Stopping violence against gays | Issue Letters

|| Letter ||

Issue 1005
April 08, 2008

Stopping Violence Against Gays

It is easy to say, "lets teach tolerance, have classes or seminars, address the questions, fears, concerns of the non-gay society and help them to accept the LGBT community." Very easy. Too easy. There simply people out there who are so rabidly homophobic (and downright psychopathic in some instances) that no amount of awareness classes, seminars, debate groups and other avenues of teaching tolerance will reach. All we can do is try to stay alert of those being bullied and those doing the bullying. Punishment of the bullies must be appropriate to the offense, but also, it must be made clear exactly why they are being disciplined. It is not for calling someone "faggot" or "dyke" or any other slur. It is not because they are picking on someone for expressing their identity. It is because of their inappropriate and unacceptable expression of their hate, fear and anger - emotions that could rapidly escalate to a highly dangerous level, as the Lawrence King-Brandon McInerney tragedy so clearly illustrates. The issue must be dealt with at its root, and still, there is no guarantee that any intervention will be successful. As GenderPAC's Riki Wilchin's told us, 59 have been murdered since 1995. How many could have been prevented. Probably we will never know. Certainly caution must be exercised, but not at the cost of identity. Everyone should be able to safely express who they are. For every person who is denied that, we all lose a little bit of our right to be ourself - regardless of who that self is.

Steve McWilliams
Minot, N.D.

Write a letter to Advocate.com or The Advocate >