The murders of Allen Schindler and later, Barry Winchell, were points of debate in the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Schindler's murder was called the impetus for the policy. He was stomped to death in a bathroom by fellow members of the military for committing the egregious offense of sending out a radio prank message "too cute to be straight." The medical examiners said that he suffered at least a few fatal injuries and that his internal organs and bones matched those of someone who'd gotten run over by a car.
He was twenty-three years old. Two years younger than I am. He could have been your son or your brother.
I guess the rationale was that if he weren't allowed to say he's gay the murder would have never happened. This is actually being repeated now since repeal is looming. Certain people are arguing that repeal will lead to more murders.
Bull fucking shit.
You know who they should keep out of the military if they don't want psychotic prejudice-based murders to happen? Psychotic, prejudiced murderers. It is that fucking simple. It's immoral and offensive and SO WRONG to argue that if gays could just keep being forced to lie they won't get murdered. Just hide themselves. Just try to be safe around their fellow soldiers.
No way, man. This blame the victim shit happens too much. Does anyone really think that it's Schindler's fault that he was stomped to death, his skull and chest crushed in? Is it Barry Winchell's fault that he was murdered because he wanted to date a transgender woman? Why are either of these decisions bad? Why should either of these things be hidden or frowned upon? Why should they lead to murder?
There are gay people who want to serve the country and there are psychotic bastards who want them dead. It's not right to make gays hide themselves even more while the more insane people are allowed to roam freely in the military. Don't you think gays are stigmatized enough? Don't you think we're forced to hide enough in our daily lives? Some of us have grown up in accepting environments but the majority of us have not. I spent twenty one years of my life hiding myself from people who thought it was wrong. I spent all that time bowing down to stupid societal conventions about how I should be and what's acceptable for society. Nobody should have to do this anymore.
These institutional stigmas serve to perpetuate these murders. It's an uncomfortable truth but a truth nonetheless. You want to stop murders of gays? Stop telling people, either directly or indirectly through laws and sanctions, that homosexuality is wrong. It has already been proven that hate crimes against GLBT people go up every time an anti-gay law is passed or even PROPOSED. If the government and the churches, two society-driven establishments, tell everyone that it's wrong, it is seen as okay to shun and punish and hunt these people. Every time a gay person is allowed to feel inferior, it helps weaken their resolve and their status and it helps sociopaths find easy targets for abuse and murder.
When an argument is made that gays need to stay silent to prevent their deaths, this adds so much to the stigma that's already at play in our daily lives. I hesitate to make any direct comparisons but I want to say that it's somewhat akin to a woman being raped and people saying "look what she was wearing, don't you think she had it coming?" It makes people think that we're second-class citizens and we're nothing more. We don't deserve to be treated the same, if we're gay or if we're flashy or if we're not a part of societal conventions it's okay to hurt us. It is saying, well they're gay, they should've kept that to themselves. Well they're women, they should've covered themselves up more.
It is not our fault that some people are insane bastards.
WE aren't doing anything wrong. Murdering is illegal and immoral. Homosexuality is not. A woman wearing a skirt is not. Being black is not. Murder, terrorism, hate crimes, bullying, stalking, rape, those are illegal and immoral. It's time to treat criminals the way they should be treated and it's time to treat our citizens with the respect they deserve.