Tag Archives: Hate Crime

Hate Crime Against LGBT People In Britain Up 78% In Just 4 Years, Stonewall Research Shows

The new research by Stonewall (based on YouGov polling of over 5,000 LGBT people) has kicked off the group’s #ComeOutForLGBT campaign to encourage people to report hate crimes and show support.

Currently, 80% of hate crimes against LGBT people are not reported to the police, the research found.

Chief Executive of Stonewall, Ruth Hunt said:

While we have come a long way in the past 25 years, it is clear there is still a huge amount of work we need to do before all LGBT people can feel safe, included and free to be themselves in Britain today.

This report warns against complacency, and stands as a call to action for everyone who supports equality. We now need to work together, to bring forward the day when no individual faces hatred or discrimination simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

At Stonewall, we want everyone across Britain who feels impacted by reading this report to join our campaign and pledge to come out for LGBT people everywhere, as visible allies.

Together we can create a world where LGBT people are accepted without exception.”

Beyond its headline figures, the research also broke down the numbers for hate crimes directed at certain groups within the LGBT community, with some groups at much greater risks of incidents than others.

Trans people were especially at risk of such incidents, with 41% experiencing a hate crime or hate incident because of their gender identity in the last 12 months.

And 34% of black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBT people have experienced a hate crime based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the last 12 months, compared with 20% of white LGBT people.

Stonewall has made the following recommendations for LGBT people:

  1. Take a visible stand against LGBT hate crime, join Stonewall’s ‘Come Out for LGBT’ campaign and show your support for LGBT equality in all forms. Encourage your friends, family and colleagues to join the campaign.
  2. Call out online anti-LGBT abuse whenever you see it, so long as it is safe to do so. Support those being targeted by letting them know you are an ally.
  3. Let local business owners know if you witness an anti-LGBT incident from staff or other customers so that they can tackle it. Make clear that they could risk losing you and others as customers if they don’t
  4. Report incidents of homophobic, biphobic or transphobic discrimination you experience when accessing public services like housing or social services to the service provider or local council so they can take action. Contact Stonewall’s Information Service on 08000 50 20 20 for advice and support.

Hate Crime: The Rise Of Violence Against Queer Woman In Cape Town

Noluvo Swelindawo is the name of the 22-year-old woman who was assaulted, abducted and murdered in Driftsands near Khayelitsha last weekend. She had already been beaten up on Friday night and talked about being attacked the following day. Her partner, Nqabisa Mkatali found that their home had been broken into. Her body was discovered on a footbridge.

Cape Town police are still investigating the hate crime that seems to have been induced by homophobia. This assumption is supported by her loved ones.

According to Funeka Soldaat, the coordinator of a local NGO, Free Gender, says that the Cape Town community and the police don’t seem to do enough for the investigation and fight of hate crimes.

This is indicative of the general situation LGBTI activists in South Africa have to face. Phumi Mtetwa, a Research activist fellow with the Social Change Initiative, says that hate crimes and violence against LGBTI people are factors reflective of what is going on in South Africa. The community and the activist section are tired of feeling outraged and helpless. The problem, as Mtetwa says, does not have to do with the punishment of such crimes, but mostly with the lack of prevention for them. It is deemed crucial that the specificity of the nature of such hate crimes is figured out and dealt with. They are crimes caused by the harmful intersections of different systems of oppression such as poverty, marginalization, patriarchy and misogyny.

Most LGBTI people in South Africa fear for their lives, due to the discrimination they have to face due to their identities. There are laws that are supposed to protect LGBTI people, but in the province the situation continues being dangerous due to lack of social reflexes against discrimination. The laws are not applied properly, resulting to lack of necessary protection for marginalized groups. The weight, according to Mtetwa, falls upon activists, allies and organizations, to seek alternatives when it comes to advocacy work done in un-organized spaces. Unfortunately, it’s an immense weight to be shared between just five organizations doing extraordinary work: the Traingle Project, Free Gender, Iranti and Durban Gay and Lesbian Centre. People should not only expect organizations and allies to deal with what should actually be the state’s responsibility to protect its citizens.

The work that needs to be done is very deep, such as in every homophobic, transphobic, patriarchal society. Awareness has to be raised and people must be educated on understanding, supporting and protecting LGBT I people whose lives are at stake.

Jury Final Finds Man Guilty Of Brutal Shooting And Sexual Assault Of Teen Lesbian Couple, Four Years Ago.

A jury in Texas has found David Strickland guilty in the execution-style shooting and sexual assault of a teenaged lesbian couple, four years ago.

Strickland was convicted of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault in an attack against Mollie Olgin – who sadly died at the scene – and her girlfriend Kristene Chapa, who survived.

He received an automatic life sentence since prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.

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Chapa said she ‘wanted to just burst out into tears’ when the verdict was announced.

She told KRIS-TV,

I was very shocked at first. I didn’t know what to expect exactly . I was hoping that they (the jury) would see all the evidence that we had and they would go our way. (It was) very emotional.”

Strickland was arrested in the Portland, Texas, in June 2014 – two years after the shootings.

Prosecutors told the jury that Strickland forced Olgin and Chapa down an incline in a park. He bound them and shot both in the head.

They were discovered the next morning. Olgin was pronounced dead at the scene, while Chapa’s injuries left her unable to sit or stand. She continues to undergo physical rehabilitation.

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During the trial, Chapa stayed incredible strong, telling reporters she wasn’t bothered to be in the same courtroom as Strickland

He’s a coward. David Strickland put his head down and wouldn’t look at me, so what does that mean to you? Did you see him in the courtroom? He didn’t do anything.’

Chapa continues to undergo costly physical therapy to regain full use of her body. A medical fund has been established to help her cover her considerable medical costs.

Father Charged in Hate Crime Murder of Houston Lesbian Couple

The father of one of the victims has finally been charged in the murder of a Houston lesbian couple committed last year.

On Tuesday, James Cosby was indicted on capital murder charges in the deaths of his daughter, Britney Cosby, and her girlfriend, who were both 24.

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James Cosby has been in jail on a charge of tampering with evidence since shortly after the murders.

The bodies of Cosby and Jackson were found near a dumpster outside a convenience store in Galveston County in March 2014.

Autopsy results showed Cosby died from blunt force trauma to the head, and Jackson — who had a 5-year-old daughter — died from a gunshot wound.

From KHOU-TV‘s report on James Cosby’s indictment:

Investigators later found a lot of blood at Cosby’s Houston home.

According to court documents, they searched Cosby s bedroom and found large areas of blood on surfaces throughout.

A criminal complaint filed in court says detectives also noticed a missing window shutter on Cosby s home. They found a shutter matching the missing one covered in blood near where the victim s bodies were found. Detectives say Cosby’s thumbprint was on the shutter.

Following James Cosby’s arrest, Britney Cosby’s mother told KHOU

… [he] didn’t like the idea of her being gay.”

Cosby’s mother also told the The Houston Chronicle:

He would throw it in her face.”

Adding that her daughter quoted James Cosby as saying, “Don’t throw that gay (expletive) around in this house.”

In addition, Houston civil rights activist Quanell X, who was advising the family in the wake of the murder, told Fox 26 he “found writings about homosexuality on Cosby’s Koran indicating he may have had an issue with his daughter’s sexual orientation.”

James Cosby had been released from prison in October 2013, where he served time for failing to register as a sex offender after being convicted two decades before of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old woman.

Lesbian Convicted of Hate Crime Against a Gay Man

A Washington court has convicted a 21-year-old lesbian and her twin brother of aggravated assault while armed, which was listed as a hate crime, for an October 2013 attack that caused a gay male victim to suffer facial bone fractures and a broken wrist.

Christina Lucas, 21, who did not testify at trial, told police that she was a lesbian and therefore could not be accused of an anti-gay hate crime.

Christina, her brother Christopher Lucas and a group of men approached the unnamed victim about 12.30 am on 19 October 2013 after he left a party in Washington DC with two female friends.

In a statement, the US Attorney’s Office said

The male victim was knocked over on the sidewalk and punched and stomped multiple times by the Lucases and others in the group. Christina Lucas had an object in her hand and used it to cut the victim’s face while he was lying on the sidewalk.”

A police arrest affidavit says a witness told police that the assault followed a verbal altercation that began when Christina Lucas approached the male victim and called him a “faggot motherfucker.”

The witness, a woman who was with the male victim at the time, told police that Christopher Lucas punched her in the face when she “attempted to intercede” to assist the male victim, the affidavit says.

 

Christopher was also found guilty of simple assault for punching a woman in the face who tried to help the victim. The Lucases will be sentenced on 9 June.

A Young Women is Axed to Death For Being Gay

A woman has been axed to death in Swaziland for being gay.

Kaylo Glover, a young lesbian from Nhlangano, Swaziland, was at a bar with her friends on March 15th.

She was killed by an enraged man who did not want to be in the presence of lesbians.

He left the bar, fetched an axe from his car, returned and killed Kaylo.

Kaylo was rushed to hospital by her friends, and her killer followed, chasing her friends with an axe.

As Kaylo’s friend ran, she heard the guys shout “let’s finish off these dogs”.

Neither the nurses nor the doctors could reach Kaylo in time, she bled to death. She was just 26.

She was born and raised in Nhlangano, Glover was proudly out to both friends and family, and was popular in her community. She was also in seven-month relationship.

On the night that Kaylo went out to the night club in her town, she felt safe. Harassment did happen in Nhlangano, but Kaylo often just shrugged it off.

Speaking to Iranti-org, Glover’s mom said:

“I always walk with Kaylo, the guys always say horrible things and I tell her to ignore them. They killed her because she was a lesbian. She has never harmed anyone, or fought with anyone.’

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This is the second murder of an LGBTI person in Nhlangano this year alone. A month ago, a gay man known as Themba was also killed.

Also: South African Judge Makes a Stand, as Man Gets 30 Years For Murdering Lesbian in Hate Crime

Sane Mshengu, the director of Rock of Hope, said:

“We don’t know what to make of these murders, it is so disturbing and scary. Swaziland comprises mainly of traditional family structures, with extended families marked by a set of strong traditions and norms. Speaking about being lesbian, gay, or transgender is very difficult and is often suppressed.”

It seems Kaylo’s death has broken the silence around hate crimes in Swaziland. It is bringing attention to the poor human-rights situation in this country, where the monarch is so incredibly rich and its citizens are poor and where LGBTI persons live hidden, framed as “the other”. Under Swaziland law, female homosexuality is legal while male homosexuality can be punishable with the death penalty.

However, as Kaylo’s family gather to try and make sense of this unnecessary act of hate that took her away, they believe that her identity as a lesbian must be remembered.

The Imitation Game Promotes Call for UK Pardon of Gay Men, But African LGBTs Still Suffer Because English Colonialism

2014 saw the release of The Imitation Game, a film led by Sherlock actor Benedict Cumberbatch as he played the role of Alan Turing.

An incredibly smart and brilliant computer scientist and mathematician, Turing’s work helped the Allied Forces to victory in World War 2, by cracking Germany’s enigma code.

Winston Churchill even called Turing “the single biggest contribution” to their victory over Germany. But there was just one problem: Alan Turing was gay.

THE IMITATION GAME

At the time, being gay was a criminal offense and so Turing was convicted of “gross indecency” in 1952. Forced to undergo chemical castration, the stress was so much that he took his own life two years later.

It wasn’t until 1967 that the ban against homosexuality was finally overturned and in 2013 Turing was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth the Second. There are still 50,000 men who were also convicted who never received such an honour though which is why Cumberbatch and out gay entertainer Stephen Fry have signed a letter to have those men pardoned too.

But what of the gay people who are still suffering from anti-gay laws thanks to viewpoints and Penal Codes that the British Colony left behind?

Within countries on the African continent, India and Jamaica (all of which were formerly under British rule), anti-LGBT sentiment runs high with murders, abuse and suicide often occurring because of it.

Unfortunately, while the petition signed by Cumberbatch and Fry notes that “The UK’s homophobic laws made the lives of generations of gay and bisexual men intolerable” the fact of the matter is is that these men are allowed to live happy lives within the UK while millions of men (and indeed women) in former British Colony countries do not.

The UK government shouldn’t just be seeking to pardon those 50,000 persecuted UK men (including 19,000 who are still alive today) but it should also be seeking to improve the lives and human rights of the LGBT people living in its previously ruled territories.

Melanie Nathan, Executive Director of African HRC explains:

“Arrests and persecution abound in several African countries, where these Penal Codes remain the law of the land.

The United Kingdom must set this imperative example by pardoning every single gay person convicted under its persecutory laws, not only to right the awful wrong, but also to set the stage for those still subject to criminalization directly impacted by English Colonialism.”

Melanie Nathan

An online petition has also been set up to support this and has already garnered over 100,000 signatures. You can find the petition here.

South African Judge Makes a Stand, as Man Gets 30 Years For Murdering Lesbian in Hate Crime

A man accused of killing a lesbian in South Africa, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Lekgoa Motleleng pleaded guilty to the murder and rape of out lesbian, Duduzile Zozo, from in Ekurhuleni, which has a history of violence against lesbians.

Violence against openly gay lesbians is literally a matter of life and death in South Africa and something has to done about it if the country wants to continue to move forward.

Motleleng was sentenced in the South Gauteng High Court sitting in Palm Ridge. Judge Tshifiwa Maumela stated that he wanted to make a difference to all vulnerable groups of society.

“No one has been given the right to correct alcoholics. No one has been given the right to correct those who take too much salt or sugar. No one has been given the right to correct others when it comes to the right to love their own gender… You can’t interfere with how someone chooses to live.” 

Judge Tshifiwa Maumela

The paper quoted the judge saying a harsh sentence for Motleleng would serve as a warning to those who threatened the vulnerable. He told the 23-year-old to change his attitude towards homosexual people.

“Lead your life and let gays and lesbians be.”

Judge Tshifiwa Maumela

Same-sex marriage is legal in South Africa, making it one of the most progressive countries on the matter, especially on the continent of Africa.

Unfortunately cultural attitudes have been slow to change. Some 30+ brutal acts against lesbians have been documented in South Africa, mostly in townships, and some suggest the number is higher because some women refuse to come forward.

Men who attack lesbian women, often in the form of rape – referred to as ‘corrective rape,’ falsely believe that male penetration will change them.

 

How Do You Commit a Hate Crime Against Yourself?

Ten years ago there was a curious case in San Francisco of a lesbian who was caught perpetrating gay hate crimes… against herself. The woman in question, who must use the alias “Jennifer”, was 17 when she smashed eggs all over own jeep, wrote death threats to herself in graffiti and urinated over her own gym locker.

The graffiti included such frightening threats as “DIE FAGGOT DIE”, “YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE” and “WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE. WHEN WE’RE DONE WITH YOU YOU WILL BURN IN HELL.”

Her mother, “Mrs T”, immediately contacted the police and Jennifer’s high school administration, both of whom suspected that the abuse was the work of a homophobic man. Mrs T started sitting out all night in her car to keep an eye on the house in the hope of spotting the guilty party.

Jennifer’s high school made every effort to catch the perpetrators, establishing regular Gay-Straight Alliance meetings and offering a $1000 reward for any relevant information about the crimes. One night the police seemed to have cracked the case: they apprehended a group of young people dressed in camouflage who were trespassing on the school grounds. However, the kids were Jennifer’s fellow students who had turned vigilante in order to track down her abusers.

Mrs T was the first to suspect foul play when she questioned Jennifer and found that her story didn’t quite add up. Jennifer couldn’t explain how a stranger could have known which locker was hers. ‘I was starting to think, There’s something wrong here,’ Mrs T told buzzfeed.com recently. When the truth was revealed, Jennifer was convicted of vandalism and became estranged from her mother.

Since then Jennifer has been rehabilitated; she met all the requirements of her probation and went to university to study to become a schoolteacher. Mother and daughter are now reconciled.

Source | Buzzfeed