Candles lie on a rainbow flag draped with a black ribbon during a vigil in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday.Josep Lago/AFP / Getty Images
The prevalence of hate crimes in Canada is decreasing, according to the latest statistics, with one notable exception: Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation remain as high as ever.
As well, the most recent Statistics Canada analysis, from 2013, finds homosexuals are far more likely to be physically attacked than ethnic or religious minorities. The picture in other countries is similarly depressing. The United Kingdom saw a huge spike in homophobic attacks in 2014-15. The United States saw an increase in attacks on gays and lesbians last year after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage.
This is the backdrop against which we mourn the murders of 49 people at Pulse, a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, popular in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.
Much will be said in the coming days and weeks about gun control, Islamic extremism and other important issues, but the target in this case matters greatly. This was one of the worst mass murders of gays and lesbians in history, if not the worst.
The scale of the carnage is shocking, but the sentiment behind it is all too familiar. Members of the LBGT community around the world have been relentlessly, ruthlessly and brutally attacked for centuries. Being gay remains a crime in more than 75 countries. It is a capital offence in as many as 13.
Many Western jurisdictions have enshrined equal rights and legalized same-sex marriage, but these increased freedoms don't automatically mean everything is getting better. In fact, it appears to have provoked a savage backlash.
Mainstream public figures in Western democracies – including ours, but especially in the U.S. – routinely propagate anti-gay sentiment, usually framing it as a question of religious freedom.
It isn't an accident that the weekend attack took place during Pride Month – a celebration of sexual diversity initially proclaimed after another incident where gays were viciously targeted, at New York City's Stonewall Inn in 1969.
As a society, we have an obligation to protect those who are discriminated against for their sexuality. The killing of 49 people and wounding of 53 others in Orlando is a reminder that homosexuals are still one of the world's most persecuted minorities, and that we still have a lot of work to do.