[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The most viral YouTube videos include Antoine Dodson’s rant on security after his sister’s alleged rape, an adorable little boy repeatedly saying “Charlie bit my finger” after his baby brother bit him and Rebecca Black’s heinous attempt at stardom in her song “Friday.” For the YouTube community, the videos that boast the “viral” title are humorous and entertaining. For the LGBTQ community, the nature of viral videos are entirely different. They almost always depict violence, intolerance and rage, all of which are directed at an individual or group of individuals.
A new video has recently surfaced, and shows a homeless man, who has been identified as Rolan Reid, initiating a fight with a transgender woman. The video cuts off right before Reid throws a water bottle at the woman, and what occurred off-camera is absolutely horrifying. After Reid threw the water bottle at the transgender woman, he proceeded to push her onto the tracks of New York’s subway before running away. Bystanders quickly helped the woman off of the tracks, and fortunately no severe bodily harm was inflicted. Rolan Reid had been arrested 28 times prior to the subway attack, and his mental state has not yet been indicated, but even a mental illness would not diminish the severity of his actions. Reid had the intention of killing the woman when he pushed her onto the tracks, and that intention is what needs to be recognized in the video.
The amount of violence that is being inflicted on the LGBTQ community is rising, and the number of videos that depict hate crimes against the members is growing. Statistics and iPhone videos do not lie – this group of people is being put in danger because of intolerance and ignorance surrounding the LGBTQ community. Its members can feel it. According to Harris Interactive, a market research company, 54 percent of LGBT members say they are concerned about being the victim of a hate crime. More than one-half of people in this country who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are actually in fear for their lives. Based on the YouTube evidence, it is easy to see why.
One video of a transgender woman being attacked in a McDonald’s has almost 250,000 views on YouTube. The woman in the video, Chrissy Lee Polis, was brutally beaten by two teenagers — the aggressors were 14 and 19 years old. Another video of an LGBTQ hate crime at a barbecue restaurant has also gone viral, with over 400,000 views. In the video, a gay man, who has been identified as Jonathan Snipes, is pushed to the ground and beaten multiple times. Bystanders break apart the altercation and Snipes stands with his boyfriend some distance away from the aggressors. He is clearly not physically threatening them and actually has his back turned when one aggressor hurls a chair at him and his boyfriend. A heavy wooden chair hits them both in the head. Hard.
These two videos are very different – one victim is a transgender woman while the other is a gay man. Though they may be different, they both show the extremity of the intolerance towards the LGBTQ community. There are 14-year-old girls who are in juvenile detention for brutally beating an innocent woman. There are gay men who are being smashed in the head with wooden chairs. There are millions of human beings who fear for their lives when they go out in public.
The lack of intervention from bystanders is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these YouTube videos that depict the violence against LGBTQ individuals. During the attack of Polis, one woman tried to intervene and stop the fight, but was injured in doing so. The majority of the McDonald’s workers and bystanders did absolutely nothing. In fact, some snickered at the fighting and others warned the assailants to run before the police came to the scene. Same with the attack of Jonathan Snipes and his boyfriend. After the fight, friends of the victims tweeted at the restaurant that the fight had taken place, notifying the business about the assault. The business never responded to the tweets or made any attempt at reconciliation. The lack of protection and remorse that the LGBTQ community faces from others is borderline criminal. If someone is being beaten so badly that they have an epileptic seizure, are almost unconscious after having a chair chucked at their head, or almost die after being pushed on subway tracks, then the people around need to intervene. If you choose to do nothing because you fear your life is in danger, please think of the millions of individuals in the LGBTQ community who fear for their safety at all times.
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