Violence of any form is a Human issue. It is not a gay issue or a straight issue. Violence against our fellow Human being affects us all. In this day and age when we have found (in law at least) freedom to choose your religion, freedom to be male or female, freedom to not be abused based on your race, there is still one group of people that are quite often legislated against.
It is hard for us to call ourselves a free country when there are those among us who are being attacked and killed regularly for all of these things. It is even harder for us to change this when our law makers are actively writing laws against one of these groups.
The sad truth is that people die way too often, just because they loved the wrong person.
I know I am a bit late posting this, as it is now nearing November 21’st in the mainland US, but 20 November has been declared by the GLBT community as the Transgendered Day of Remembrance.
I myself am straight, and married to a wonderful woman, but many of my friends and even members of my family belong to this community. This is a human rights issue that has been of concern to me for many years, so I can’t let the day go by without saying something.
The following link goes to a website that should be self explanatory. The people on the list were brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, lovers and friends. In some cases they were even mothers and fathers.
What they all have in common is that they died for being different. They did nothing to harm anyone else. They were just not “normal” by some random individual’s definition of normal.
Every year this day is remembered, and has been for a number of years. Every year, this list is longer. Many of the people on this list are American. We cannot call ourselves a free country as long as we are allowing these things to happen.
http://www.rememberingourdead.org/