2015 was a big year for LGBTQ+ rights. The Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality nationwide, transgender rights became a mainstream issue, and overall tolerance for non-heterosexual orientations has risen dramatically. But has that resulted in a change in the amount of homophobic violence?
Liz Coston, of Stony Brook University, has been doing her doctoral research on that question. Coston spoke at EMU for the Equality Knowledge Project Speaker Series.
According to a press release from university communications, Coston said that her findings have found that LGBT violence has gone down with higher visibility.
“The idea that pushing for equal rights will only increase the backlash against LGBT people has been a major barrier to progress,” Coston said in the release. “However, my research suggests that advancing these cases has no impact on the rate of hate crimes cases, or a positive impact in the case of same-sex marriage.”
The Equality Research Center will host their next speaker on such topics, Logan Casey, at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 18 in room 300 of the Student Center. Later in the semester, Courtney Caviness, from the University of California-Davis, will present on March 8 “Organizational Inequality and Placing of LGBTQ Sexual and Gender Identities Post-Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” and then Brandon Robinson from the University of Texas-Austin will present “OUTcasts: LGBTQ Homeless Youth Surviving in the South,” on April 14.
