News of yet another deadly shooting at a United States LGBTIQ+ nightclub has again brought hate crime to the forefront of public conversation.
This shocking incident coincides with an inquiry currently underway in Sydney examining some 88 suspected murders of LGBTIQ+ people in New South Wales between 1976 and 2010.
The stark difference between the NSW murders and the Colorado Springs attack is the suspect in Colorado can be charged and prosecuted under the state’s bias-motivated crime law amended last year. These crimes are defined as intimidation, harassment or physical harm that’s motivated at least partly by bias against a person’s race, religion, nationality, age, disability or sexual orientation.
