Fridae

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has compiled 15 documented cases of killings and rapes of lesbians; and demands an immediate police investigation into the pattern of the violent murders.

With 103 suspected anti-LGBT hate crime deaths since 1996 including 28 cases during the first half of 2011 alone, the Philippine LGBT Hate Crime Watch has embarked on a public campaign to call for more awareness and legislative change. Fridae speaks to researcher Marlon Lacsamana to find out more.

Nine members of a street gang grabbed two 17-year-old boys and lured a 30-year-old man, who is romantically linked to the two teens, to an abandoned house where they brutally tortured and sexually abused their victims.

President Barack Obama has signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - named after victims of two brutal 1998 murders: Shepard, a 21-year-old gay Wyoming college student and Byrd, a black man dragged to his death - on Oct 28.

‘’The more visibility there is, the more likely we're going to see backlash…” said the executive director of a US watchdog group that recorded 29 bias-related killings last year, along with an increase in the severity of violence perpetuated towards LGBTs.

A shocking report by ActionAid has revealed that not only lesbian women in South Africa are being raped by men who believe it will "cure" them of their sexual orientation, the crimes have gone unrecognised by the state and unpunished by the legal system.

The fatal shooting of a 15-year-old student in Southern California school has been classified as a hate crime as the victim had come out as gay and sometimes wore makeup and feminine jewellery in school.