Alleged anti-gay attack in Alabama

Mallory Owens, an Alabama 23-year-old lesbian, was brutally assaulted on Thanksgiving day by Travis Hawkins Jr., the brother of her girlfriend Ally Hawkins. Owens has been released from the hospital after being treated for major injuries and Hawkins has been arrested and charged with second degree assault. Owens’ mother believes the attack was because her daughter is gay and thinks Hawkins should be charged with a hate crime.

Alabama doesn’t have hate crime protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Task Force has been a leader in the effort to secure an effective and full government response to hate crimes against LGBT people in the United States, beginning with the launch of our groundbreaking anti-violence project in 1982, to fighting to ensure that “gender identity” was added to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act before it passed in 2009, and working to implement the law today. .

Since the federal bill passed, we have worked closely with the FBI to ensure that anti-LGBT hate crimes are properly tracked, as well as to develop training materials for law enforcement nationally on how to properly identify and respond to anti-LGBT hate crimes.

Mallory Owens reportedly lacks health insurance — learn more about a fund to help pay her hospital bills here.