Gun violence disproportionately affects the LGBT+ community, says shock report released on anniversary of Pulse nightclub shooting
A memorial service for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shootings in 2016 (Drew Angerer/Getty)
Three in four trans murders in the United States involve a gun, a shocking new report released on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting has revealed.
The report was released Friday (June 12) by the Human Rights Campaign, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, Giffords Law Center and Equality Florida to highlight the impact of gun violence on the LGBT+ community.
Titled “Remembering and Honoring Pulse: Anti-LGBTQ Bias and Guns are Taking Lives of Countless LGBTQ People”, the report shows that more than 10,000 hate crimes perpetrated in the US each year involve guns.
The report also found that three in every four murders of trans people since 2013 have involved a gun, while eight in 10 murders of Black trans women were perpetrated using firearms.
Worryingly, the report also shows that there was a 43 per cent increase in the formation of anti-LGBT+ hate groups last year, confirming what many queer people already knew: that our community is being hunted.
Gun violence disproportionately affects LGBT+ people, says report released on fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said gun safety is an LGBT+ issue in response to the findings.
“From the tragedy at Pulse nightclub four years ago, to the dozens of transgender and gender non-conforming people killed by firearms over the last decade, our community is under attack and needs reform to improve our well-being,” he said.
“This report outlines the problem at hand and provides strong recommendations for helping build a better, safer future for our community, one that is free from gun violence.”
Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, said the report makes it clear that gun violence disproportionately affects minorities, “especially Black transgender women”.
We must confront America’s epidemic of gun violence by changing the policies that put weapons of war in civilian’s hands, enabling mass casualties in mere seconds.
“The massacre at Pulse nightclub centred the inescapable reality of gun violence on the LGBTQ community,” Smith said.
“The tragedy compelled the LGBTQ community to honour with actions those 49 lives lost.
“Our commitment to action does not end with uprooting the hatred displayed four years ago. We must confront America’s epidemic of gun violence by changing the policies that put weapons of war in civilian’s hands, enabling mass casualties in mere seconds.”
Four years ago on June 12, 49 people were killed and another 53 were wounded when an armed man opened fire in a popular queer club in Orlando.
At the time, it was the worst mass-shooting in US history.
It remains the single worst mass killing of LGBT+ people in American history.
