Hate crimes are committed in a variety of methods and are committed against a variety of people, often seen as belonging to a group considered being the minority. Two such groups that experiences hate crimes are the transgender and gender non-conforming communities. Members of these communities are highly disproportionately targeted victims of hate crimes around the world. These crimes are predominantly committed against a person instead of property like other hate crimes. Societies label members based on binary identifying factors, these binary factors create a divide between those who fit the majority identifying factors and those who fit the minority identifying factors. This division creates a sense of us (majority) vs. them (minority). This way of thinking produces animosity between the groups, with the majority group committing motivated crimes, hate crimes, against the minority in an effort to protect the society’s norms.
The transgender and gender non-conforming communities go against society’s norms in that the members do not follow traditional gender identity and expression. Majority of society sees this as wrong and some individuals take it into their own hands to show the victim how they feel. These communities are victims of verbal, physical, and sexual attacks because of how they have chosen to identify and express who they are. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs makes annual reports on hate crimes committed against the LGBTQ communities and compares the information to previous reports. “This data continues a three year trend in which transgender women, LGBTQ and HIV-affected people of color, and transgender people of color experienced a greater risk of homicide than other LGBTQ and HIV-affected people” (Chestnut 2012). The severity of the violence directed towards these communities provides insight into how risky it is for these communities to have their identity discovered.
Hate crimes against transgender people are often the result of the victim being “outted” as trans. This can occur through incriminating evidence, sometimes linked with the spread of rumors. One such example of this is Brandon Teena. Brandon was arrested with friends and was placed in the female section of the jail. A few days after being released Brandon was brutally assaulted and murdered after his “friends” forced him to pull down his pants to prove his gender. Another example of a hate crime brought on after incriminating evidence is the murder of Gwen Araujo. Gwen was murdered after her sexual partners discovered she was anatomically born with a penis. Gender identification and expression is not the only factor taken into account when someone commits a hate crime; disabilities, gender, race, sexual orientation, social class, and religion are also factors of hate crimes, these factors are commonly interconnected as they are all forms used to divide people. CeCe McDonald was a victim of a gender identity hate crime and race hate crime. These factors are all connected in that a hate crime can be committed on multiple biases, one such example is the murder or Fred (FC) Martinez. Martinez was a poor gay transgender Native American, four identifying factors to the motivation of this hate crime. Another example of intersecting factors is the murder of Betty Skinner, who was a disabled transgender woman.
Trans and gender non-conforming communities continue to persevere, despite facing a myriad of issues. The issue of hate crimes committed against these communities continues to grow as the number of crimes rises exponentially. Governmental efforts and individual efforts are needed to raise awareness of this issue; they are also needed to help educate others about tolerance of diverse groups that make up a society.
Reference:
Chestnut, S., Dixon, E., Jindasurat, C., Coston, B., Farrar, A., Varathan, P. (2012). National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
