Gay Senior Paralyzed by Beating
What's it going to take to wake people up to the dangers of homophobia? The message that LGBT people are subhuman ranges from blathering Baptists in the bible belt calling for conversion or death to stereotyped sitcom characters who are punchlines based solely on their sexual orientation.

Pam and Shakes Sis posted yesterday about a gay senior citizen who was beaten and left paralyzed from the neck down after being questioned about his sexuality.

As Shakes Sis puts it:
This sh!t doesn't happen in a void. Like the sexualization and objectification of women in the media being psychologically damaging to girls, the constant drumbeat of negative stereotypes and exploitative hatred issued by the GOP and social/religious conservative leaders is dangerous for members of the LGBT community. And the hatemongers' faux-naïveté at the reality that you can't continually put a target on someone's back but expect no one to shoot at it is growing really goddamned old. The hate-the-gays schtick isn't just infuriating and spiteful and wrong; it's irresponsible.

The "cut to the chase line" for me is Sis's, "you can't continually put a target on someone's back but expect no one to shoot at it." A senior citizen's (and a young girl's - read Sis's post) life is forever changed because someone thought that beating gay people is the thing to do.

I'm so disgusted I can't think or write clearly about this. This is one for the list the next time I hear that hate crimes legislation is "writing special treatment into the law." F that, seriously, F that. If you're gay and not lucky enough to live a large city with quasi-equality, you are living at risk (That doesn't mean you're safe either. Remember the recent Brooklyn and San Diego attacks?). This is America 2007: beating young and old alike for being gay.