"In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another."
anti-gay hate crimes
Photo Source: JanetMock.com
On Tuesday, members of New York City’s LGBTQ community came out to mourn and stand in solidarity with Islan Nettles, a transgender woman who died following an attack in Harlem.
NIOS is publishing blogs with the voices of LGBTQ students, teachers and community members weekly starting with the Day of Silence in April through Gay and Lesbian Pride month in June. This is the third blog post in our series. Please share these stories on Facebook and retweet them for everyone to join the powerful movement of equality that crosses all races, religions and nationalities.
By Jordan Addison
I’m a big fan of being a wallflower. You know the type, there’s one in every crowd. A person who rarely speaks and is content to listen, to have the world ignorant to their existence. Having been bullied my entire life for being perceived as gay, I am very good at being a wallflower.
Not In Our Town needs your help. NIOT is trying to raise funds that will allow us to provide more communities with tools that will help them not only address hate as it happens but also prevent hate from happening in the first place.
For most of us, summer is a time of vacation and relaxation. Here at Not In Our Town, we worry. Some of the most heinous and high profile hate crimes have occurred in summers past.
The Summer of Hate in 1999 was particularly dreadful. In a series of violent hate attacks by "lone wolf" white supremacists, five people were killed across the country. Communities in California, Illinois and Indiana were terrorized as synagogues were torched, day care centers attacked, and well-loved local citizens—Gay, African-American, and Asian-American—lost their lives at the hands of virulently bigoted murderers.