Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men

Authors

Suzanne B. Goldberg, Columbia Law SchoolFollow
Bea Hanson

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1994

Abstract

Faggot! Dyke! Pervert! Homo!" Just words? Or rhetoric that illuminates and fuels hatred of lesbians and gay men? How often are these words supplemented by the use of a bat, golf clubs, a hammer, a knife, a gun? Studies indicate that lesbians and gay men experience criminal victimization at rates significantly higher than other individuals and are the most frequent victims of bias crime.

Since lesbians and gay men live all across the country – in large cities, small towns, and rural areas – we can be targets of bias crime no matter where we live. From the attacks against the lesbian-run Camp Sister Spirit outside of small town Ovett, Mississippi, to the brutal murder of Rebecca Wight on the Appalachian Trail, to the constant barrage of antigay and antilesbian assaults in gay "meccas" such as San Francisco's Castro District and New York City's West Village, violence against lesbians and gay men continues to rise.

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Criminal Law | Law | Sexuality and the Law

Recommended Citation

Suzanne B. Goldberg & Bea Hanson, Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men, 28 Clearinghouse Rev. 417 (1994).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/1104