“As an LGBT civil rights organization dedicated to full equality and social justice for LGBT people and the diverse communities of which we are part, we take reports of hate speech very seriously. Anti-LGBT hate speech is a form of violence that demeans and traumatizes members of our community. It perpetuates discrimination and lack of acceptance and respect for LGBT people. It is a form of psychological abuse that impacts self-esteem and contributes to high rates of depression and suicide, including rates of attempted suicide four times higher for LGBT youth than for the general public. Hate speech based on sex, race, ethnicity, faith and other factors has similarly serious and damaging impacts.The failure to respond to hate speech, when it occurs, has the effect of tacitly condoning discrimination and encourages additional violence against LGBT people. It is important that organizations and community leaders stand up against hate speech when it occurs and when reports of incidents occur. The importance of civility in public life and political discourse is an important value that all our leaders should affirmatively embrace and promote.We call on all individuals and organizations involved in the reported incident to publicly take a stand against hate speech and to provide leadership to ensure civil political and public discourse, and to take steps to ensure that your associates do the same.”
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org