Society must address issue of hate-based violent crime
editorial

Emerald editorial board

December 04, 2003

This week, several campus advocacy groups, along with the ASUO, sponsored a "Transgender Day of Remembrance" to honor transgender people who have been brutally murdered around the world in sickening acts of irrational hatred.

On Tuesday, students may have seen the signs around the EMU depicting those people who died and their respective personal histories.

According to the "Remembering Our Dead" Web site, 17 of the 37 people who were killed in the last 14 months have been from America, where a battle currently rages over whether two people of the same sex should be able to affirm their love in a binding legal agreement.

That debate, as well as the hate-motivated deaths of transgender people, has shown a disturbing trend of fear toward non-heterosexual persons that often leads to violence. The mentioned statistic alone shows that there's something deeply awry in the modern human consciousness.

In fact, that groups must dedicate special days to remember victims of hate is indicative that something is definitely wrong with this picture.

According to the Web site: "We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred-based violence, especially since the events of Sept. 11. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating."

All in all, days like this week's "Transgender Day of Remembrance" help bring awareness to a major problem this society has with discrimination against many different groups.

But it is important to remember that a little more open-mindedness can go a long way -- and beginning locally is the right way to start changing the way things are.