America’s Largest Newspaper Misreads Severity, Doesn’t Report On LGBTQ Hate Crime
The title of USA Today’s article, “Hate crimes against blacks, religious groups rise,” doesn’t begin to tell the entire story. It just panders to its readership, rather than provide information some of them would rather not see. Surprisingly, the title of the AP’s piece, “More anti-gay, religious-motivated crimes reported,” which USA Today based it’s article on, tells a more accurate story.
And the story isn’t pretty: No surprise, hate crimes against gays, according to the FBI’s report released today, are up. Specifically, and to quote USA Today, “the number of people who were victims of hate-crimes based on sexual orientation went up 13%.” Thirteen percent!
Yet that doesn’t warrant a mention in their headline. I know what you’re thinking, it’s only a headline. But it’s the headline that most people read, not the story. And there’s so much violence against our community; it’s increasing, rapidly, and remember: not only is the quantity of hate crimes against our community increasing, but so is the severity, as last night’s vigil for Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado – who was decapitated, dismembered, and burned – should remind us.
Speaking of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, maybe you can find USA Today’s coverage of his gruesome, brutal murder, but I cannot. I hope they did cover it and I’m wrong. It’s important we hold the press accountable for reporting stories that affect our community.
I’ll have a lot more on the rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ community, and the overall assault – physical and philosophical – we are experiencing later this week. Stay tuned.