Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Sat Vcent and the Grenad face bias-motivated vlence and discrimatn their daily life, Human Rights Watch said a report released today. The legislature should repeal the untry’s lonial-era laws that crimalize nsensual same-sex nduct and pass prehensive civil legislatn prohibg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty. The 58-page report, “‘They Can Harass Us Bee of the Laws’: Vlence and Discrimatn agast LGBT People Sat Vcent and the Grenad,” expos the physil and verbal asslts, fay vlence, homelsns, workplace harassment, bullyg, and sexual vlence that sexual and genr mori face unr the shadow of discrimatory laws. Those rponsible for mistreatment clu people close to LGBT people – fay members, neighbors, workers, classmat, and teachers – as well as strangers and police officers.
Contents:
- TEXAS RANKS AMONG THE WORST U.S. STAT FOR ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT
- NTH CIRCU REVIV ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT SE AGAST UNIVERSY OF ARIZONA
- HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
- HIGH SCHOOL STUNT TAK ON ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT—AND WS
- DOG THE MATH: WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY ABOUT HARASSMENT OF GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUNTS*
TEXAS RANKS AMONG THE WORST U.S. STAT FOR ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT
A report om Human Rights Watch lls on the ernment of St. Vcent to overturn lonial-era anti-gay laws that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island. * anti gay harassment *
Jordan / Chron staffTexas is now nsired of the worst stat the untry when to anti-gay hate crim, acrdg to a study released late last month by the Anti-Defamatn League (ADL) and queer advocy group teractive study found 356 cints of anti-LGBTQ+ vlence and extremism the Uned Stat between June 2022 and April 2023, and termed that Texas ranked third worst the untry wh 30 cints tallied. Other cints targeted schools and tors, health re workers, and elected adlit cint among those reported was a shootg at a Colorado Sprgs gay bar November 2022 that end wh five people killed and 25 more jured. Harassment, vandalism or asslt the Uned Stat om June 2022 through April 2023, acrdg to a new report, reflectg a climate which bias agast gay and pecially transgenr people has bee cints, which were reported 46 stat and the District of Columbia, clud onle harassment, gathergs of armed protters outsi drag shows, and bomb threats agast hospals that provi genr transn re.
“That revoltg anti-gay ment you saw on a neighbor’s social media page, that shockg disrmatn about trans youth you heard at a school board meetg, and that attack by extremists at your lol Drag Story Hour — the are not isolated events. Policians and activists also now regularly and baselsly acce transgenr people of pedophilia and “groomg, ” rurrectg a mpaign that was ed agast gay people for s. It means that the school district will not allow anyone the school muny to be treated differently or to be harassed bee they are gay, lbian, or bisexual, or bee other people thk they are.
NTH CIRCU REVIV ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT SE AGAST UNIVERSY OF ARIZONA
The Massachetts Department of Edutn found that 23% of gay and lbian stunts reported asslts that required medil attentn, pared wh 3% of their peers, and 22% had skipped school the precedg year bee they felt unsafe, pared to 4% of other stunts. While stunts and teachers have the right as dividuals to believe that the Bible nmns (or do not nmn) lbian, gay and bisexual stunts, schools have a duty to ensure that every stunt is safe and weled.
Instead, havg posive role mols, both gay and straight, shows stunts that sexual orientatn is jt one of many different aspects of a person’s inty. What we do know that is that rerd homophobic and transphobic hate crim have jumped every year sce 2015, and yet wh an timated four five still gog unreported, the already grisly figur only ht at a far bleaker cints vary nature and severy: om abe hurled at someone intified as LGBTQ bee of their appearance, or mannerisms, or a fleetg or profound show of affectn towards a partner; to gay men beg beaten and robbed, as happened a spected homophobic attack on the streets of Edburgh last month, or a trans man savagely attacked Bournemouth earlier this year. A whe, middle-class, gay, cis man – that is, someone generally at one wh their genr assigned at birth – an urban area is likely to suffer far ls meangful opprsn than other groups.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT
Beyond the fear of holdg hands wh their partner public, their ma grievanc tend to centre on the psychologil srs left by the often suffotgly homophobic environment of their school n lead to lastg trma, which largely explas the higher rat of mental distrs and abive relatnships wh alhol and dgs among LGBTQ people. The most damaged are equently those whose fathers and mothers vlated the most sacred prciple of parenthood – unndnal love – ference to their own bigotry, often implantg a tickg time bomb their children that may tonate later life, be the form of emotnal breakdown or dg a young gay black man, homophobia may lli wh creased risk of police harassment and racist behavur om other LGBTQ people: victims n be perpetrators, too, sometim believg their own mistreatment mak impossible to opprs as Shon Faye’s brilliant new book The Transgenr Issue unrl, is trans people – the T the LGBTQ – now sufferg the most severe onslght. Today’s relentls mpaign agast trans people seems a near-rbon py of the prevly wispread monsterg of gay and bisexual people, wh all the same trop repeated: that they are would-be sexual predators, that they seek to brawash and rec children, that blogy is sty, that this is a whimsil liftyle choice, that they are fed by mental illns or a creepy fetish that impos an tolerable burn on the “normal” the 1980s and 1990s, many supposed liberals participated the anti-gay offensive, lamentg that the se for gay rights was beg unrmed by “ant homosexuals” makg unreasonable mands on the rt of society, such as askg newspapers not to ll them “poofters”.
Supporters of the LGB Alliance – many of whom are straight – promptly took to Twter to nounce this cint as homophobia and even gay-bashg by the queer protters – some of whom will evably have suffered actual hate crim. The man beme somethg of a e célèbre, an cint that has been marshalled to support the creasgly mon claim that the trans rights movement is homophobic; a “woke homophobia” as a GB News prenter put , renrg LGBTQ people the real homophobic as reported hate crim surge, Stonewall – by far the largt LGBTQ civil rights anisatn – fds self targeted by a McCarthye mpaign agast s fence of trans rights. The biggt killer of men unr 45 is suici: eeg them om rigid genr norms, which teach them to believe that openg up about their problems is unmanly or “gay”, will make them more likely to seek support.
A year later, he sued the universy along wh the Arizona Board of Regents and multiple cross-untry ach and athlet, assertg Tle IX harassment and allegg that the universy revoked his scholarship retaliatn for his plats of “sexual and homophobic bullyg” om his teammat. Grabowski claims his treatment and later removal om the team nstuted sexual harassment and retaliatn bee his teammat perceived him to be gay. Chan School of Public Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundatn and Natnal Public survey, a natnally reprentative sample of 489 lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer adults, found that more than half of them experienced slurs (57 percent) or offensive ments (53 percent).
HIGH SCHOOL STUNT TAK ON ANTI-GAY HARASSMENT—AND WS
“Even as we see advanc like gay marriage or pollg that says people are supportive of LGBTQ issu or know a gay person, average muny members are sayg that don’t mean discrimatn has gone away. Vcent to overturn anti-gay laws om the lonial era that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean LGBTQ muny ntu to face a daily barrage of bias-motivated attacks and public discrimatn unr the untry's archaic statut hered om centuri of reprsive European le, acrdg to the 58-page report tled "'They Can Harass Us Bee of the Laws': Vlence and Discrimatn agast LGBT People Sat Vcent and the Grenad. "Homosexualy ntu to be crimalized the former Brish lony after many hundreds of years, leavg LGBTQ dividuals wh ltle if any legal protectns while vlent crim were beg mted wh impuny, the report said.
Standg crimal s on the island put nsensual gay sex the same tegory as crim like rape, ct, and sexual asslt, although there have been no recent nvictns unr the HRW report, published Thursday, also lls for St. Vcent to pass prehensive civil legislatn that would prohib discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr document amid a recent surge physil and verbal asslts, domtic vlence, homelsns, workplace harassment, bullyg, and sexual vlence agast mory populatns across the people have been targeted by fay members, neighbors, -workers, classmat and teachers -- as well as police officers, the report all the wns terviewed for the report dited at least one recent cint of physil or verbal abe, threats, sexual vlence, or other forms of many of the episos, police allegedly refed to offer assistance, and some s beme openly discrimatory toward gay workers were also facg job discrimatn a natn already bet by high of the terviewe said job hirgs and firgs were beg largely termed by sexual orientatn, while other gay people lucky to have jobs faced sexual harassment the workplace.
"The crimalizatn of gay sex giv tac state sanctn to the discrimatn and vlence that LGBT people experience their daily liv and pels many to look abroad to live eely and fulfill their dreams, " said Cristian González Cabrera, gay rights rearcher at Human Rights Watch. "Six other Wtern natns -- cludg Domi, Grenada, Guyana, Jamai, and Sat Lucia -- ntue to crimalize gay sex, wh penalti as weighty as a prison for "gross cency wh another person of the same sex.
DOG THE MATH: WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY ABOUT HARASSMENT OF GAY, LBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR STUNTS*
The laws rerce societal prejudic, effectively givg tac legal sanctn for stigma, discrimatn, and vlence agast lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people. The laws are vaguely word, have broad latu, and sgle out nsensual gay sex the “sexual offens” sectn of the crimal that is otherwise rerved for crim like rape, ct, and sexual asslt.
In July 2019, two gay men om Sat Vcent and the Grenad livg abroad filed a se challengg the nstutnaly of the discrimatory provisns the crimal .
Along wh Domi, Guyana, Grenada, Jamai, Sat Lucia—the other five untri the Caribbean that crimalize gay sex—Sat Vcent and the Grenad ntu to be an outlier a hemisphere that has chewed the crimalizatn of nsensual gay sex. Every LGBT person terviewed by Human Rights Watch said they wished to leave the untry immediately or had envisned their future abroad due, part, to the homophobic or transphobic vlence and discrimatn the untry. Some terviewe noted that fay rejectn was often uched moralistic terms, echog the homophobic rhetoric preached some church, which are a rnerstone of social life and shape social attus.