The Media and Hate Crimes
Media coverage of these outrages has been poor. The average American does not believe that anyone has been killed for being gay since the murder of Matthew Shepard. After the flurry of interest waned following Shepard’s murder in 1998, the killings of LGBT people have been buried in the back pages of newspapers or not reported at all in the national press.
The regional or local reporting that is done in the mainstream media often minimizes hate crimes by seeking to blame the victims for the evil that befell them. When victims are non-white, female, disabled, no longer young and attractive, or transgender, thier stories are downplayed even more.
Take for example a recent Newsweek cover story which on the surface seems open to reporting about the anti-gay hate crime that claimed the life of Lawrence “Larry” King. The article, however, has come under scrutiny for having used biased language, anti-gay catch phrases, stereotypical descriptions, and one-sided reporting to characterize the victim’s own role in the hate crime that claimed his life.
Even coverage by the LGBT press appears occasional, spotty, and selective. Yet the brutality continues apace in such a way that whole regional populations of LGBT people are being terrorized while national press turns a blind eye and deaf ear, helping to construct a new closet of fear in America.
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About
If you are a first-time visitor to the Unfinished Lives Project website, we invite you to read A Welcome Message introducing you to our project. We are truly grateful for your visit.
The Unfinished Lives Project website is a place of public discourse which remembers and honors LGBT hate crime victims, while also revealing the reality of unseen violence perpetrated against people whose only “offense” is their sexual orientation. LGBT people in the United States are suffering a slow-rolling holocaust of terror and murder all across the country. Every locale and demographic of society are affected: First Nations, Anglo, Black, Latino and Latina, South and Southeast Asian, Transgender, Gay men, Lesbians, disabled, young, and mature. Homophobia has a long, crooked arm, and it is reaching out to snatch the life away from women and men whose tragic stories are under-reported to begin with, and whose memories are swiftly forgotten.
The horror of these killings transcends the shock and bereavement of loved ones and friends. These are not typical homicides; they are not killings for money or drugs, incidents of domestic strife, or crimes of passion. The vicious nature of hate crimes against LGBT persons is extremely brutal, grotesquely violent, and egregiously hateful.
Each murder serves the LGBT population as a sobering warning about the actual level of danger in our communities. The message these killings send is that freedom and open life for LGBT people is a cruel dream.
Our Project Director
Stephen V. Sprinkle is Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, and Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas, a post he has held since 1994. An ordained Baptist minister, he is the first open and out Gay scholar in the history of the Divinity School, and the first open and out LGBT person to be tenured there. Read More…
Recent Social Justice Advocacy Activity By Dr. Sprinkle
Summer 2009 – Dr. Sprinkle responded to the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Raid on the Rainbow Lounge, Fort Worth’s newest gay bar, on June 28, 2009, the exact 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Dr. Sprinkle was invited to speak at three protest events sponsored by Queer LiberAction of Dallas. Here, he is keynoting the Rainbow Lounge Protest at the Tarrant County Courthouse on July 12, 2009. Read More…
Contact Us
Communicate with the Unfinished Lives project team: UnfinishedLives@yahoo.com
Schedule a Presentation
Dr. Sprinkle will gladly present his acclaimed presentation to your organization. To arrange an Unfinished Lives presentation for your organization or group, please contact us.
Dr. Sprinkle has given his Unfinished Lives presentation to these and other community groups and organizations. Read More…
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