Hate

The Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report in their Spring 2009 issue reported a 4% increase on hate groups last year.

“Last year, 926 hate groups were active in the U.S., up more than 4% from 888 in 2007. That's more than a 50% increase since 2000, when there were 602 groups.”

The report goes on to state…

“As in recent years, hate groups were animated by the national immigration debate. But two new forces also drove them in 2008: the worsening recession, and Barack Obama's successful campaign to become the nation's first black president. Officials reported that Obama had received more threats than any other presidential candidate in memory, and several white supremacists were arrested for saying they would assassinate him or allegedly plotting to do so.”

The center lists five hate groups operating in Connecticut and they also list 11 anti-gay hate groups nation wide including such groups as the Traditional Values Coalition, Family Research Institute and Mass Resistance.
In an article from 2005 the SPLC writes about hate groups against LGBT people…

“The Family Research Council, along with other anti-gay groups, had often cited a similar fear of being demonized as its rationale for opposing hate-crime laws, asserting that hate crimes legislation would lead to "thought crime" prosecutions of Christians.”

The latest incident of violence against trans-people happened on Wednesday in Washington DC.

Q Street Double Stabbing Leaves 1 Dead
Two transgender women stabbed in broad daylight
By ROBY CHAVEZ/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. Police say a double stabbing in broad daylight left one person dead and another injured in Northwest Washington on Wednesday.

Police say two people were stabbed in the 200 block of Q Street Northwest around 2:30 p.m. Officers found two transgender women in front of the building when they arrived. One of those victims later died at a hospital, while another is wounded but in stable condition.
…
Police don't know if gender played a role in the murder and stabbing, but the crime did take place two blocks from an agency that provides services to transgender people, including transgender youth.

It is time that we all stand up against hate groups.


See also "The Difference Between Damnation and Hate"