This guest column is written by Liam Mina.

Patreese Johnson. Renata Hill. Venice Brown. Terrain Dandridge. Chenese Loyal. Lania Daniels. Khamysha Coates. Ever heard of any of these women? I didn’t think so.

In the summer of 2006, seven young African-American lesbians from New Jersey were hanging out together. A man named Dwayne Buckle approached them and sexually propositioned Patreese. When she said she wasn’t interested, he began yelling insults and saying, “I’ll fuck you straight, sweetheart!”  

Then he began physically attacking them. He punched Venice in the face, spat in Renata’s face, threw a lit cigarette at her and began strangling her. In order to stop Buckle from strangling her friend, Patreese struck at the attacker’s arm with a small 99-cent steak knife. At that point, two men, one of whom had a knife, approached and assisted the women in fending off Buckle.  

The media coverage was blatantly homophobic, racist, sexist and classist, using criminalizing language and referring to the women as a “wolf pack” of “killer lesbians.” Despite video evidence and testimonies to the contrary, Buckle has been portrayed as the “victim” and the women were put on trial for attempted murder. Four of the women, known as the New Jersey 4, were sentenced to jail terms up to 11 years –– because they defended themselves.

When I was trying to decide on a topic for this article, I was told to write about gay marriage or adoption rights. But, quite frankly, I’m sick of the exclusive focus on marriage. Most people I know have never even heard of the New Jersey 4. Preferring to focus on Prop 8 and similar issues, we choose to ignore the negligent media reporting, police investigation and courtroom bias that went on in this case which, if left unchecked, promises to propagate even more violence targeting women and queer people.  

Equality is necessary, but the focus on marriage is misguided. Even if the women in the incident described above had the right to marry, they would not have been protected from attack. Even if a homeless transgender woman could get married to the person of her choosing, she could still be arrested for loitering on the streets. A same-sex couple living in poverty, even if they could get married, would still not have access to the medical care they need. Knowing that he can get married one day is of little comfort to the suicidal gay teenager whose parents have rejected him. Marriage may provide limited benefits to some, but for the people who need these benefits the most, it does nothing.

Where is the justice? Where is the outrage? Why do my fellow Whitman students tell me, “That’s so sad,” but then never think about these issues again? Why do even my LGBT brothers and sisters, who claim to want equality for all, refuse to pay attention and take action? Why are so many precious resources focused on marriage when so many queer people cannot even live their lives in safety?

Somebody answer those questions for me. Please.