Group: Anti-Gay Killings Highest Since '99

(CBS/AP)  A national advocacy group says the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to 2007.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs released its report Tuesday. It says last year's 29 killings is the highest it has recorded since 1999. It documented the same number of slayings then.

The New York-based coalition says the overall number of victims who reported gay bias violence in 2008 increased by 2 percent.

The coalition says its figures are more accurate than those from law enforcement agencies. As an example, the group says the FBI doesn't record bias crimes against transgender people because gender identity isn't covered by federal hate-crime law.

The report comes as gay groups show increased frustration at President Obama's gay rights agenda.

On Monday, Joe Solmonese, president of advocacy group The Human Rights Campaign, sent an angry letter to Mr. Obama criticizing a Justice Department brief filed in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA.

DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and doesn't mandate states to recognize those marriages performed elsewhere in the country.

Mr. Obama vowed to repeal DOMA as a presidential candidate but he has not taken any action to do so since becoming president.

Last month, CBS News also reported on Mr. Obama's unfulfilled pledge to repeal the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving.

[OLEANDER_]

Buy a gun, I DID! Take it everywhere. To much hatred in this country to not protect yourself. i'd shoot before I got shot.

[gunownerdan]

"The principle of self-defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi..."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

[gunownerdan]

"Armed Gays Don't Get Bashed"
PINKPISTOLS (pinkpistols.org)
Having the ability to defend yourself and others is a most important human right.
A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[woeisme1]

What on earth does this have to do with this story? Why is it that the neo-con is so absorbed with guns? I mean we are talking about hate crimes against a particular segment of society and you wanna ignore the story and bring your beloved gun rights into this. That says alot that's not good about the neo-con radical extremist.

Get real. FIGHT FOR PEACE!

[armyoftwelve]

No one condones murder. But if anyone really thinks Don't Ask/Don't Tell or DOMA has anything to do with it you've been smoking too much pot. I'm sure we'll see overall murders increase in this country because of the collapsing economy.

[jt92202]

I am so tired of this issue, just as many were tired of the interracial marriage issue of the 70's. What Gays and lesbians do in there home is none of my business and it will not harm my life in anyway! People need to start agreeing to disagree and stop the bickering about everything! There are more important issues out there for us to get behind like our governments spending being out of control! Equality is for everyone in America not just for the majority! Get the government out of the Marriage business, give civil unions to all that want them and if they want to get Married then they can then find a church that will do it for them. Let the chuches give out the Marriage Certificate to those that want them and what you call your union around the dinner table is up to you cuz I won't ask to see your Marriage Certificate nor will anyone else (and if they do ask to see it ignore them cuz they are the same people that feel this will hurt them somehow). Just as the interracial marriages the Government just needs to do it, equality is equality!

I am just tired of this issue, the sooner that we give union rights to all the sooner they will get out of our faces and we can take care of more important issues at hand! And no I do not believe in "Gay Marriage" but I do not have a problem with Civil Unions for all then do what you want from there! If you can get someone in the clergy to marry you then go for it!

This would be true Seperation of Church and State!!!!! A marriage is a union between a Man, a Woman and God. A Civil Union is between two adults and the government giving equal rights to them just as they have to married couples all these years.

[rider71]

I wonder if hatred and violence against gays is caused in part by a small percentage of gays within their own group making an attempt to project their lifestyles and preferences as part of the main stream and drawing the attention of the ignorant or otherwise intolerant part or the 97% or so hetero population. The percentage of GLB's in the US is what? - 3% plus or minus? (I know the percentage is debateable.) We already know that ignorance is still prevalent here in the US - just look at all the people who continue to be racially biased as an example. Could it be that a large percent of the mainstream population either disagree, don't care, or simply don't wish to be bothered with an agenda put forth by such a small percentage, that doesn't concern them? I hope that the majority of Americans believe in equality for all, not just most. The reality though is that many may not care for one or more of many reasons.
I also wonder if there are people out there who simply don't wish to know what anyones orientation is and don't want it in their faces everyday - the gay flags, stickers, signs, banners, commercials, advertisements, televison programs and advocates. Maybe they don't wish to have to explain the subject to their children.
The present day laws in this country are supposed to protect all. - Not "most" or "some". It's possible that what is needed most is enforcement of the laws already in place and removal of laws that are biased and discriminate. At the same time, maybe it would be appropriate to keep ones orientation to themselves and refrain from projecting their preferences in the general public.

As for gays in the military - they are already there, they've been there and they will always be there I'm guessing. As a 25 year veteran, I don't have an answer one way or the other. What I am against is creating any laws or regulation that might distract a soldier from focus on the objective. In the military that can mean a great number of things. Will allowing gays to serve openly in the military cause distractions or stir up bias and create problems? I don't know the answer - it's up to the newer troops and the government to decide that one.

[cs4466]

Lately, the Religious Reich have been trying blatantly, to force their agenda on everybody else. They no longer care that their religion is repulsive to most everyone else not in the same religion, and they seem to feel that their economic and political power andtax exempt status gives them the right to impose themselves. Naturally normal people are going to have a very strong reaction and well they should.

However powerful they become, we must always bear in mind that religion has always been a root of evil in society, and most wars in history are fought in its name. Religion needs to be taxed like any political organization is taxed, and certainly not encouraged.

[puravidacr10]

Hatred. Religious bigotry. Intolerance. All are rampant in the United States. This is the reason I left the Bushites and ultra conservatives behind. I have moved to a country that is everything the United States claims it is and is not. It is wonderful living in an environment that has TRUE liberty and tolerance. I wish my ex-country the best but until religion is sent back to the privacy of homes and places of worship I shall not return.

[mensarino]

Newco---For you to trivialize these deaths by comparing them to traffic deaths is reprehensible and speaks volumes about you.

[ttinsly]

This is not a "non-issue". There is a TREMENDOUS amount of homophobia in this country. These ga.y bashings have not even been tracked until fairly recently. "Draconian laws". You mean laws that prevent our bodies from being collectively humiliated and disrespected by people full of hatred. I wish America would even wake up to read the fact that most states do not even have employment discrimination laws that protect gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Many of us have experienced violence in schools, violence at home, violence in public, and have experienced a genuine fear of our physical safety because of the violence of homophobes which even includes rape in many gay bashings. America has not even found this issue important enough to provide any photos for. We need to publicize this hatred, as well as the tremendous amount of domestic violence that happens against women and children. So many women are killed every year by their husbands, boyfriends etc. so many children abused. Patriarchy is killing everyone and oppresses men too, just as its close sibling homophobia does too. It took the pictures of the lynchings to help America wake up to this ugly fact of hatred and racism. Without trying to say they are exactly the same issue (they are not, except that they both are rooted in hatred), We need to publicize this in the same way. Remember after all that the word fa.ggot comes from the witch burning days when strong women and effeminate men were essentially killed off to purify and make more "christian" the people. It was also used to "weed out" the remnants of the nature religions still present that tended to view women and femininity in general in a more favorable light. Cast out the hatred, acknowledge that it exists because I know I had a horrible childhood because of it, I darn well know all of you have witnessed horrible oppression of men/boys perceived to be g.ay at some point in your lives. Admit it, and admit to the fact that your own behavior and freedom has been limited by your fear of your feminine side (homophobia).