I was moved to write this diary by wyldraven's diary here, about a Texas inmate who is being paroled after serving time for the mob murder of a gay man. The little thugs would drive around, ask random strangers if they knew where a particular bar was located, and then beat and stab them if they gave them directions.
We live in a country where terrorism, and comparisons to terrorism, and the use of the word "terrorism" in order to give an extra emotional punch to a political statement, is far too common. So while I don't wish to contribute to this unfortunate tendency, it's important to recognize that there such a thing as the opposite problem: the failure to recognize terrorist acts and tactics for what they are. That's what I'm going to address here.
I'm not saying that gay-bashing is like terrorism. I'm not saying that gay-bashing is bad and violent, kinda sorta like terrorism. I'm not using terrorism as a metaphor. I'm saying that gay-bashing, in its effect and in its intent, is and must be recognized to be actual, non-metaphorical terrorism.
The United States Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms - I think we can all agree that that is a pretty authoritative source on the matter - defines terrorism thusly:
The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. See also antiterrorism; combating terrorism; counterterrorism; force protection condition; terrorist; terrorist groups.
So let's break that down:
Calculated
1. (of an action) Done with full awareness of the likely consequences.
2. Carefully planned or intended: "vicious and calculated assaults".
To inculcate fear
Intended to coerce or intimidate
Goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.
Gay-bashings are calculated. The victims in wyldraven's story were sought out and identified as part of an operation that was planned, and carried out according to that plan. This wasn't an episode of someone becoming angry, even for a bigoted reason, with someone they came across. They set out to do this.
Gay-bashings are conducted to inculcate fear. They are carried out to send a message, not just to the immediate victim, but to the entire society: this is what you get for being gay, or for "acting gay," or for doing one or the other in the place where you were attacked.
The intent in producing this fear is to coerce, not just to harm or punish. Harming the victim is an end unto itself, but also a means to a larger end. There is a goal to be accomplished, and that goal is to intimidate a broader population. Gay-bashings are often accompanied with taunts of "This is what you get for..." or "Tell all your friends..."
And the goals? The goals of gay-bashing are, indeed, linked to politics, religion, or ideology. The term more commonly used for attacks like this - hate crimes - blurs this fact. It suggests that hostility towards the victim is the motive, but how can attack on a stranger that one must first make sure to identify as gay be motivated by personal animosity? To feel and express hate against a group, without any individual relationship or grudge, is an ideological phenomenon, based on what one thinks about the world, the people in it, and how it should be.
The people who conduct these crimes are carrying out their violence for a purpose, and using violence in order to intimidate, in the pursuit of a set of political, religious, or ideological goals, no less than any fanatic with a bomb vest. We should not shy away from calling this phenomenon by its proper name.