than the current number of deaths caused by HIV.
The LGBT community is highly affected by gay bashing. They either harm themselves or harmed by others. A way to solve this problem is to give attentiveness to the hate crimes that are committed towards the LGBT community. According to the Explore website, Texas is a place where there are hate crimes against the LGBT community such as housing discrimination, employment, no hate crime law, no conversion therapy, no gender switch on important documents, transgender healthcare, education, public accommodation, and school anti-bullying. These hate crimes are looked over and seem as a way to deprive freedom from the LGBT community. When on the other hand someone could travel to Oregon and have all of the above. Why wouldn't a place as popular as Texas grow their state by accepting the LGBT community instead of going against them.
Lastly, gay bashing is a very important issue of the LGBT community. It is important because it makes the LGBT community afraid of being themselves and it leads to attacks and death of self harm. I believe it can be solved by giving sincere perception for hate crimes so the LGBT community could receive justice.
Citations
- Liam Stack. The New York Times. Https://www. nytimes. com/2017/05/12/us/anti-gay-hate-crimes-west-virginia-court. html
- Andrew Jacobs. The New York Times. https://www. nytimes. com/2016/07/06/world/americas/brazil-anti-gay-violence. html
- Olivier Ferlatte. John Oliffe. Vancouver Sun. http://vancouversun. com/opinion/opinion-homophobia-is-killing-gay-and-and-bisexual-men
- Human Rights Campaign. https://www. hrc. org/state-maps/hate-crimes
