THE VISIBILITY TAPES: Exposing Antigay Violence In America

“What is the most important thing our society needs to know about antigay violence?” - Stephen Grant

“That it’s happening.” - Shelby Chestnut, New York Anti-Violence Project

In Greenwich Village, a gay man is shot in the head at point-blank range. Outside an abandoned apartment building, a lesbian is assaulted and gang raped. At a house party, a transgender woman is beaten and strangled by four men. After repeated bullying in his local school, a 15-year-old boy hangs himself. Three Iowa Supreme Court judges are voted off the bench after ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. A lawyer in California submits a ballot initiative, "The Sodomite Supression Act," which calls for shooting gays in the head. And in Oregon, a mother tortures and beats her 4-year-old son to death because he “walks and talks in a homosexual way.”

The FBI now ranks sexual minorities as the second-highest targeted group for violent bias-motivated hate crimes in America. The Southern Poverty Law Center, in its analysis of more than 14 years of statistical surveys, reports that LGBT people are more likely to be victims of bias violence than any other social minority.

With such staggering statistics, how do the majority of these violent crimes against LGBT Americans escape public attention?

The Visibility Tapes: Exposing Antigay Violence in America seeks to reveal the emotions, behaviors and consequences of antigay attitudes and violence in America. Experts discuss the underlying foundations of heterosexism and homophobia and how they work with oppression and sexual stigma to fuel violence against gays and lesbians. The series profiles the lives of people impacted by antigay violence; whose intimate and personal stories may offer hope for change.