Gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people have long been victims of hate. Before the Stonewall Riots of 1969, gay people were arrested even for being in gay bars. The police intimidated gay people endlessly, and coming out of the closet could mean finding oneself being sent to an asylum. Until around 1973, the APA considered being gay as a psychological disorder, meaning that gay people were considered insane. Thus, gay people were subjected to such treatments as shock therapy and other corrected therapies. Some were quite cruel and created extremely negative reactions to images of people of the same gender. Stonewall sparked a move in the right direction, but hatred for LGBT people is still felt today, 40 years later.

Even today, LGBT people are killed or imprisoned in many nations around the world, especially in Islamic strongholds like Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Yet, even in these societies, there are gay people who risk everything for love. Imprisonment and capital punishment for LGBT people on the basis of sexual orientation is arguably a hate crime in itself. I even stumbled across an eye opening article where a Muslim talks about it. He says that there's a collapse in morality around the world, and that's just the beginning of his spiel.

In this materialistic age when everything is being sacrificed at the altar of 'freedom', the world from east to west is witnessing a total collapse of morality and decency. Virtue is portrayed as evil while sins of every type are being glamorized so as to seem acceptable to society. Honesty, fidelity, generosity, piety, chastity, the fear of Allah, etc. are rarely looked upon as praiseworthy qualities while adultery, gambling, fraud, usury, cheating, abortion, homosexuality, lesbianism, etc. are fast becoming the order of the day.

 

But the saddest part of this is that while the Muslims were supposed to lead the world out of this turmoil and offer it Islam as the only solution to its problems, they have begun to embrace the bankrupt ways of those who are themselves groping in the darkness of ignorance. Unfortunately many of the

abominable practices found in the west and other non-Muslim societies are creeping into Muslim societies. May Allah protect us!

 

It is time for the Muslim Ummah to awaken from its slumber and realize that it is the duty of every Muslim to remind the whole of mankind that success lies only in fulfilling the orders of Allah in the way shown by our prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).

 

In the spirit of Islamic brotherhood and in keeping with the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) who has said, 'None of you has Imaan (Faith) until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself'.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Soc/soc.culture.canada/2005-09/msg00250.html

If this is the mainstream of Muslim teaching, it's no wonder that LGBT people feel the worst persecution in the Islamic world. Even in Iraq, there is a squad that has been killing LGBT people. The preferred method in the Islamic is stoning people to death. In their blind hatred for LGBT, they kill in the name of Allah. This hatred is not limited to The Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. It has extended to Europe and North America where hate crimes, including murder, have been committed by Muslims upon LGBT people.

Muslims are not the only ones who have perpetrated hate crimes against gay people. People from other religions, or lack thereof, have also committed such crimes for various reasons. One such situation occurred in Laramie, Wyoming on January, 6-7, 1998. A University of Wyoming student named Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten by two homophobic men who had offered him a ride. According to the felony complaint against Russell Arthur Henderson and Aaron James McKinney, they tied him up to a post, robbed him, and beat him repeatedly with a pistol.

Source: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/shepard1.html

This crime made national headlines, because of the excessive brutality of the crime itself. Many assume that it has more to do with Matthew Shepard's looks, but that, to me, is not the reason it made headlines. The crime itself was brutal. While the state contended that the intention was robbery, it is quite obvious to most that it was, in fact, a hate crime. Robbing the victim was an added bonus. A bill in honor of Matthew Shepard is still pending and will likely be signed by President Barack Obama.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard#Hate_crime_legislation

A gay teen named Lawrence