Commentary : Why Hate Crimes Against Gays Should Be Everybody’s Nightmare

In Germany they came first for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics , and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time nobody was left to speak up. --Pastor Martin Nicmuller

Elementary schoolchildren in Orange County play dodge ball yelling, “Kill the queer!” A young man arrested for beating a person he thought to be gay with a pipe, resulting in 90 stitches to the victim’s head, explains: “I don’t believe in what they believe in; it’s gross.”

Gays who protest AIDS policy at a public forum hear people scream at them, “Go die somewhere else!” and “Give yourselves AIDS and die!” Hundreds of people turn up at the Santa Ana City Council meeting to urge that gay men and women not be allowed to assemble or speak at Centennial Park.

An Irvine anti-discrimination ordinance is challenged by a ballot initiative to exclude gays from protection against discrimination. A dozen marchers in Anaheim carry a cross down Harbor Boulevard yelling, “Death to homosexuals!”

Name-calling, tire-slashings, thrown objects and violent physical assaults are a regular part of weekend nights in Orange County near gay and lesbian social centers, as bigoted criminals prey on people assumed to be gay.

The Justice Department reports that homosexuals are the most frequent victims of U.S. hate crimes.

National statistics show a dramatic increase in reported attacks against gays and lesbians: 2,042 in 1985 to 7,008 in 1987.

People seem to be saying, “I don’t want them to exist, and if they do exist, they should be invisible. If they are invisible, we can’t see their suffering. If they are invisible, they can’t be assaulted or attacked because they aren’t really there.” The refusal to recognize gay men and women dehumanizes them, thereby opening them to attack from society’s extremist fringes.

This hate and extreme vituperation are products of deep-rooted prejudice in our society. People project their fears on to people who are different. Fear of homosexuality, as if it were a contagious disease, is irrational when modern science tells us sexual orientation is a matter of biology, not choice.

The message of these anti-gay efforts is clear. It says some people are not hearing from their parents, clergy or teachers that attacking people who are different is illegal, immoral and intolerable. They are not hearing that gay men and lesbian women are contributing members of our society, that they work and pay taxes just like everybody else. They are not hearing that gays, like everyone else, are brothers and sisters and that they have mothers and fathers.

If it becomes acceptable in our society to consider gays less than full citizens with less than full human rights, who will be the next target? What unpopular group will be set upon next to eliminate from our midst?

None, we hope. The Orange County Human Relations Commission is dedicated to eliminating prejudice against any individual. Overcoming a person’s prejudice is accomplished by fostering opportunities for intergroup action, through which people learn to accept human differences.

As the county becomes an increasingly diverse urban community, we will have growing pains. At times conflict boils to the surface and hurtful words are uttered, painful wounds are opened and people’s fear of change and differences becomes manifest.

We foresee a growing consensus among county residents that we are a community tolerant of diverse people, a community that respects the rights of all people, whether we agree with their opinions or not. We are not willing to enact repressive measures to persecute people simply because they are different or because we disagree with them.

County voters defeated the LaRouche initiative and its successor, Proposition 102, measures that would have dealt with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome epidemic as a political rather than a public-health issue. County voters also defeated the Briggs initiative, which called for identifying and firing gay teachers.

The state increased criminal penalties for hate crimes, including “gay bashing.” The new law was used in Orange County to deal stiff sentences to “skinheads” who attacked two gay men in Laguna Beach and to those who burned a cross in the yard of a black family in Westminster.

Gays are encouraged to lie to themselves about their feelings, and they are teased, harassed and attacked because of who they are.

The Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival and the Irvine Human Rights Ordinance are positive steps for the roughly 10% of county residents who are gay and live in fear of losing their jobs, homes, friends and family because they are different.

They are positive steps for our county, as we develop knowledge of different people, tolerance for diversity, and intolerance for arbitrary discrimination against any individual.

Gays and lesbians are not asking for us to join their ranks, only that we allow them to live their lives without fear of persecution.