Hate crimes against LGBT sector on the rise

HATE crimes against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the transgendered (LGBTs) is currently on the rise, a partylist lawmaker said over the weekend.

Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela partylist cited the report of the LGBT Hate Crime Watch, which revealed that there are on average five cases per month reported since January this year.

“From an average of 10 murders between 1996 and 2008, the killings rose to 12 in 2009, 26 in 2010 and 27 in the first six months of the current year,” Ilagan said.

Accoridng to her, the LGBT Hate Crime Watch cited 103 cases since 1996 with 61 of the victims reported were gay men, 26 were transgendered, 12 were lesbians and four were bisexuals.

“The accounts of the incidents indicate that there is prejudice or hate on the part of the assailants. Thirty-eight of the victims were stabbed multiple times. Six were tortured before they were killed. Others were raped, dismembered, killed with a blunt object, suffocated or burned alive,” she said.

Following the issue, Ilagan and Rep. Emmi De Jesus, also from Gabriela, have filed House Resolution 1460 urging the House Committee on Justice to investigate the killings in order to provide legislation penalizing specific crimes against the LGBTs.

The partylist lawmaker also cited the murder of Palanca short story awardee in 2004 first prize winner Winton Lou Ynion—who was also a faculty member of the University of the East—on August 16 last year. Ynion was openly homosexual.

Ynion was stabbed 40 times in the head, neck and chest by an unknown assailant. Ynion was taking his doctoral degree at the University of the Philippines in Diliman at the time of his death.

Further, Ilagan cited the killing of Albert Clarence Bondoc, who was stabbed 13 times, and the case of a 51-year old Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge in Laoag City, found lying in a pool of his own blood with his head almost decapitated and semen found in his anus.

Ilagan said were it not for the extreme difficulty in gathering information on the cases of gay victims, LGBT hate crimes could be more alarming if the families of the victims were free to report on such crimes without fear of stigma.

Ilagan said hate crimes may not be the sole reason for the killings but covers many other crimes such as rape, damage to property, physical assault, threat of violence, harassment, and many others motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of the victim.

“We cannot tolerate hate crimes because it send threatening message to the rest of the community. Such crimes not only impact on the victims and their families, they also send signals of a breakdown of the rule of law,” Ilagan said. –RUBEN D. MANAHN 4TH, Manila Times