|
Listen to this article here
|
The benevolent billionaire Tyler Perry is offering a reward of $100,000 to anyone who has information about the killing of a Black gay man in Grenada.
Perry said Wednesday on Instagram that the man, Josiah “Jonty” Robinson, 24, was “like a son” to Perry’s friend Yvette Noel-Schure, the celebrity publicist.
“My soul ached as she shared that he was a young, gifted singer who was murdered because he was gay,” Perry wrote in the post, which included several images of Robinson. “My mind immediately went to Mathew Shepard, and all the other victims of racist, homophobic, antisemitic, xenophobic, senseless violence.”
Perry did not elaborate on why he thinks Robinson was killed because of his sexuality. Noel-Schure did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Robinson’s body was found on a beach in St. George’s, Grenada, on June 18, according to the local newspaper The New Today Grenada. It reported that an autopsy found that Robinson had been strangled before he was thrown into the sea. It said police have questioned several people but have not had any breakthroughs.
Tyler Perry urged his followers to call local investigators in Grenada and shared their telephone number.
More anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in 2023 than any other year in the history of the United States.
Although estimates of just how many vary widely, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), an independent non-profit think tank, provided data to Rolling Stone projecting that more than 700 bills have been put forward in 2023 that seek to strip rights and protections from the LGBTQ community.
More than 75 of those bills ultimately passed, including limitations on trans youth athletes who wish to compete in school sports, and the first-ever laws restricting public performances of drag.
The vast majority of bills passed in the 2023 legislative session target trans youth: 15 states have enacted restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for trans minors under the age of 18, including Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, and West Virginia.
The focus on trans children marks a drastic change in subject matter from just eight years ago, back when the number of bills aimed at the LGBTQ community first began to rise. At the time, 177 anti-LGBTQ bills were put forward and 15 ultimately became law, according to MAP’s research.
At the time, most of these statutes were “religious freedom” laws introduced in response to same-sex couples fighting for their right to marry.