Violence and Discrimination against LGBTQ+

By: Destiny Rush

Table of Contents

• History of violence against people in the LGBTQ+

• Reports and Statistics of crimes against the LGBTQ+

• Video Evidence

• Interview

• Sources/Special Thanks

First there was Harvey Milk, he was assassinated. Then there was Brandon Teena, he was raped and murdered. Last there was Matthew Shepard, he was beaten, tortured, and left for dead. All three of these people have something in common. Their tragic deaths are infamous cases of violence and murder of people in the LGBTQ.

Reports and Statistics

Since the 1980s, the rate of violence and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people have risen over the decades. Even before the massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., LGBTQ people were already the main targets in most hate crimes in the United States. According to FBI data, of the nearly 1,200 incidents targeting people due to their sexual orientation, the majority targeted gay men (roughly 60 percent), while approximately 12 percent targeted lesbians, 1.5 percent targeted bisexuals, 1.4 percent targeted heterosexuals and the remaining incidents targeted a mixed group of LGBTQ people.

Video Evidence: The reason for the video evidence is to show how violent and brutal some of the assaults on trans women are. The content you are about view contains distressing and offensive material.

Iyanna Dior Attacked on Bus Muhlaysia Brooker Assault/Murder

Iyanna Dior is black trans woman who was beaten mercilessly by 20-30 cisgender black men while being called homophobic slurs by the assailants and bystanders. All this happened because she was helping a friend’s car and ended up in a fender bender with several other cars. She described the area as a “gang hotspot” and fearing for her life, she fled to a nearby convenience store to seek help. The owners refused to help or call the police, “You’re causing too much drama!” Iyanna heard him say. Her so-called friend also refused to let her come back to her house. Then she said she was “sucker-punched” in the face by a different woman, after Iyanna spat back at the woman, that is when the men jumped in and started to brutally assault her.

Interview: This is a discussion between me and an elderly woman named "D". This interview was made to see a different person's perspective on the LGBTQ.

(Me): Okay, first question. What are your views on the LGBTQ?

(D): Who is that?

(Me): It’s a community of people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual, etc.

(D): My view on that is that if they don’t bother me, I don’t bother them. I don’t think nobody should bother them.

(Me): But, what are your personal feelings about it? Are you a supporter or-

(D): No, I don’t support them.

(Me): So you just leave them alone?

(D): Yeah, I just leave them alone. As long as they leave me alone, I don’t bother them. If they treat me nice, I’ll treat them nice. That’s just it.

(Me): Have you ever had a bad experience with lesbian, gay, bi-

(D): Yep.

(Me): How many?

(D): One. My husband had to get in it.

(Me): What happened?

(D): She wouldn’t leave me alone. She would make me feel very uncomfortable and I kept telling her that that’s not my cup of tea. It got to the point where I had to call the police on her and even they told her to leave me alone, she’s not interested.

(Me): Do you remember the year that it happened?

(D): Well it was way before you were born, it was between 1971 and 1980. Back then it was hard for those people to come out without being beaten or shot.They knew what people were going to do to them if they found out they were gay, they didn’t play with those *expletives*. If someone knew you were openly gay, you get hurt badly. You’d be lucky if you walked away with just a broken arm or leg.

(Me): It was much worse back then, huh?

(D): Yep, they didn’t take kindly to those people and they still don’t. It’s just more reports nowadays.

Sources

Nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes motivated by anti-LGBTQ bias, FBI finds

A Brief History of the LGBTQ Initialism | by Jeffry J. Iovannone | Queer History For the People

Homophobic and transphobic violence

LGBT people nearly four times more likely than non-LGBT people to be victims of violent crime – Williams Institute

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/16/us/hate-crimes-against-lgbt.New FBI Hate Crimes Report Shows Increases in Anti-LGBTQ Attacks - HRC

Before Orlando: A History of Modern Anti-LGBT Violence

Special Thanks

I want to give a very special thanks to Germania Solorzano, Polly Mills, and Susan Garr for providing me this great opportunity to collaborate and give information on this subject. I also want to thank my associates in My City Summer for awesome and wonderful people whose knowledge and creativity.