I was in extreme shock when I found out that a record of 14 homicides of LGBT people have been reported so far in 2015. Mind you, its only June and although this article was posted in April; that’s still horrific news. In past years, in 2013 for example; there were 18 documented LGBT homicides and in 2014 (firm numbers aren’t available yet) there were between 20-25 homicides. The fact that we are only halfway through the year and already over half of the recorded homicides that occurred in past years have occurred this year, is ridiculous. This article also mentions that of those 14 homicides that have occurred this year, half of the victims were transgender women of color. I also recall learning from our readings this past week that African American women are less likely than white women to report intimate partner violence. In 2013 of those 18 documented LGBT homicides 90 percent of the victims were people of color.
It is sad and upsetting to me to see people from the LGBT community have so much hate thrown against them. Towards the end of the article Bamby Salcedo, a transgender activist mentions that “when there’s increasing visibility, there’s also increasing hate towards our community”. Throughout the years the LGBT community has been coming out more becoming more visible in order to have their voices be heard, thus more people have been coming out expressing their hate towards them. That being said, what do you guys think can be done to help the LGBT community and help get rid of the hate most of society has against them?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/lgbt-homicides_n_6993484.html