The Unoticed Abuse

Research Paper

Fifty years ago it wasn’t okay if you were a homosexual if you were you would be looked down upon, physically, verbally, and mentally abused. If people knew that you were homosexual it would be endless ridicule and abuse this behavior wasn’t accepted. Today peoples views on the homosexual community has changed, they are more acknowledged and welcomed they have rights and can now be married. However there are still people who are against them and disagree with how gay men and women live. Sometimes these homophobic people act out by using violence to show how they feel. Many people have been hurt because of these hate crimes and some die. The abuse of homosexuals goes largely unreported most homosexual will not say they have been attacked because they are to scared to come forward , it may make situations worse, also they may not want to be known as a homosexual.

Some members of the gay community may not want to come forward about abuse because they are too scared to come forward. An article from Austin American Statesman said “Most gay-bashing crimes go unreported because the victim fears revictimization by the criminal justice system and the publicity it would bring.” The victim could be horrified to relive these violent events that happened to them. Also Kevin Berill director of the Anti-violence Project of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. says in that same article “I think the experience is similar to women who have been raped. Gay people encounter blame and indifference and hostility and often feel as if it is they who face prosecution.” Another reason they will not come forward is because in a way they are the same as other abused victims, they blame themselves and the victim feels like they brought the crime upon themselves.

Also homosexuals are afraid of reporting abuse because admitting the abuse can make matters worse. By confronting the problem the attacker and victim are known. This means that people are aware of who is involved and will cause more abuse on the victim. Because people know that they are in fact homosexual this can bring more abuse, harassment, and damage to the victim. In an article called “The School Hate Built.” Students from the Milk School (an all gay school) talk about some of the abuse they went through and what happened when they came forward. “At his old high school in Manhattan, Arthur Larsen was constantly taunted and worse. He was banned from changing clothes in the boy’s locker room “they told teachers, �if you let that faggot in here we’ll kill him,’ “Larsen says. He was forced to change clothes in the vice principle’s bathroom. “They figured it was easier for them to let me change there than to stop those boys from beating me up.” Because the other students new Larsen was gay it worsened things for him at school. Also the article said that these acts lead Larsen