Sarah Burris at RawStory has this article titled, "LGBT, NAACP and immigration activists powerful statement: You attack one of us, you attack us all"; an excerpt:
“While the crime has not yet been labeled a hate crime, more than 20
percent of hate crimes reported nationally in 2014 targeted people based
on their sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the most recent FBI statistics available,” The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said in a statement.
“Hate crimes based on sexual orientation currently account for 22 percent of all hate crimes in Florida, according to a report by Equality Florida,
trailing only race as the most common motivation. As a percentage of
the state population, LGBTQ Floridians are at the highest risk of being
targeted with a hate crime. Florida law provides increased penalties for hate crimes based on sexual orientation.”
Chad Griffin, president of the HRC, appeared along with Mara
Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality,
Janet Murguía, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza (NCLR),
Cornell Brooks, President, NAACP and Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Executive
Director, National Black Justice Coalition to denounce the violence and
demand the incident be labeled as a hate crime.