That Rainbows Guy

zubat:

“Why do LBGT people get special treatment? Society is more accepting of LBGT people every day. How come they receive special treatment and I don’t? They don’t need it. They don’t go through much. They’re pretty much equal to me.” — a straight white male

• November 17, 2011 — Cassidy Nathan Vickers, a 32-year-old black transgender woman, died from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest in Hollywood. Her killer, who is still unidentified, is suspected of also attempting to rob and non-fatally shoot another black transgender woman on the same day.
• December 17, 2011 — Charlie Hernandez, a 26-year-old who was openly gay, was stabbed to death following a brawl that included anti-gay slurs that occurred with two men after he accidentally stepped on some sunglasses.
• December 24, 2011 — Dee Dee Pearson, a 31-year-old transgender woman, died from bullet wounds in Kansas City, Missouri. Kenyan L. Jones was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action. Jones told police he paid to have sexual relations with Ms Pearson, believing her to be a cisgender woman, but hours after having sex with her, discovered she was not. Angered by what he considered to be a deception, he got a 9mm-caliber handgun, found Ms Pearson, and killed her.
• December 29, 2011 — The body of Githe Goines, a black 23-year-old trans woman who had been reported missing 2 weeks beforehand, was found in a scrapheap. An autopsy set that the time of her death as much as 2 days before her body was discovered, and that she had been strangled.
• January 21, 2012 — Crain Conaway, a black 47-year-old trans woman, was found dead in her home in Oceanside, California. Tyree Paschall Monday was arrested in connection with her murder.
• February 2, 2012 — JaParker “Deoni” Jones, a 23-year-old black trans woman, was stabbed in the head while waiting at a Metro bus stop in Washington DC.
• February 2012 — Cody Rogers, an 18-year-old teenager, was brutally assaulted and targeted with homophobic slurs at a party after defending a female friend who was also attacked.
• March 24, 2012 — Several transgender and crossdressing people were shot at and robbed in Florida by a man, suspected to be De Los Santos. 23-year-old Tyrell Jackson was fatally wounded in the shooting, which also injured 20-year-old Michael Hunter.
• April 16, 2012 — Paige Clay, 23, a black trans woman, was found dead, with a bullet wound to her face in West Garfield Park, Chicago. The death was ruled as a homicide.
• April 21, 2012 — Eric Unger, a 23-year-old gay man living in Illinois, was attacked by a group of men on the way home from a party, while they shouted anti-gay epithets at him.
• June 5, 2012 — Kardin Ulysse, a black 14-year-old boy, was attacked in the cafeteria of Roy Mann Junior High School by another group of boys. He was called anti-gay slurs and sustained damage to the cornea of one of his eyes, leaving him blinded in it. He’s undergone 5 surguries (since July 13th, 2012) because of the incident.
• August 14, 2012 — Tiffany Gooden, a 19-year-old black trans woman, was found murdered on the second floor of an abandoned building in Chicago. An autopsy verified that she had been stabbed to death. Notably, the body of Paige Clay, another young black trans woman, was discovered in April 3 blocks away from where Tiffany was found. The pair were known as friends.
• August 18, 2012 — Kendall Hampton, a 26-year-old black trans woman, died of gunshot wounds. Eugene Carlos Dukes was arrested in early September for her murder, and indicted later that month.
• August 26, 2012 — Deja Jones, a 33-year-old black trans woman, was shot to death in Miami. No arrest has yet been made.
• November 15, 2012 — Janette Tovar, a 43-year-old trans woman was murdered by her partner, Jonathan Kenney, according to police, who beat her and slammed her head into concrete. He was later arrested for her murder.
• May 17, 2013 — Mark Carson, a gay man, was shot to death by another man who trailed and taunted him and a friend as they walked down the street, yelling anti-gay slurs and asking one of them, “You want to die tonight?” in Greenwich Village, New York.

These are the reported beatings/murders of LBGT individuals in the past 17 months — from November 17th, 2011 to May 17th, 2013. The worst part? There’s more. From bodies of trans* individuals being found in the woods to an elementary school boy being beaten up by peers because his mother is lesbian. 

So unless your cis-gender peers have been beaten or murdered for the sole fact of “they were straight,” please don’t ever minimize the struggles of LBGT individuals as if they don’t struggle more than you do.