One night in 2003, on the wintry streets of Kosovo, a group of thugs stalked and beat Gramoz Prestreshi almost to death. Police in the war-scarred Balkan province laughed and called him names. The emergency room workers made him mop up his own blood. It was a sordid but hardly unusual episode in the hostile environment homosexuals encounter in societies of all kinds.
I am reminded again how much I don't understand the fear the creates such violence. Why are we wired to destroy those who are different? It can only come down to insecurity. Insecurity of one's own sexuality, manhood, social position. My college adviser used to say something like this:
There are three types of human beings. Those who don't try to build themselves up, those who work to build themselves up, and those who build themselves up by trampling on others. The third is the rat of the human race.
Of course, stories like the one above can happen anywhere, including here. It wasn't that long ago that a transvestite was beaten on the streets of DC and the ambulance crew, when they discovered her gender, teased and mocked her. Again -- enough fear and insecurity to lead humans trained in caring for others to abandon their compassion and treat someone as sub-human. I still don't get it.
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