I am saddened and heart broken about the horrific mass shooting that occurred today at PULSE Night Club where a shooter, fueled by hate against the LGBTQ community and their allies, took the lives of 50 people, and left 53 injured, making this the worst mass shooting in United States history. I couldn’t even begin to understand the suffering the friends and families of the victims are feeling at this moment. It is times like these that make you wonder, what is wrong with the world we live in? Why is there so much ignorance and hate in this world? While the LGBTQ movement has seen incredible visibility over the past decade, it is important to remember that violence against LGBTQ individuals has been present throughout history. It wasn’t until 1973, that the APA removed homosexuality as a disorder from the DSM. The APA listed being homosexual as a “sociopathic personality disturbance.” Before it was removed from the DSM, someone who was thought to be homosexual would have been treated with shock therapy, aversion therapy or a lobotomy. Sadly, even though the APA does not condone it, aversion and shock therapy is still the way that some LGBTQ youths are treated when they first come out. Also, let’s not forget that historically there has been a widespread religious labeling of homosexuality as a “moral aberration” or a “sin.” Today, religious groups still instill hatred against the LGBTQ community. For instance, take the tweet from the Westboro Baptist Church today which stated “God sent the shooter to Pulse in Orlando”. For a long time, same sex sexual activity was “illegal” and it wasn’t until 2003 that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas struck down anti-sodomy laws that had resulted in the arrest of LGBTQ people simply for being LGBTQ and having sexual intercourse with other consenting adults. To this day however, anti-sodomy laws are still in the books in some states. In the 1990’s Bill Clinton signed into law Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the Defense of Marriage Act two laws that were just overturned less than 2-3 years ago. However, other laws exclude sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class, such as the Civil Rights Act and other federal statutes, leaving LGBTQ people without protection from employment discrimination and other forms of discrimination/oppression widely covered by these protective statutes. While non-discrimination laws exist in many, although not all, states, counties and localities that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity, we have states like North Carolina trying to pass laws like HB2, and there are many states where it is still lawful to be fired for being gay or transgender or to lose custody of your children because you’re LGBTQ, or to be denied services (social services, accommodations, public services) because you’re LGBTQ. Ultimately laws alone do not change the social culture and a change in the social culture is not enough without legal protections. Both are advancing in the US, but today many LGBTQ people are still routinely discriminated against. All of these laws are meant to point to how LGBTQ people have been, and continue to be legally discriminated against, which means that this country is still a dangerous one for LGBTQ people, as evidenced by the events that happened today. Let’s not let hate win and be there for each other during this difficult time.
