BLOG: In 2009, the Senate passed legislation extending hate crime laws to protect the gay and lesbian community.
The bill was a result of murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student who was murdered in 1998. For 15 years, Shepard’s death was used a primary example of hate crimes against gays.
However, after the research and release of a book on Shepard’s death by Stephen Jimenez, even the LGBTQ community has accepted that the murder was not a hate crime . . . as it was a drug deal gone bad and result of the “crystal meth subculture.”
Regardless of those facts, the LGBTQ community still demands protection under hate crime laws along with preferential treatment for transgenders.
Groups that boldly demand protection and preferential treatment as a class, must be willing to address issues their own community.
In the case of the LGBTQ community, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the correlation between sexual orientation and violence.
According to the Serial Killer Database maintained by Radford University, 52% of U.S. serial killers are white, and 92% are male.
However, in a dated study conducted in 2003, 69% of serial killers were either self-described homosexuals or engaged in homosexual behavior “immediately, prior to, during or after committing their murders.”
In verifying and updating this number, a random sampling of 59 U.S. serial killers after 1960 was collected and studied. Of those 59 convicted murderers, 39 were found to be gay, 66%.
Given that arguably 3.8% of the population of the United States self-identifies as gay, the statistical outlier of 60%+ of convicted serial killers being homosexual should be cause for concern within the LGBTQ community.
While some would argue the numbers are too small for scientific analysis, laws have been enacted on far less evidence, such as with the reaction to Matthew Shepard’s murder.
Rather than address this issue with a significant study, the LGBTQ community instead continues to push hate crime statistics of crimes against gays, lesbians and transgenders.
But a solution to minimize those assaults may be right under their nose as a recent report by a gay British group showed that 30% of hate crimes on gays were between victims and aggressors who were “previously acquainted.”
While the U.S. government tracks hate crime statistics along with their general crime database, they fail to gather and release data that could verify and lead to resolution of what appears to be a significant cultural issue within the LGBTQ community.
