Violence against the LGBT community

Today we are still witnessing violence against the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender) community by religious radicals. They believe it is their duty to rid Earth of all homosexual persons in any way. The reason they believe they must do this is because of their strong convictions and devotion to their religion. They find that their violence against the LGBT community is justifiable by the teachings of the Bible and should not in any way be punished, for they are simply doing Gods will.
In the Bible it is said that punishment for those who engage in homosexual behavior or even wear the clothes of the opposite sex, is death. Today, we see less and less of such crimes against LGBT persons by religious persons in the United States, although hate crimes and protests are still prevalent. Where we see violence of LGBT persons is in South Africa and the Middle East by radical religious people. In South Africa, women who are lesbian are subjected to gang-rape. Those who do such a horrible thing to be done to these women intend for it to supposedly "cure" the women of being lesbian. A lesbian woman, Soldaat, living in South Africa was ganged raped, and was told during her attack by her attackers that they were going to make her into a real woman again. She says that "Most of the lesbians in my community are being subjected to 'corrective rape', in the hope that it will cure us of something which the rapists believe we have copied from white people."(SOUTH AFRICA). This as well as terrible torture and murder of gay men in Iraq. BBC News reported from a Human Rights Watch researcher that gay men are kidnapped, then have their anuses glued and force fed laxatives, inevitably resulting in death.(Saddam's Rule)
So why is it that these people who murder and torture LGBT persons feel like what they are doing is justifiable by the Bible? There are many reasons why people will commit such acts without remorse because they believe it is what they are supposed to do according to the Bible and other Holy texts. There is the Belief Bias, this theory states that people "accept any and all conclusions that fit in with their systems of belief, without challenge or any deep consideration of what they are actually agreeing with."(Henel 69). People are using their Holy text to justify their cruel, horrible actions against the LGBT community. They believe what they are doing is morally right.

"SOUTH AFRICA: Tide of violence against women drowns out homophobia." Medilinks. 01 February 2007. Plus News, Web. 10 Dec 2009. .


Henle, M. (1962). On the relation between logic and thinking, Psychological Review, 69, 366-378


"Saddam's rule 'better' for gay Iraqis ." BBC News. 06 July 2009. BBC, Web. 10 Dec 2009. .