(TIME-Warp) Remembering Paul Broussard's Brutal Murder, 29 years ago this Week!

Paul Broussard (1964–1991), a 27 year-old Houston-area banker and Texas A&M alumnus, was beaten and stabbed to death in a gay-bashing outside a Houston nightclub on July 4, 1991 by ten teenaged boys. The youths had driven from the northern Houston suburb of The Woodlands to the heavily gay area of Montrose solely to "beat up some queers," in the words of one of the convicted teens. 

All ten of Broussard's assailants were eventually convicted. Activist Ray Hill lobbied the prosecutor and District attorney for "meaningful sentences" for the Woodlands Ten.

CRISIS: LGBT Hate Crimes Rise 13%!

Despite recent breakthroughs in the fight for gay rights, violent hate crimes against the LGBT community are on the rise. Such crimes (committed against people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV positive status) were up 13% last year over 2009, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Of those crimes, 27 were homicides—an increase from 2009's count of 22, and the second-highest total since tracking began in 1996. The crimes include a 24-year-old woman allegedly killed by the disapproving father of her girlfriend, and a transgender student who had "It," an anti-transgender slur, carved into his chest. Of those murdered, 44% were transgender women and 70% were minorities, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

Coalition members say hate crimes tend to increase when LGBT civil rights issues are debated publicly. Says a spokesperson, "As we move forward toward full equality, we also have to be responsive and concerned with violence that may run alongside of it."

Trans Woman Beaten In San Francisco

San Francisco police and prosecutors said a transgender youth was the victim of a hate crime in a city known for tolerance and diversity.


The city's LGBT community plans to mobilize for a rally to call attention to the recent beating.

The 20-year-old transgender woman said she was attacked by two men near a food truck at the BART Plaza at 16th Street and Mission.

She asked KTVU San Francisco to conceal her identity and call her Mia.

She said it was 10 p.m. on a busy Friday night and she was verbally harassed by two men as she walked by.

She said one grabbed her smartphone, then beat her.
 
Amanda Byerly witnessed the attack, "I saw the moment where she was being punched in the face, very violently and very brutally."