Hate Crimes toward Sexual Orientation
We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. ” – Dry. Martin Luther King Jar. Every day, somewhere in the world, men, women and children are tortured and even killed because of their beliefs, their race, the way they look, or the way they live. And this will go on until the rest of the world stops being quiet and takes a stand against the hatred that causes these crimes. Hate crimes are well known issue in today’s society.
According to Joseph Healed, “One possible explanation for at least some hate rimes is that they are fueled by perceived threats, frustration and fear, and anger and scapegoat” is one reason behind the cause (2011). All humanity possesses a voice to the injustice of violence. Inclusion of sexual orientation in the federal hate crime law was rejected by the U. S. Senate in the late asses, even while hate crimes targeting specifically gays and lesbians increased during the same period (Kamala & Nolan, 1999). Sprees of violence are always directed to one another, especially towards the weak and defenseless.
The racial spree killer Benjamin Smith, the ragging death of James Byrd, and the humiliating murder of Matthew Sheppard, all stand as reminders that the bigotry that kills is much more than the few unfortunate reminders of the United States history (Perry, 2001). There is a significant relationship between hate crimes and psychological impact to the victim and the victim’s community where a priority response is actually needed. The consequences caused and done by hate crimes cannot be measured solely in terms of physical injury or dollars and cents.
Intimidation of other members of the victim’s community, leaving hem feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected by the law is effected immediately with the presence of hate crimes. By making members of minority communities fearful, angry and suspicious of other groups and of the power structure that is supposed to protect them. These incidents can damage the fabric of our society and fragment communities. There was a blob has been found where there lots of victim experienced hate crimes based on sexual orientation.
One of them which attracted me the most was from James, who was gay black male (2010), he described how he as assaulted in a public place by someone that he did not even know: [l] was attacked at a bar by a complete stranger! This has been the worst chapter in my journey. As a result of the attack, my right hummers was broken at the surgical neck. The incident occurred at a bar in the city’s largest entertainment district. The district’s name is Power and Light. It is common knowledge to residents of our area, the district has experienced many problems with issues of discrimination.
I work across the street from the district and never experienced any problems until this. The attack occurred inside the bar. It was after a huge football game for our local team. At a certain point, this really drunk guy starting yelling and calling me names! Not one of the bouncers or servers asked him to leave. The whole thing happened very quickly. One minute he was calling me “Fagged”, the next minute I was being “attacked”. As he tried to hit me in the face, he lost his footing and fell on top of me in the process. As a result of his weight and mine, my hummers immediately broke.
I could feel the bar start, almost instantly! At that point, the wait staff helped Him up and asked him to leave. I was in so much pain at that point, and embarrassed. Not once did any of the bar personnel or district security ask me if I was okay. In that moment, all I could do was leave out of pure disbelief and shame. Once I arrived home, the pain was completely unbearable. I sent a text to one of the team member’s from the bar asking her to send emergency personnel to my home. The experience, for me, has been life-changing. I’m now unable to drive. I’m now unable to work. It even has affected my schooling.
I am right-handed, and this whole situation has given me a whole new understanding of how the world can react to others. According to Barbara Perry, “Hate crime often referred to as “ethnocentric” is much more than the act of mean-spirited bigots and it is embedded in the structural and cultural context within which groups interact” (2001). The benefit of criminal offense, a violation of an existing criminal code were assumed by the term hate crime and it may be applied only where a predicate offense, or underlying crime, is committed as a result of bias or prejudiced (Healed, 2005).
Such restriction may fulfill the concept within the law enforcement community, but it is not particularly satisfying from a sociological perspective. Although in National Coalition of anti-violence Programs said that documented cases of antigen violence remained relatively stable in recent years, social advocacy group estimate that countless cases of antigen intimidation, verbal harassment, and physical assault occur every day but go unreported (2005).
What is perceived as hate crimes today, in another time or place, may be standard operating procedure which means hate crimes are acceptable in some countries and it is common thing to do which is believed will not give an impact in harmful way toward others. Based on what Perry said, “Oppressive violence is nested within the complex of exploitation, normalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism. It is the processes and imagery associated with cultural imperialism that supports these practices ideologically.
Together structural exclusions and cultural imaging leave minority members vulnerable to systemic violence and especially hate crimes” (2001). Therefore, it is difficult to construct a complete definition of the term. Perspective of LIGHT-Q Great minds such as the president, humanitarians, theorists, behaviorist’s have tried o mold the concept of hate crimes and each defining it in their own term. However, humanity still failed to grasp the concept by only reading between the lines.
For some Christian Right leader’s points of view, the leading causes of the destruction of American society and culture are due to the gay rights movement and its so-called homosexual agenda. In his own words, Focus on the Family Founder James Dobson says, “The battle against gay rights is essentially a second civil war to put control of the U. S. Government in the right hands, meaning those who reject gay rights” (2010). There are lots of religious leaders who are most likely misunderstand and misconstrue are often cowering behind the First Amendment or Justifying their actions by perverting Holy Scriptures.
Throughout the years, religious right in America has adopted and retained variety of strategies such as defamation. Its leaders have involved in the crudest type of name-calling, claiming that homosexuality is a choice, dehumidifying or describing them by creating prominent myths and instilling fears upon others. “Myths such as gay people molest children at far higher rate than heterosexuals”, by portraying gay men as a threat to children loud be the most “efficacious weapon” for stimulating public fears about homosexuality (Escalates, E. & Steinbeck, R. , 2010). According to American Psychological Association (PAP), “Homosexual men are not more likely to sexually abuse children than heterosexual men are” (2010). Followed by a professor at the University of California, Davis, Gregory Here said, “One of the top researchers on prejudice against homosexuality, reviewed a series of studies and found no connecting evidence between gay men molesting children at higher rate than a heterosexual male” (cited in Escalates, E. & Steinbeck, R, 2010).
Due to instilled fears from communities of faith, it created another path for homophobia to take on such as antigen aggression. Need to understand the concept of how sexual stigma is expressed towards sexual minorities in order to extend how antigen aggression is enabled. The idea that hate crimes involve scapegoat is also supported by the spontaneous, unplanned, and highly emotional nature of this crime. It provides a Justification for expressing anger and hostility towards sexual minorities. In order to understand how sexual stigma is expressed, we need to understand owe antigen aggression is expressed.
Sexual stigma refers to “the negative regard, inferior status, and relative powerlessness that society collectively accords to any non-heterosexual behavior, identity, relationship, or community’ (Here, in press; p 2). According to Parrot and Peterson, “To this day, contemporary theorist still believe that antigen aggression is motivated by the convergence of several different mechanisms, specifically three complimentary theoretical models that explain the motives for antigen aggression have garnered the most attention: sexual prejudice, ere dynamics and thrill seeking” (2008).
While sexual prejudice, peer dynamics, or thrill seeking may be the sole motivating factor for a particular act of antigen aggression, it is posited that antigen aggression may also be facilitated by various combinations of these motives. Understanding LIGHT-Q (Victim) In order to create a better empathy or perspectives on hate crimes, one of the first steps is to understand them. One of the most difficult challenges of developmental milestones for gay youth is having the courage to reveal their sexual orientation to parents (Savings-Williams, 2001).
The disclosure of sexual orientation by a family member clearly fits the description of a stresses because family values may be called into question, such as beliefs about sex, sexuality, and religion. A child’s coming out is a salient event that often distorts several aspects of the family system such as family values, roles, expectations and boundaries (Crosier-Burnett et all, 1996). Every parent’s dream and expectations for a son, who was expected to marry a woman, have children, and carry the family name, may be shattered.
The brutality of hate crimes also has consequences for the entire gay community. It is not an exaggeration to conclude that bias-motivated attacks function as a form of terrorism, sending a message to all lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals that they are not safe if they are visible. An aggression based on sexual orientation such as physical aggression, verbal aggression, property damage, etc. , comes with a psychological impact to victims. Risks range from anxiety to depression, fear to post-traumatic stress and possibly, suicide or death (Here, Gillis, & Conga, 1999).
The varieties of hate crime factorization can be seen such as in gay-identified settings, public spaces, at home, in schools, in the workplace and by friends and family members. Even when one does not personally know the victim, hate crimes can threaten the illusion of invulnerability that is so important in one’s daily life Nonfat-Pullman & Parker, 2012). To top it all, the existence of hate crimes might make even minor instances of harassment more frightening for the victim. Consequently, an incident that appears minor in retrospect might nevertheless have considerable psychological impact on the victim.
One type of agency particularly well suited for groups of victims of hate rimes is a local human rights or human relations agency that traditionally deals with cases of inequality such as hate crimes toward sexual orientation. Some human- relations commissions have a community relations component that specializes in interrupt conflict in the community. Not-for-profit registered charity safe houses like Pink Triangle offer services such as providing peer support, educational, research and advocacy services for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, two-spirit and queer (GLOTTAL) persons in the National Capital Region (2012).
Certain school systems, those seed to dealing with interrupt tension, can also provide the official context for such groups, particularly when Juveniles are involved, either as victims or perpetrators. Mental health associations or interfaith organizations often have programs designed to promote positive interrupt relations and can provide a setting for groups of hate crime victims. Documentaries such as For the Bible Tells Me So (2007) directed and produced by Daniel G.
Karakas, provide the viewer or society with homosexuality and its perceived conflict with religion, as well as various interpretations of what the Bible says about name-sex sexuality. It also includes lengthy interview segments with several sets of religious parents regarding their personal experiences raising homosexual children and also interview with those children. Hate crimes on sexual orientation are crimes fueled by perceived threats, frustration and fear, and anger and scapegoat through the practices of sexual prejudice.
Sexual orientation commonly conveys a wrong belief that gay people are more likely to molest children at higher rates than heterosexuals. This appears to have more serious psychological effects on gay men and lesbians, including oppression, stress, anger and even, death than do other crimes. The government should take a decisive action toward hate crimes which makes a minority group’s life worst. They are also human beings who have a right to live a normal life like any other without having any scorn from any other people surround them.
