Killed for being gay, Teens & Adults:

Aug.07, 2008 by Billy Haynes in Opinions

A friend of mine found a R.I.P profile on Myspace for Ryan Keith Skipper who was murdered for being gay. This made me want to say something on the topic… She then posted a video on YouTube reading what is said about Ryan [view video here]. After watching her video and reading Ryan Skipper’s page I found another video of Ellen DeGeneres talking about a 15 year old who was also killed for being gay, as well as another article about David Morley who was also a fatal victim.

Larry King was a 15 year old boy who was murdered by a classmate Brandon McInerney who was 14 years old. Larry was open with his sexuality, and he was murdered because of it. Larry had given Brandon a Valentines card asking him to be his Valentine. Ellen states that Brandon got the message that Larry’s actions were so threating that the only thing to do was kill him. [View Video Here]

David Morley is another victim of this terrible occurrence. The article I found on him said that he was beat to death by a group of people coming out of a pub, and fleeing just before police showed up. David Morley survived for a short period passing away later at the hospital from several injuries to the head and torso. [View Article Here]

America used to be known as the land of the free, but from my point of view that has always been false advertisement. It started out with the Indians being killed off, then African’s being brought over for slaves, then after slavery was abolished the African-American people still were not free, they had to worry about being killed or going into the wrong bathrooms etc. On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks made the history books by standing up for her “freedom” by declining to give up her seat at the front of the bus, refusing to seat at the back every time.

It went from racism (which sadly still exists) to homophobia. The definition of homophobia is ” irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals”. [Merriam-Webster] People who beat or kill others because they choose to be queer or lesbian are gave the title of being a person who suffers from homophobia when going to court to stand trial. Because of them being gave the term homophobia it appears as a mental disorder were they may not be liable for their actions.

Examine the word homophobia further, “The word “phobia” is from the Greek “phobos” (fear)”. [MedicineNet] So the word homophobia means homosexual-fear (or fear of homosexuals). Arachnophobia is the fear of spiders, if a person is this terrified of spiders chances are they would get away from it as fast as they could, not get closer to kill it. Where as a person who suffers from Claustrophobia (fear of small places) will avoid small cramped rooms or areas at all costs. With that said would it seem as though somebody who is honestly suffering from homophobia would stay away from homosexuals or run from them if they seen them, NOT go in search of them and run after them to beat them or kill them?

I do not believe there is a such thing as homophobia, no, I’m not going to say that as there might be those who truly run from a person supporting the gay pride rainbow (I wonder if they would run from a clown as well?). Instead I am going to say I do not believe homophobia is the proper term to use in a court room when a person is standing trial for the beating or murder of a homosexual, I see it purely as a hate crime.