History Of Hate Crimes: The Long Road To Equal Rights
A number of terrible offenses have been reported in the history of hate crimes. An outrageous number of people have been injured or killed after having committed no crime other than being homosexual. In many instances it is irrelevant that hate crime laws are on the books. The perpetrators see themselves doing the work of their religion. However, the truth is, they are violating one of the basic principles of every civilization since the beginning of time.
Statistics are showing that recent hate crimes are declining, but various experts believe that this is simply because most hate crimes against gays are not identified as hate crimes. There are lengthy discussions going on today that ask if crimes against gays should even be called hate crimes.
However, they are what they are. The history of hate crimes has a long list of incidents, from the thousands of people who have been terrorized, to those that have been stalked or killed. Despite being in a country that has freedom of religious choice as a main tenet of society, people are still being killed for thinking or acting outside of the normal societal bounds. It is usually the perpetrators of the hate crimes who have the problems with homophobia by acting out their issues.
The history of hate crimes tells us that we will always have to deal with the. However, they do decrease as people become educated on the issues. If the civil rights movement of the sixties has taught us anything, we must realize that there will be hate crimes for centuries to come.
An alternative possibility for the apparent decrease in recent hate crimes is the fact that individuals are frightened. The fear may be from an individual "in the closet", or of the law enforcement community. However, such results are only giving the perpetrators what they desire. The public must know about hate crime before they can do something about it.
People will give a multitude of excuses for the existence of "hate crimes". All of these listings boil down to intolerance. These could be disapproval of an alternate belief system, or distaste for the sexual and personal identity of others. Regardless of the stated reasons, both the source and the resulting violence are wrong. Rational individuals must be willing to do whatever is necessary to bring such hatred to a close.
The history of hate crimes against gays is staggering. Thousands of people are victimized simply because of their sexual orientation. While the nation itself has hate crime laws, many people who commit these crimes do not care. They see what they are doing as a higher calling or even the right thing to do. What they are really doing is hurting another human being. Statistics are showing that recent hate crimes are declining, but various experts believe that this is simply because most hate crimes against gays are not identified as hate crimes.
Published March 11th, 2008
Filed in Government, Politics
