In particular, Matthew Shepard was viewed with a great deal of compassion in the media. As a young, white, attractive, "normal-looking" college student who was tortured and killed with sensational brutality, Shepard was viewed as the acceptable face of homosexuality to whom sympathy could be given.

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Despite the outpouring of sympathy and concern aroused by Shepard's brutal murder, however, gaybashing incidents still typically go unnoticed in the mainstream media.

In an effort to call attention to the bashing of transgendered individuals, activist Gwen Smith established the website Remembering Our Dead to honor the memory of transgender murder victims, estimated at one person a month. The Remembering Our Dead project spawned the National Day of Remembrance, an annual event begun in 1999, which is now observed in dozens of cities around the world.

Motivations for Gaybashing

Because gaybashing incidents are so under-reported, it is difficult to make generalizations about the frequency of such attacks, as well as the characteristics of the perpetrators. However, according to Karen Franklin, gaybashing is the most socially acceptable, and probably the most common, type of hate crime, especially among male teenagers and young adults.

Franklin has identified four categories of gaybashers. First, there are those who believe that homosexuality is morally wrong. From their perspective, sexual minorities must be attacked in order to enforce social norms and protect the community.

Second, young people who are thrill-seekers may engage in gaybashing because they are bored and want to have some fun, and homosexuals and transsexuals may seem like easy targets to them. A third group is adolescents who, because of peer-dynamics, commit gaybashing assaults in order to prove their toughness and normative sexuality to their friends. A final category consists of males who think that homosexuals are sexual predators, and thus react violently if they believe that a gay person has flirted with them.

Gaybashing is an extremely serious act because of the message that is sent by its perpetrators: Non-normative gender expression and sexual orientation will not be tolerated in our society and, in fact, may legitimately be responded to with violence. This message not only impacts the individual victim, but also spreads fear into the entire glbtq community. The result is that glbtq people often feel vulnerable and unprotected.

Gaybashing also sends the message that whether a person is actually lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or queer, if they are perceived by others as being so, a negative (and potentially violent) reaction may occur. Hence, gaybashing also tends to reinforce normative sexual behavior and gender expectations.

The centrality of gay and lesbian bars to glbtq culture has been reduced in recent years, but they continue to fulfill important functions; and, in many areas, they remain the most visible manifestation of glbtq presence.

Hate Crimes are crimes towards persons or groups motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Homophobia was originally defined as a "dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals," but it is now sometimes used to describe any form of anti-gay bias.

Since the late nineteenth century, transgendered people have advocated legal and social reforms that would ameliorate the kinds of oppression and discrimination they suffer.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a watchdog group dedicated to promoting accurate representations of the glbtq community in the media.

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) works to end discrimination and violence prompted by gender identification and stereotypes.

The largest glbtq political organization in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign has emerged as the leading national organization representing glbtq concerns.

Award-winning writer and director Moisés Kaufman specializes in theatrical works that explore watershed moments in glbtq history, such as the Wilde scandal, the murder of Matthew Shepard, and the experience of East Berlin transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.

A pioneer in the gay liberation movement, New York activist Morty Manford inspired his parents to help found the organization that became Parents, Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians (PFLAG).

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States, was assassinated in San Francisco's City Hall, making him the American gay liberation movement's most visible martyr.

The oldest continuously operating national glbtq interest group, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has played a significant role in the development of the glbtq movement for equal rights.

Matthew Shepard led an unremarkable life, but his shocking death transformed him into an icon of the glbtq movement for equality.

Twenty-year-old Brandon Teena was brutally murdered on December 31, 1993 on account of gender non-conformity.