Irish Examiner view: Rise in hate must be challenged

Evan Somers, after the appalling, and apparently homophobic, attack on him on the night-time city streets of Dublin. Picture: Evan Somers @ebintosh Twitter

The appalling, and apparently homophobic, attack which left a young man seriously injured on the night-time city streets of Dublin at the weekend is another worrying example of a latent and mindless rage in some sections of our society which is vulnerable to social media and exploitation by politicians around the world.

Evan Somers, 23, suffered a fractured eye socket, two fractures to his ankle, a dislocation of an ankle, and other minor injuries after the assault on Dame St, leading Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to tweet “shocked and appalled that an assault of this nature occurred in our capital city. Will discuss with Helen McEntee re Garda presence on our streets and new hate crime laws. Sorry about what happened. Wishing you a swift recovery.”

Mr Somers plays for the Emerald Warriors RFC, Ireland’s first LGBT+ inclusive rugby team, who said they were “devastated and shocked” by the assault on their team-mate. The club added that such incidents are not often reported and “it is time that hate crimes are looked at with harsh punishments to curb these horrific assaults on the LGBTQ+ community”.

If we look around the world, we can see more easy-going values, that sense of live and let live, are struggling to form the prevailing spirit of the times. Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and the ascendant French nationalist Marine Le Pen both espouse “traditional” views of family and sexuality. In Vladimir Putin, they have a role model who is not only ordering the deaths of thousands of innocent people but is also a vitriolic opponent of homosexuality. We can only imagine what life will be like in countries which fall under his control.

In the US, so long a beacon of freedom, truly worrying developments are taking place. 

With several states now restricting access to abortion, there is a similar assault on LGBTQ+ freedoms.

This started in Florida, where last month Republican governor Ron DeSantis signed off on the Parental Rights in Education Bill, known euphemistically as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. This outlaws discussion of sexuality and gender identity in schools, a move which critics say will “erase” LBGT+ students and their history.

Now more Republican states have copied the bill, and its tenets have been introduced or refiled in 39 of them over the past 14 months. In some cases, there are mandatory punishments for those found transgressing the rules. Among those supporting various forms of local legislation to gag classroom discussion are Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona, Tennessee, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.

The American Civil Liberties Union says: “Censoring classroom discussions won’t keep kids from being LGBTQ. It just piles on to the national pattern of attacks.”

“Piling on.” All democratic politicians must guard against that. Not to do so can lead to violence and death.