If the US criminal justice system gave out raffle tickets to see who would get arrested, lesbian and bisexual women would each get 4 tickets while the rest of us get only one. That's a raffle no one wants to win, and certainly not what the US Supreme Court claims in stone:

Former federal prosecutor, Arizona State University law professor, innocence litigator and founder of the West Virginia Innocence Project, Valeena Beety tells us why in “Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights”. 

Using the true story of her clients who were wrongly convicted on faulty forensic evidence, she shows how the case for Tami Vance and Leigh Stubbs was made much worse by homophobic police, prosecutors, witnesses, judges and jurors who believed that LGBTQ people were more likely and capable of committing criminal sexual assault. They followed their beliefs over the evidence, until Tami and Leigh were convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 44 years in prison, serving 11 years before being exonerated.

More recently, we still see LGBTQ bias like in this 2018 Florida Supreme Court case Patrick v. State upholding a conviction even though a juror stated “if I felt the person was a homosexual, I personally believe that person is morally depraved enough that he might lie, might steal, might kill”. Furthermore, “the juror said “yes” when asked if this bias might affect his deliberations." Unequal Justice Under Law.

Yet before we even get to the legal system, there’s another problem: LGBTQ youth.

Because they often lack support at home and in school, LGBTQ youth face homelessness, poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and violence. This too often brings them in close contact with law enforcement, so they end up twice more likely than cisgender youth to enter the juvenile justice system.

While Valeena and others work on legal reform, here’s businesses the rest of us can support:

• Soapwalla, Nina Berenato, and So Gay Rose send part of proceeds to The Trevor Project, whose counselors provide “24/7 information and support to LGBTQ young people all year round."
• The Mayfair Group supports one•n•ten which serves LGBTQ youth and young adults ages 11-24 with “social and service programs that promote self‐expression, self‐acceptance, leadership development, and healthy life choices."
• Lost-n-Found Youth Thrift Store is run by the Lost-n-Found Youth non-profit whose mission is to “end homelessness for all LGBTQ youth by providing them with the skills and support needed to live independently."

Know any more businesses like these? Suggest them to us here.

“Have you heard?” is our way of sharing another point of view on commonly held beliefs. Through this we hope to encourage curiosity, dialogue, and tolerance of diverse ideas.