In Santa Clara County, violent crimes against gays and lesbians accounted for more than half of the hate crimes last year - a huge leap from the 15% reported in 2007. Deputy District Attorney Jay Boyarsky, who is assigned to monitor such crimes in the area, attributes this increase in violence to the firestorm surrounding Proposition 8, the recent ban on gay marriage in California.
Says Boyarsky: "My belief from having done this work for many years is that surges in types of hate incidents are linked to the headlines and controversies of the day. Marriage equality and Proposition 8 have been in the news, and we have seen an increase in gay-bashing."
From Mercury News: The increase in anti-gay acts in Santa Clara County saddened South Bay activists, who opposed the gay marriage ban that garnered 52 percent of the vote in November. "When there's a lot more information about gays and lesbians on TV or in the news, it brings out the worst in people who have an inherent bias against groups they don't belong to," said Leslie Bulbuk, president of BAYMEC, a regional political action group representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "It seems like visibility makes people come out of the woodwork."
A subset of tax-paying American citizens seeks the same rights and privileges as everybody else. They get trashed by conservative Christians (whose odious advertising fear mongering was disproportionately funded by out-of-state Mormons); and as a result of the hateful messaging put out by "Protect Marriage" and other groups, gays and lesbians not only remain disenfranchised, they get brutalized and murdered into the bargain.
These religious folks must be so proud of themselves.
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