There is officially no federal hate crime protection for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people in the United States. However, LGBT people are often times met with violence and hate from society at large. Sean Kennedy, a twenty year old from Greenville, South Carolina, learned this truth the hard way. Mr. Kennedy was punched in the face by an eighteen-year-old boy who was heard yelling homophobic slurs before he, ultimately, killed Mr. Kennedy. The death of Sean Kennedy has sparked a political interest in getting South Carolina to add violence against the LGBT community as a hate crime. Hate crime legislation would allow the judicial system to punish criminals who attacked LGBT people more harshly. Hate crime legislation would also grant victims, like Sean Kennedy, and their families proper justice

Recently the European Human Rights Court ruled that the banning of gay pride 2007 in Warsaw, Poland by the president of Poland went against the human rights pack made by the country. Although feelings toward sexual minorities in Poland are typically positive,the current president of Poland, Lech Kaczyski, disagrees with the liberal majority in relation to LGBT acceptance.
After the ruling by the European Human Rights Court, Mr. Kaczyski might want to consider sitting down with LGBT groups and a neutral third party to mediate a working relationship between the LGBT community and his government.
To read more go to: http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=123&id=14509