Last night my wife, Nancy, and I attended a candlelight vigil honoring the life of Angie Zapata. Angie, a transgender teenager was murdered July 17th in a hate based crime. As one speaker suggested, "she was not murdered because she was a transgendered woman, but because her killer was taught to hate that which is different and/or threatened his masculinity." In his statement to Greeley, Colorado police he referred to Angie as "it". ( He took a fire extinguisher off a shelf and struck Zapata twice in the head, telling investigators he thought he "killed it.")Unfortunately this terrible tragedy is not an isolated hate crime. Gay, lesbian and transgendered bias crimes happen on a daily basis nationwide, with 19 slayings reported to groups like hers last year. This according to Crystal Middlestadt, director of training and education for the Colorado Anti-Violence Program.
It is a sad fact that Christianity and other major religions are in large part responsible for the culture of bigotry and hate toward the GLBT community. Some churches have courageously affirmed the GLBT community only to be targeted by hate based crimes themselves. On July 27th a gunman in Tennessee targeted a Unitarian church, killing two people. The note he left behind suggests that he targeted the congregation out of hatred for its liberal policies, including its acceptance of gays.
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that I will end with for you to ponder: "Annoy a conservative. Live like Jesus."
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