On this date in 1988 in West Des Moines, Iowa, Franklin Kennedy "Ken" Eaton, Jr. (Date of Birth: March 28, 1946)—a gay white English, Speech and Drama teacher at the Brody Middle School in Des Moines—was murdered because of his sexual orientation in his apartment while his 17-year-old daughter slept in the next room. Mr. Eaton, 41, was beaten, had his faced sliced, and was stabbed to death by two white men—Billy Green, 20, and Gary Titus, 19—and then robbed. Green and Titus were convicted of the first-degree murder of Mr. Eaton, and both killers were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. To learn more about Mr. Eaton and to help a victim of a violent crime, visit the Ken Eaton Foundation, a non-profit organization started by Mr. Eaton's daughter, Jennifer. Mr. Eaton's murder is one of many hate crimes that occurred prior to the passage of hate crime legislation in America.

On this date in 2007 in Detroit, Michigan, Andrew Anthos said he was attacked (four days after his 72nd birthday) with a metal pipe in front of his Windsor Tower apartment building after a man accosted him on a city bus, asked him if he was gay, and then proceeded to call him derogatory names before following him off the bus and attacking him. Anthos provided an account of the alleged attack to police, which left him paralyzed from the neck down, before he fell into a coma. Doctors at the Detroit Receiving Hospital performed emergency spinal surgery but were unable to reverse the paralysis. Anthos, who was gay and who was on his way home from the Detroit Public Library at the time of his reported attack, died ten days later. Detroit Police Sgt. Ryan Lovier had said police were investigating the claimed attack, which they initially said was a hate crime. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Anthos, Dr. Carl Schmidt, found no evidence of an attack, however. He concluded Anthos died of natural causes—namely, respiratory failure ultimately caused by an arthritic spine—noting Anthos had degenerative spinal disease.

In Oxnard, California, on this date in 2008, Lawrence King, 15, an eighth grade student at the E.O. Green Junior High School and under the care of the county foster care system, was pronounced brain-dead after being shot in the back of the head on February 12, 2008. The shooter, a 14-year-old eighth-grade classmate of King's who authorities charged as an adult with first-degree murder, Brandon David McInerney (Date of Birth: January 24, 1994), is alleged to have shot King execution style because of King's sexual orientation and because he sometimes wore women's jewelry and make-up to school. Students at the school reported that Lawrence King, who at the time of the shooting attack resided at Casa Pacifica, a center for abused and neglected children in Camarillo, was often taunted and teased because he had said he was gay and because of his wearing jewelry and makeup. California laws permit someone to be charged with murder when the victim is declared brain-dead, and for teenage defendants to be charged as adults at the age of 14. King later died. McInerney turned 14 years old on January 24, 2008, less than a month before King’s murder, and on August 7, 2008, McInerney pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder with a hate crime enhancement. In December 2008, Brandon McInerney's defense attorney refused the prosecution's plea bargain offer to a reduced charge with a 25 years to life sentence. He faces 53 years to life in prison if convicted, plus another one- to three-year prison sentence for the hate crime enhancement. After unsuccessfully attempting to have the trial in Ventura, California, and Van Nuys, California, jury selection began on June 20, 2011, and McInerney's trial began on July 5, 2011, in Chatsworth, California. While Brandon D. McInerney awaited trial, his physically abusive and crystal methamphetamine smoking father, 45-year-old Bill McInerney, died suddenly on March 19, 2009. The two-month long trial ended when on September 1, 2011, Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell declared a mistrial after the nine-woman, three-man jury could not decide on the degree of guilt. Seven members of the jury were in favor of a voluntary manslaughter conviction, while five others supported either first-degree or second-degree murder. At trial it was revealed that at least six witnesses had heard McInerney make threats against Lawrence King in the days prior to the murder. On October 5, 2011, Ventura County California prosecutors announced McInerney would be retried on a murder charge as an adult, but that they would drop the hate crime enhancement against him. A special allegation of use of a handgun, and a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait were both added to his murder charge. McInerney, however, did not have a second trial. Instead, on November 21, 2011, McInerney, 17, pled guilty to second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter and use of a firearm. He was subsequently sentenced to 21 years in state prison, and he was held in a juvenile detention center until he turns 18 years old; then, Brandon McInerney will be transfered to an adult prison.

On this date in 2011 in San Francisco, California, Antonio K. Herico, 21, of San Francisco, and Pio Alexander Garcia, 21, also from San Francisco, were arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, felony vandalism, battery, trespassing, and criminal threats, for allegedly becoming involved in an attack that involved homophobic slurs on a 51-year-old gay businessman outside his business on the 2200 block of Market Street in the Castro section of the city. The pair are also alleged to have vandalized the businessman's store. Following their arrests, Herico and Garcia were taken to the San Francisco County Jail, according to the San Francisco Sheriff's Department. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office asserted Herico and Garcia committed the assault because the victim was perceived to be gay. Herico was charged with assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and burglary. Garcia was charged with assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, burglary, and vandalism. On February 16, 2011, Antonio Herico and Pio Garcia both pleaded not guilty; their next court appearance is scheduled for March 2, 2011 in San Francisco Superior Court.

The St. James Baptist Church in Lafayette, Louisiana on this date in 2011 was spray-painted with racial slurs and derogatory remarks and on February 26, 2011, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and School on Surrey Street in Lafayette was similarly attacked (threatening notes were also left at the churches). At the Catholic church these words of hate were spray-painted: "Nigger Apes Die," and "We hate y'all," and the church's four outside walls, sidewalks, covered walkway roof, doors, steps and benches were all spray-painted, including a sign above a rose garden that read "IHM: Building God's kingdom through faith and knowledge" which was covered with slurs. On the same date as the attack on the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church and School, a black man, Brian Toriano Crimiel, 33, of Lafayette, was arrested and charged with hate crimes, obstruction of justice, criminal damage to property with graffiti, possession of marijuana, communication of false information of planned arson, and felon in possession of a firearm for his alleged role in the church vandalisms. A search of Crimiel's home uncovered two cans of spray-paint, bags of marijuana, and a Winchester .12-gauge shotgun and a Stevens Little Scout .22-caliber rifle. Brian T. Crimiel has a previous criminal history: he was arrested and charged on January 3, 2007, with first-degree murder for the December 31, 2006, death of his girlfriend's 8-month-old baby daughter, Harmony Rose Ritchey. On April 18, 2007, a grand jury indicted Crimiel with first-degree murder, and in March 2008 Crimiel pled guilty to negligent homicide for which he was sentenced to five years in jail.

On this date in 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona, Latino civil rights activist David Valdez—then-president of Take Back Aztlán—was attacked outside his home allegedly by three white men in their twenties who hurled racial slurs at him. Mr. Valdez suffered a broken arm, two broken ribs, a broken nose, and a punctured lung, and to our knowledge no arrests were made in this brutal race-based assault.