I am deeply troubled by recent events that together create a pattern of hate, intimidation, intolerance and incitement to what seems acceptable violence.
The favorite target these days seems to be the community composed of gay men, lesbians, bisexual people, transgender people - and the most vulnerable, those young people who may be coming to the understanding that their sexuality is not heterosexual.
Here are just some recent examples of what many would consider isolated events, but I would argue they are not isolated.
A young man, a promising violinist and a first-year student at Rutgers University, jumped from a bridge after he discovers his roommates have secretly videotaped his encounter with a man and posted it on the Internet.
New York police arrested gang members accused of brutally torturing and sodomizing three gay men in the Bronx (Oct. 9).
In July, Utah's LGBT community lost at least three members to suicide, including a 28-year-old man whose death was mourned by more than 300 people during a candlelight vigil on the steps of the state Capitol. Two other suicides of well-known members of the Utah LGBT community occurred in August (Gina Barker, Deseret News).
A news anchor at CBS affiliate WCCO in Anoka, Minn., reported on Sept. 13 about the hanging death of 15-year old Justin Aaberg, a student in the Anoka-Hennepin school, who had come out as gay two years earlier and endured anti-gay harassment at school. The anchor said there had been "a record number of suicides" in the school district, "mostly among gay students." (reported by Pam Spaulding, "Pam's House Blend," an LGBT blog).
In fact, seven young people in the Anoka-Hennepin school district have killed themselves in the past year (David Crary, AP National Writer, Oct. 9).
Even closer to home, members of the LGBT Resource Center of the 7 Rivers Region in La Crosse joined the community for the first time in the Sept. 25 Maple Leaf Parade. The commodore reportedly grabbed a flag pole carried by a 14-year-old female; the commodore remained belligerent even after an intervention was attempted.
The commodore reportedly said, "Go to a country where they will hang you."
The commodore has denied this behavior and having said anything despite the fact it occurred in a crowd of witnesses.
Then there was a recent report of a physical assault of a 26-year-old female by two men after "harassing her with gay insults" in La Crosse on Sept. 26.
It's not only the examples in which our young people are being harassed and intimated but the pieces of the pattern also include statements and actions by politicians, institutions and others - especially in Minnesota.
The Human Rights Campaign last week identified Minnesota as the No. 1 battleground for tolerance in the wake of a series of statements from leaders opposing basic protections for LGBT people. Here's what the States News Service reported:
The Record - the student newspaper of the College of Saint Benedict and St. John's University - reports that last Sunday, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt refused communion to students wearing rainbow buttons. The incident comes days after the state's Catholic hierarchy spent thousands of dollars to send out 500,000 DVDs attacking same-sex couples that wish to marry.
Writing on the Minnesota Family Council's blog, organization President Tom Prichard says that activists "manipulate suicide tragedy" and then uses a blame-the-victim strategy saying: "youth who embrace homosexuality are at greater risk [of suicide], because they've embraced an unhealthy sexual identity and lifestyle."
The MFC recently released an ad along with the National Organization for Marriage invoking the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in their quest to outlaw same-sex unions.
Finally, Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer - who voted against LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying legislation in the Minnesota Legislature - will appear in a new documentary produced by radical anti-gay radio host Bradlee Dean, according to the filmmaker.
Dean is of course the front man of the band Tom Emmer called "nice people" only a week after Dean said on his radio show that Muslim countries that execute gay people are "more moral" than Americans.
Said Dean about Emmer's involvement in the film: "The reason that he is my best friend is because the homosexuals brought me into the politics."
See the pattern?
Speaking for myself, it has accomplished exactly what it intends to accomplish - it has instilled fear in me for my own safety as well as those who are "out."
More important, I am concerned for our young people who feel the weight of such hate and intimidation, and who see neither the opportunity to fulfill their potential nor the prospect of being accepted as a productive citizen.
I can only hope the Winona community does not participate in this kind of hateful intimidation, and our allies will step up and speak truth to power, asI am firmly committed to doing that. Speaking only for myself, I want nothing but the opportunity to live my life peaceably, be a productive citizen, contribute to the community and have the same legal rights as every other citizen in our community.I would encourage anyone who feels they have been victimized by discrimination or intimidation to contact the Winona Human Rights Commission by calling (507) 457-8200.
I would encourage those who support the LGBT community to contact the LGBT Resource Center for the 7 Rivers Region in La Crosse. Established as a nonprofit in 2005, it provides services to foster understanding and build connections on issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity to the 7 Rivers region, including Winona.
It is a local resource not only for members of the LGBT community but also for allies who wish to eliminate the pattern of hate, intimidation, intolerance and incitement to what seems to be acceptable violence by speaking truth to power.
By Cindy Killion (permission to post the letter granted by the author)
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