Last week, a young man on a bus decided to beat the crap out of another young man on the same bus. It may or may not be related to another attack that happened days earlier, but the unprovoked act of violence was preceded by some pretty nasty verbal gay baiting. It happened right here in Austin, Texas. Yeah, despite our progressive cocoon, there are still homophobic lunatics in our midst. Despite how cool and accepting our town is, we must remember that there are a lot of people who hate our guts simply for who we are. It’s pretty vile. But it’s real. Equality Texas is launching a project to analyze the effectiveness of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act and to find out what the barriers are to using it in prosecuting perps driven to violence by hate. Equality Texas needs your help (as in donations) to face down the upcoming January Texas Lege session. (See Ongoing Events for more.)
This article appears in September 26 • 2008.