Queer Cafe

Judy Shepard: 25 Years After Her Son's Death
HRC Report: Hate Crimes and Violence Against LGBTQ People

Book of Matthew

Lawrence King: Young, Gay, and Murdered in Junior High

Brooklyn Dancer Fatally Stabbed for Voguing at Gas Station

Beyoncé honors O’Shae Sibley, gay dancer stabbed dead after voguing to her song

O’Shea Sibley, 28 year old professional dancer, was attacked at a gas station on Coney Island Avenue, New York, in July 2023. According to eyewitnesses, including gas station employee Summy Ullah and close friend Otis Pena, Sibley and his friends were voguing to Beyoncé’s Renaissance when they were approached by a gang of men who aggressively told them to stop dancing and called them homophobic slurs.

Surveillance footage shows Sibley confronting the men before being stabbed. He was later pronounced dead. The New York Police Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Beyoncé paid tribute to O’Shea Sibley when she learned he was stabbed to death while voguing to her music.

Brooklyn Dancer Fatally Stabbed for Voguing at Gas Station

Teenager Charged With a Hate Crime in Fatal Stabbing of Brooklyn Gay Man

Deadly Stabbing of Gay Man at NYC Gas Station Investigated as Potential Hate Crime
Beyoncé Honors O’Shae Sibley, Gay Man Killed Voguing to Her Song
O’Shae Sibley: Beyoncé Pays Tribute to Dancer Killed in Homophobic Attack
Beyoncé Honors O’Shae Sibley, Gay Dancer Stabbed Dead After Voguing to Her Song
Black Queer Communities Send O’Shae Sibley Home in Love, Resistance, and Vogue

Beyoncé Honors Fatally Stabbed Gay Dancer
What to Know About the Fatal Stabbing of O’Shae Sibley

Gay Couple Attacked in NYC’s Times Square as Crowd Watched

It's not the first time LGBTQ have been attacked recently in the city.

A gay couple in New York City says they were attacked in April 2023 by four men hurling anti-gay slurs while a crowd watched and did nothing to help. The attack left one of the men with a fractured jaw that required surgery to repair, and both men have been left frightened and concerned for their safety.

The two unidentified men were strolling through a crowded Times Square holding hands around 10:30 PM, when they said they were approached by “at least four different people” who started to harass them because they were gay. “They come up to us and they’re like, ‘You need to move,’” one of the men recalled, fighting back tears. “They’re like, ‘You need to move.’ And then they start pushing us, and we’re like ‘What are you talking about?’” The couple said the men attacked using antigay slurs. They tried to fight back, and one started using his cell phone to record the attack. Despite the large crowd in Times Square, the couple said nobody tried to help them. The assault has left the two men fearful, and they requested anonymity from the media to prevent retribution from their attackers. They asked police to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

More Than 300 Trans and Gender-Diverse People Were Killed in 2023, Per New Report

One Year After Club Q Shooting: Survivors Struggle with Pain, Trauma, Unpaid Medical Bills
Brooklyn Dancer Fatally Stabbed for Voguing at Gas Station

Hate Crimes Expected to Spike During 2024 Presidential Race

Judy Shepard: 25 Years After Her Son's Death

Five Years: 175 Transgender People Killed

A spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed the attack and said an investigation is underway. “The subject fled the location to parts unknown,” the NYPD said in a statement. “The victims were transported to Mount Sinai Hospital in stable condition. There are no arrests and the investigation remains ongoing.”

The attack in Times Square was only the most recent in a string of incidents targeting the gay community. Rafael Ribot, 44, was beaten and stabbed by a group of people yelling anti-gay slurs. He said two strangers stopped the attack and saved his life by applying a tourniquet to what he described as “a large, four-inch deep puncture wound” to his leg.

“I’m enraged by reports of an anti-LGBTQ attack in Hell’s Kitchen,” out City Councilperson Erik Bottcher said on social media following the attack.

[Source: Donald Padgett, Advocate, April 2023]

Principal Allegedly Hurt and Threatened to Kill a First-Grader with Gay Parents

Five Years: 175 Transgender People Killed

Gay Couple Attacked in NYC’s Times Square as Crowd Watched
Drag Events Targeted with Threats and Violence 124 times in 2022

Gay Couple Beaten and Bloodied Outside Connecticut Gay Bar
Florida Gay Rights Activist Found Dead in Landfill
Gays Against Guns

Pickup Truck Driver Veers into Pride Parade, Killing One Person

Club Q Shooting: Egregious Attack on Sacred Queer Space
Injured Club Q Survivors Share Details of Attack and Their Paths Toward Recovery
Club Q Owner Says Politicians Have Pushed LGBTQ Hate To New Level
Orlando Club Shooting Survivor Brandon Wolf Blames Right Wing
AOC Tells Republicans to Connect the Dots After CO Springs LGBTQ Bar Shooting

Gunman Kills Five at Gay Nightclub

Daniel Aston... Derrick Rump... Kelly Loving... Raymond Vance... Ashley Paugh

A 22-year-old gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and leaving 18 injured before he was subdued by “heroic” patrons and arrested by police who were on the scene within minutes. Two firearms, including a “long rifle,” were found at Club Q after the Nov 20 2022 midnight shooting.

Investigators were still determining a motive, and the attack was being investigated to see if it should be prosecuted as a hate crime. Charges against the suspect will likely include first-degree murder. Police identified the gunman as Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was in custody and being treated for injuries.

“At least two heroic people” confronted the gunman and stopped the shooting, police said, adding: “We owe them a great debt of thanks.” Of the 18 people injured, some were in critical condition and at least two had been treated and released, officials said, adding that some were hurt trying to flee.

A shooting targeting the LGBTQ community is not a random aberration that Republicans are trying to make sense of.

It is more like a GOP campaign promise fulfilled; their hateful rhetoric and repeated verbal attacks coming to life.
When you continually label queer people as predators,
when you repeatedly accuse teachers of being groomers,
when you declare drag shows and gay clubs as societal threats,
when you intentionally target transgender children and their parents,
when you perpetually traffic in irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric designed to generate irrational fear of LGBTQ people—hate crimes like the one in Colorado are the logical progression.

-John Pavlovitz | When Republicans Lament the Hate Crimes They Help Create

The shooting brought back memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. And it occurred in a state that has experienced several notorious mass killings, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012 and at a Boulder supermarket last year. It was the sixth mass killing this month and came in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a “Drag Diva Drag Show” on Saturdays. Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests in recent months as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from such events and falsely claim they’re being used to “groom” children.

5 Killed in Mass Shooting At Colorado LGBTQ Nightclub Club Q
Suspect in Killing of 5 at Colorado Club Held Without Bail
Colorado Club Shooting: Suspect Named After 5 dead, Dozens Injured at LGBTQ Nightclub
‘Master Of Silly Business' Among 5 Dead In Colorado Shooting
Colorado Springs Nightclub Shooting: 'Our Community is Shattered'
Names of Colorado Springs Victims

"These are the people we need to center. These are the people we need to keep in our hearts. These are the people whose families need us. These are the people we need to remember. And remember: Until we call out the anti-trans rhetoric, the anti-LGBTQ legislation, the book bans and the so-called “don’t say gay” laws, the misinformation and disinformation, and the badly covered stories in the media, this violence will continue."
-PFLAG National

Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said. The FBI said it was assisting but said the police department was leading the investigation.

President Joe Biden said that while the motive for the shootings was not yet clear, “we know that the LGBTQ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often,” he said. “We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who became the first openly gay man in the United States to be elected governor in 2018, called the shooting “sickening.”

A makeshift memorial sprang up Sunday near the club, with flowers, a stuffed animal and candles in front of cardboard sign with the message, “Love over hate” next to a rainbow-colored heart.

Suspect in Colorado Springs LGBTQ Club Shooting Charged with 5 Counts of First-Degree Murder

When Republicans Lament the Hate Crimes They Help Create

Club Q Shooting: Egregious Attack on Sacred Queer Space
Injured Club Q Survivors Share Details of Attack and Their Paths Toward Recovery
Club Q Owner Says Politicians Have Pushed LGBTQ Hate To New Level
Orlando Club Shooting Survivor Brandon Wolf Blames Right Wing
AOC Tells Republicans to Connect the Dots After CO Springs LGBTQ Bar Shooting

“Club Q is in shock, and in deep mourning, with the family and friends who had loved ones senselessly taken from them. We condemn the horrific violence that shattered an evening of celebration for all in the LGBTQ community of Colorado Springs and our allies. Club Q offers our greatest gratitude to those who moved immediately to stop the gunman and prevent more loss of life and injury. Club Q has always provided a space for LGBTQ people and our ally friends to celebrate together. We will always speak up for and support everyone’s right to be themselves and be safe. We demand that those who spread disgusting rhetoric and encourage violence stop this behavior immediately before more people get hurt. We urge with everything in our heart for every person to do what they can to speak up for LGBTQ people and everyone’s right to be safe.”

-Club Q Official Statement

The CEO of a national LGBTQ-rights organization, Kevin Jennings of Lambda Legal, reacted with a plea for tighter restrictions on guns. “America’s toxic mix of bigotry and absurdly easy access to firearms means that such events are all too common and LGBTQ people, BIPOC communities, the Jewish community and other vulnerable populations pay the price again and again for our political leadership’s failure to act,” he said in a statement. “We must stand together to demand meaningful action before yet another tragedy strikes our nation.”

The shooting came during Transgender Awareness Week and hours before Sunday’s International Transgender Day of Remembrance, when events around the world are held to mourn and remember transgender people lost to violence. The Colorado Springs shooting was sure to bring special resonance to those events.

Colorado Springs is a city of about 480,000 located about 70 miles south of Denver that is home to the US Air Force Academy, as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry.

[Source: Thomas Peipert and Jesse Bedayn, AP News, Nov 2022]

Hands: Song for Orlando

Lesbian Woman: Five Time Victim of Anti-Gay Violence

Wikipedia: History of Violence Against LGBTQ People

Mother Stabs Son to Death for Being Gay
NPR News: Student's Suicide is Deadly Reminder of Intolerance

Tommy Barwick: I Thought I Was Going to Die

Hands: Song for Orlando

Lesbian Woman: Five Time Victim of Anti-Gay Violence

Wikipedia: History of Violence Against LGBTQ People

Mother Stabs Son to Death for Being Gay
Info: Anti-LGBTQ Bullying

Florida Gay Rights Activist Found Dead in Landfill

Florida LGBTQ activist Jorge Diaz-Johnston (who was a plaintiff in a historic marriage case) has been found dead at age 54 in a landfill in Jackson County.

Diaz-Johnston went missing on January 3 and his body was found face-down in a trash pile on the morning of January 8. Tallahassee Police have ruled his death a homicide and said they suspect foul play.

In July 2014, a judge in Miami-Date County declared the state’s ban on marriage equality unconstitutional in a historic ruling. Diaz-Johnston and Don Price Johnston (the Miami lawyer he would later marry) were plaintiffs in that case that Equality Florida helped bring.

Florida Gay Rights Activist Found Dead in Landfill
Marriage Equality Activist in Florida Found Dead in Landfill
LGBTQ Rights Activist Found Dead in Florida Landfill

The judge ordered Miami-Dade County to allow same-sex couples to marry a year before the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality in all 50 states. “He touched so many people with his kind and generous heart,” Johnston wrote on Facebook. “I can’t stop crying.”

Diaz-Johnston’s brother, former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz (D), said in a statement: “My brother was such a special gift to this world whose heart and legacy will continue to live on for generations to come.”

Community leaders remember Diaz-Johnston as someone who helped others when they needed it. “Whenever there was help needed in the community, he came out to lend a helping hand,” said Orlando Gonzalez of the LGBTQ organization Safeguarding American Values for Everyone Foundation.

[Source: Alex Bollinger, LGBTQ Nation, Jan 2022]

Principal Allegedly Hurt and Threatened to Kill a First-Grader with Gay Parents

Orlando Attack and Common Violence Against LGBTQ People

Sen Tammy Baldwin: Orlando Massacre Was a Hate Crime

Matthew Shepard Did Not Die in Vain

NY Times: LGBTQ People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate Crimes
Info: Encouragement for LGBTQ Youth in Crisis

Forty-Nine Times: Tribute to Orlando

Orlando Attack and Common Violence Against LGBTQ People

Media Ignored Anti-LGBTQ Violence in 2017

Last year was the deadliest on record for LGBTQ people, but you wouldn’t know that based on news coverage. According to a new report from press watchdog Media Matters, cable and broadcast news spent less than 40 minutes across seven networks covering anti-LGBTQ violence, despite a year of unprecedented attacks.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) reported an 86 percent spike in anti-LGBTQ homicides in 2017, the worst the organization ever recorded. (The Pulse Nightclub shooting is not included in the tally.) Over the course of the entire year, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Broadcasting Co, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC only discussed anti-LGBTQ violence 22 times, according to the report.

Judy Shepard: 25 Years After Her Son's Death

Gay Couple Attacked in NYC’s Times Square as Crowd Watched

Pickup Truck Driver Veers into Pride Parade, Killing One Person

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes Are Rising Says FBI
Mutilated Body of Missing Trans Person Found Hidden in Killer’s Home
California Man Kills 8 Year Old Boy for Being Gay

Fox News topped the list with 10 minutes and 21 seconds devoted to coverage of anti-LGBTQ violence. But most of that coverage (7 and a half minutes) was actually a single segment. CBS devoted 8 minutes and 29 seconds to coverage of anti-LGBTQ violence. Fox Broadcasting Co. fell to the bottom of the list with none at all, while other networks hovered in-between. ABC hosted just one discussion of anti-LGBTQ violence. CNN did four times, but only linked it to a trend of violence against LGBTQ people once.

The report comes amid the most shocking NCAVP anti-LGBTQ violence numbers to date. NCAVP reported 52 hate-related homicides last year alone. Transgender people accounted for 27 of those murders. People of color made up two-thirds of the victims in the report. The report notes, “The lack of coverage for anti-LGBTQ violence also comes at a time when acceptance for LGBTQ people is reportedly declining. For the most part, networks discussed isolated incidents, failing to link them to a growing threat of anti-LGBTQ violence."

It has also been noted that anti-LGBTQ hate groups have been mainstreamed over the last year. President Trump keynoted the annual event of an anti-LGBTQ hate group last year when he spoke at the Values Voters Summit, and he has championed a rollback of LGBTQ rights.

[Source: Kate Sosin Oeser, Huffington Post, March 2018]

Gays Against Guns

Orlando Attack and Common Violence Against LGBTQ People

Gay Couple Attacked in NYC’s Times Square as Crowd Watched

NPR News: Student's Suicide is Deadly Reminder of Intolerance

Hands: Song for Orlando

Pulse Memorial Vandalized by White Supremacists

A memorial to the victims of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting was vandalized by white supremacists. The mural is located on the side of the Orlando LGBTQ organization, The Center. A white nationalist hate group, The Patriot Front (associated with the attacks in Charlottesville), appears to be responsible. Stickers from the group were placed on the mural. Orlando Weekly reports that The Center’s phone lines also appear to have been cut. The aid organization was unable to field calls from those in need during the pandemic.

“Thank you to everyone from around the corner and around the world for reaching out with messages of love,” The LGBTQ Center posted on their Facebook page.

Recall that on June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen entered the nightclub and began shooting patrons of Pulse’s Latin Night. He later pledged allegiance to ISIS, motivated by Islamic extremism.

A national memorial has been planned on the site of the attack.

Pulse Memorial Defaced by White Supremacists: Johnson & Johnson Offers to Repair It

White Supremacists Deface Pulse Mural at Orlando LGBTQ Center

Pulse Memorial Vandalized by White Supremacists

Planned Construction of Memorial and Museum on Site of Mass Shooting

Plans for New Design of Pulse Memorial

Mass Shooting at Gay Bar in Orlando

A gunman opened fire in Orlando’s Pulse nightclub early morning Sunday, June 12, 2016, killing approximately 50 people and injuring another 53. Clubgoers were enjoying an evening at Pulse, which describes itself as “the hottest gay bar in Orlando,” when shots started to go off around 2 AM. A three-hour hostage situation ensued, ending when authorities used an armored vehicle to break down the door of the building and kill the gunman at around 5 AM.

CNN: Orlando Shooting an Act of Hate

New York Times: Massacre at Gay Nightclub

Hands: Song for Orlando

Gays Against Guns

USA Today: Orlando Nightclub Shooting

What Happens After the Orlando Shooting?

Why the Orlando Massacre Hurts so Much

Orlando Massacre a Reminder of Dangers LGBTQ People Face Daily

The attack on the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando surpasses the shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Authorities have identified the shooter as 29-year-old Omar Saddiqui Mateen from Fort Pierce, about 120 miles southeast of Orlando. Mateen was previously trained as a security guard.

The federal government and FBI “have suggestions the individual has leanings towards Islamic terrorism, but we can’t say definitely,” says Ron Hopper, assistant special agent of FBI’s Orlando bureau. But Mateen’s connection to Islamic terrorism has not been proven, leading authorities to also investigate the shooting as a possible hate crime against the LGBTQ community.

In the Aftermath of the Orlando Shooting

Is a Kinder More Loving World Possible?

Survivor Describes Horrific Scene

We Need LGBTQ Pride Now More Than Ever

We Will Be in Mourning for a Long Time

Comments from SPLC

Orlando Shooting was Homophobic Terrorism

Matthew Sheppard

Matthew Sheppard (1976-1998) was a student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die in the freezing cold near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He remained in critical condition in the hospital for several days until he died from severe head injuries at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Matthew Shepard Did Not Die in Vain

Book of Matthew
Judy and Dennis Sheppard: Parents of Matthew Sheppard

Perpetrators Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were arrested shortly after the attack and charged with first degree murder following Shepard's death. Significant media coverage was given to the killing and what role Shepard's sexual orientation might have played as a motive in the commission of the crime. The prosecutor argued that McKinney's murder of Shepard was premeditated and driven by greed. McKinney's defense counsel countered that he had only intended to rob Shepard, but had killed him in a rage when Shepard made a sexual advance towards him. Both McKinney and Henderson were convicted of the murder and each sentenced to two consecutive life sentences.

Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels. In October 2009, the United States Congress passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and on October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law. Following her son's murder, Judy Shepard became a prominent LGBTQ rights activist and established the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Shepard's death inspired notable films, novels, plays, songs, and other works.

NY Times: LGBTQ People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate Crimes

Info: Encouragement for LGBTQ Youth in Crisis

Tommy Barwick: I Thought I Was Going to Die

Broadway for Orlando: Love Sweet Love

LGBTQ Nation: Gay Couple Endures Months of Attacks

NPR News: Student's Suicide is Deadly Reminder of Intolerance

Tyler Clementi

Tyler Clementi committed suicide September 22, 2010 apparently after discovering that his Rutgers University roommate, Dharun Ravi, and friend Molly Wei, live-streamed Clementi in a sexual encounter with another male student without his knowledge. After learning of the violation of his privacy Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge.

Ravi and Wei were charged with illegally taping Clementi having sex and posting the images on the internet, after they turned themselves in to the campus police. According to investigators, Ravi set up a web cam in the room to capture Clementi and his partner after Clementi asked to have the room alone for a few hours. Ravi broadcast the encounter on the internet.

CBS News: Tyler Clementi Suicide
NPR News: Student's Suicide is Deadly Reminder of Intolerance
NY Times: Private Moment Made Public, Then a Fatal Jump
Huffington Post: Rutgers Student Commits Suicide

Tragic Events

Lawrence King - 15-year-old Lawrence King was murdered at school on February 12, 2008. On that morning, Lawrence was in the school’s computer lab with 24 other students. Classmate Brandon McInerney walked into the room with a gun and shot Lawrence in the head, then ran from the building. Police officers caught him a few blocks away. Friends say the reason was his sexual orientation and gender expression. The victim had said publicly that he was gay, classmates said, enduring harassment from a group of schoolmates, including the 14-year-old boy charged in his death.

Carl J. Walker-Hoover - On April 6, 2009, an 11-year old Massachusetts boy, Carl Walker-Hoover, took his life after enduring constant bullying, including anti-LGBTQ bullying. Though Carl did not identify as gay, his story is a tragic reminder that anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment affects all students. Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, a junior at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, hanged himself after enduring bullying at school, including daily taunts of being gay, despite his mother's weekly pleas to the school to address the problem.

Billy Jack Gaither - Billy Jack Gaither, 39, of Sylacauga, Alabama was bludgeoned to death by two men on February 19, 1999, then set on fire with automobile tires because he was gay.

Principal Allegedly Hurt and Threatened to Kill a First-Grader with Gay Parents

Lesbian Woman: Five Time Victim of Anti-Gay Violence

Wikipedia: History of Violence Against LGBTQ People

Mother Stabs Son to Death for Being Gay

GOP Candidate for Texas Governor Would Gladly Kill Gay People

10 Year Old Boy Tortured and Killed by Anti-Gay Parents

Trumphobia: Crisis Hotlines Flooded With Calls From Scared LGBTQ Teens

Scotty Weaver - Scotty Weaver, 18 year old from Bay Minette, Alabama was found on July 22, 2004, beaten, strangled, stabbed and brutally burned. His roommates and childhood friend were arrested and charged with the heinous crime.

Danny Overstreet - On September 22, 2000, a man looking to "waste some faggots" entered a gay bar in Roanoke, Virginia and opened fire, killing Danny Overstreet, and injuring 6 others.

Brandon Teena - Born Teena Brandon and raised as a girl, he was living as a man known as Brandon Teena in Falls City, Nebraska, when he was murdered at age 21. In December of 1993, two men who discovered his gender raped him. His attackers later shot and killed him after learning Brandon had reported the rape and was to help police in the investigation. His story is told in the film, "Boys Don't Cry," starring Hilary Swank.

Gay Couple Beaten and Bloodied Outside Connecticut Gay Bar

Ten Days After: Harassment and Intimidation in Aftermath of Election

Pickup Truck Driver Veers into Pride Parade, Killing One Person

Info: Encouragement for LGBTQ Youth in Crisis

Trump Effect: Impact of the Presidential Election

New York Times: Groups Document More Than 860 Hate Incidents Since Elections

NY Daily News: Nearly 900 Hate Attacks Reported in 10 Days After Trump’s Election

Arson Attack in New Orleans

June 1973 - 32 people were killed in a deadly fire. An arsonist set fire to the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar located on the edge of the the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana. Thirty-two people died in the fire and at least fifteen were injured as a result of burns or smoke inhalation. While argon was strongly suspected, the official cause is still listed as "undetermined origin." The primary suspect, a gay man with a history of psychiatric impairment named Roger Dale Nunez, who had been ejected from the bar earlier in the day, was never charged and took his own life in November 1974. No evidence has ever been found that the arson was motivated by hatred or overt homophobia. Until the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were murdered, the UpStairs Lounge arson attack was the deadliest attack on a gay club in US history.

Wikipedia: History of Violence Against LGBTQ People

Gay Couple Attacked in NYC’s Times Square as Crowd Watched

Mother Stabs Son to Death for Being Gay

Broadway Kids Against Bullying: I Have a Voice

HRC Report: Hate Crimes and Violence Against LGBTQ People

Lesbian Family Viciously Murdered

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes Are Rising Says FBI

Critical Incidents

January 2022 - A gay Boston Bruins hockey fan says three Denver Avalanche fans zeroed in on him with anti-LGBTQ slurs and beat him up at a sports bar after a game in Denver. "At first, it was more of a hockey banter type of thing from them. Oh you lost," Caiden Shaw explained. "I remember saying something along the lines of, We'll get you next time." But the joshing quickly spiraled into an alleged bias crime, as the three crowded in on Shaw and started hurling homophobic epithets.

Shaw said that one of the three men positioned himself face-to-face with Shaw and used a homophobic slur. Shaw said he then nudged that man out of fear in an effort to create space between them, and that is when he was attacked. "From there, they tackled me to the ground and were calling me fag, gay," Shaw said. "My head was in my arms, and I was kind of in a ball while they were kicking me," Shaw went on to say. "I've got some injuries to my knee, some bruises to my knee and elbow, and then I had a knot in the back of my head," he said.

"It makes me think back to that younger kid, whenever I didn't want to come out to fully be myself and the reasons why you don't do that," Shaw explained. "And these are why you're scared to." But the brave Bruins supporter won't be scared off showing up for his favorite team. "If the Bruins are there, I'll be there," the undaunted fan

Gay Couple Beaten and Bloodied Outside Connecticut Gay Bar

Tommy Barwick: I Thought I Was Going to Die

Lesbian Woman: Five Time Victim of Anti-Gay Violence

Pickup Truck Driver Veers into Pride Parade, Killing One Person

Forty-Nine Times: Tribute to Orlando

June 2019 - The killings of two gay men and a transgender woman in Detroit and a gay man outside Atlanta have highlighted an alarming uptick in attacks against LGBTQ people and hate crimes in general.

18-year-old Devon Robinson was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of three people in a home in east Detroit: two gay men Alunte Davis, 21, Timothy Blancher, 20, and a transgender woman, Paris Cameron, 20. Ronald Peters, a 28-year-old gay man was shot and killed in Decatur, Georgia on his way to work.

Cameron's death in Detroit marks the ninth killing of a black transgender woman in 2019, according to Human Rights Campaign. The group recorded at least 26 killings of transgender people in the US, the majority of whom were also black women.

Also in June, two black transgender women were found dead in Dallas, Texas.

Wikipedia: History of Violence Against LGBTQ People

HRC Report: Hate Crimes and Violence Against LGBTQ People

NY Times: LGBTQ People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate Crimes

Mutilated Body of Missing Trans Person Found Hidden in Killer’s Home
Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide

Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crimes Are Rising Says FBI

September 2016 - Michael Phillips was attacked after leaving his job at a gay bar. He and his husband say they have been targeted for their orientation multiple times.

March 2016 - Elliot Morales was convicted of murder as a hate crime for killing Mark Carson, a gay black man, in Manhattan three years earlier. Mr. Morales had shouted anti-gay slurs at Mr. Carson and his companion before shooting him. A judge sentenced Mr. Morales to 40 years to life in prison.

August 2015 - Less than two months after the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, a New York City man was arrested and charged with a hate crime for attacking Larry and Daniel Lennox-Choate, the first gay couple to be married at West Point Military Academy.

February 2015 – Taja DeJesus, 36, a trans woman, was found stabbed to death in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco.

November 2015 - In Palm Springs, CA, a gay married couple, George and Chris Zander, who were also LGBTQ leaders in their community, were assaulted outside a local nightclub. Palm Springs officials said they believed it was the second crime there that year that targeted LGBTQ people.

November 2013 – Sasha Fleischman, an 18-year-old, had her skirt set on fire while they were sleeping on an AC Transit bus in Oakland, California. Police arrested 16-year-old Richard Thomas and charged him with felony assault, with an enhancement of inflicting great bodily injury. Thomas admitted to police that he had started the fire and that he did it because he was "homophobic." Thomas was sentenced to seven years in juvenile detention for his crime.

NY Times: LGBTQ People Are More Likely to Be Targets of Hate Crimes

Info: Encouragement for LGBTQ Youth in Crisis

Tommy Barwick: I Thought I Was Going to Die

Broadway for Orlando: Love Sweet Love

LGBTQ Nation: Gay Couple Endures Months of Attacks

GOP Candidate for Texas Governor Would Gladly Kill Gay People

10 Year Old Boy Tortured and Killed by Anti-Gay Parents

Lesbian Woman: Five Time Victim of Anti-Gay Violence

Lesbian and Trans Woman Beaten by Group of Men in Miami
Gay Couple Beaten and Bloodied Outside Connecticut Gay Bar
Florida Gay Rights Activist Found Dead in Landfill
Gays Against Guns

June 2012 – Kardin Ulysse, a black 14-year-old boy, was attacked in the cafeteria of Roy Mann Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York, by another group of boys. He was called anti-gay slurs and sustained damage to the cornea of one of his eyes, leaving him blinded. Ulysse's parents sued New York City for failing to supervise its students properly.

April 2012 – Paige Clay, 23, a black trans woman, was found dead, with a bullet wound to her face in West Garfield Park, Chicago. The death was ruled as a homicide.

December 2011 – The body of Githe Goines, a black 23-year-old trans woman who had been reported missing 2 weeks beforehand, was found in a scrapheap in New Orleans. An autopsy set that the time of her death as much as 2 days before her body was discovered, and that she had been strangled.

December 2011 – Charlie Hernandez, a 26-year-old who was openly gay, was stabbed to death following a brawl that included anti-gay slurs that occurred with two men after he accidentally stepped on some sunglasses.

November 2011 – Danny Vega, a 58-year-old Asian-American gay man who worked as a hairdresser in Rainier Valley, Seattle, was beaten and robbed as he was taking a walk. The beating left Vega in a coma from which he later died.

February 2006 – 18-year-old Jacob D. Robida entered a bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts, confirmed that it was a gay bar, and then attacked patrons with a hatchet and a handgun, wounding three. He fatally shot himself three days later.

Pickup Truck Driver Veers into Pride Parade, Killing One Person

Orlando Attack and Common Violence Against LGBTQ People

July 1999 – Gay couple Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder were murdered by white supremacist brothers Matthew and Tyler Williams in Redding, California. Tyler Williams was sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison, to be served after his completion of a 21-year sentence for firebombing synagogues and an abortion clinic. Benjamin Williams claimed that by killing the couple he was "obeying the laws of the Creator". He committed suicide in 2003 while awaiting trial. Their former pastor described the brothers as "zealous in their faith" but "far from kooks."

February 1997 – The Otherside Lounge, a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta, was bombed by Eric Robert Rudolph, the "Olympic Park Bomber." Five bar patrons were injured. In a statement released after he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for his several bombings, Rudolph called homosexuality an "aberrant lifestyle".

March 1995 – Scott Amedure was murdered after revealing his attraction to his friend Jonathan Schmitz on a The Jenny Jones Show episode about secret crushes. Schmitz purchased a shotgun to kill Amedure and did so after Amedure implied he still was attracted to him. Schmitz then turned himself in to police.

October 1992 – US Navy Petty Officer Allen Schindler was murdered by a shipmate who stomped him to death in a public restroom in Japan. Schindler had complained repeatedly about anti-gay harassment aboard ship. The case became synonymous with the debate over gay people serving in the US military that had been brewing in the United States culminating in the "Don't ask, don't tell" bill.

July 1990 – Julio Rivera was murdered in New York City by two men who beat him with a hammer and stabbed him with a knife because he was gay.

Gays Against Guns

Orlando Attack and Common Violence Against LGBTQ People