This And That In The News

"This And That In The News" is about articles in the news that have caught my eye and I want to comment about. There are two articles that caught my attention today. The first is about the increase in violence against the LGBT community.

Crimes against LGBT community are up, despite social gains
USA Today
By Natalie DiBlasio
July 31, 2011

Violent crimes, including murder, increased last year against people identifying themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), and people of color among those groups were most likely to be targeted, an advocacy group reports.
[…]
"These positive changes are very real, there is no doubt about it, but the more visible you are as a community the more vulnerable you are, too," she says. "There is a protection in the closet, as awful as that is. Real homophobia with violent outcomes is not a thing of the past and there is much more work to be done."

I agree, the more visible that you are the greater chance of violence. However, I also believe that the country is becoming more polarized and the rhetoric that the conservative use stirs up violence against LGBT people. The article goes on to say that overall violent crimes have decreased by 5.5% in May.

The other article is about the murder trial of Larry King the gender variant boy who was killed in the classroom by a classmate. The trial of Casey Anthony drowned out the trial of Brandon McInerney for the murder of King. McInerney is trying to use the “gay panic” defense.

Prosecutor seeks to quash 'gay panic' defense in Oxnard slaying
Judge will be asked to invoke a state law that allows jurors to be instructed to disregard a victim's sexuality.
Los Angeles Times
By Catherine Saillant
July 21, 2011

The trial of an Oxnard teenager accused of gunning down a gay classmate he thought was flirting with him marks the first test of a state law allowing judges to admonish jurors that a victim's sexual orientation should not influence deliberations.

Attorneys for Brandon McInerney argue that their client, who was 14 when he gunned down Larry King in an Oxnard junior high school computer lab, was so humiliated by King's flirtation that it provoked him to kill his classmate. Gay rights advocates say the argument is a classic "gay panic" defense.

The panic defense became a flashpoint following the 2002 slaying of Gwen Araujo, a Bay Area transgender teen who was beaten and strangled by three men. Defense attorneys for the suspects argued that their clients panicked after learning Araujo was a biological male and won a mistrial.

They are trying to use the defendant’s homophobia and transphobia as the defense as why he murdered King. If it was some other minority, people would be screaming and yelling against the “panic” defense, but because it was being used against the LGBT community there was no popular outcry and they had to pass a law banning it use.

Update: 1:10PM

I just read another news article that I want to share,

IRS Revokes Peter LaBarbera’s AFTAH Tax Exempt Status
Ex-Gay Watch
David Roberts
August 1st, 2011

According to the IRS, the tax-exempt status of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) was revoked on 5/10/2010 (PDF). The reason for this action is listed by the reporting organization Guidestar as a “failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990-PF for 3 consecutive years.” These forms are required of legitimate non-profit organizations for review by the IRS and the public.

This organization was labeled a “Hate Group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of the rhetoric and lies that they wrote against the LGBT community.