With numerous suicides of and attacks against LGBT people in the news lately, one might think this is a new trend.

Warren Blumenfeld, associate professor in curriculum and instruction, says otherwise.

“I think that what is going on with the suicides of the five young men is just a testament to the systemic homophobia that engulfs our society, even today in 2010,” he said.

Blumenfeld recently made a trip to Congress, presenting statistics and facts showing that many students of the LGBT community are victims of harassment on campuses across the nation.

“I think we have to continually keep LGBT issues in the public consciousness, because we only hear of some of these tragic events about every 10 years when there is one high visibility event, and then there is a collective memory loss, and then 10 years later we hear about it again,” Blumenfeld said.

Tyler Clementi was one of those victims of harassment, and more.

Clementi was a musician and student attending Rutgers University. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, secretly filmed Clementi via webcam having intimate relations.

Clementi leapt to his death off the George Washington Bridge, into the Hudson River, three days after being broadcast across the Internet.

Molly Wei and Ravi now face up to five years in prison for invasion of privacy.

“In 1998, we heard about the tragic murder of Matthew Shepard,” Blumenfeld said. “We haven’t heard too much, but there has been at least 150 to 200 murders of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people since Matthew Shepard.”

Shepard was the victim of two students at the University of Wyoming in 1998. Shepard was brutally beaten because of his sexual orientation and eventually died in a hospital from head injuries.

Iowa is 1 of 19 states that have anti-discrimination laws in place to protect LGBT people.

Iowa State had policies in place to protect students even before the state of Iowa did, but there are those who say there is still work to be done.

Blumenfeld believes LGBT issues, history and events need to be incorporated throughout education, so people are more knowledgeable about the topics. Less harassment will happen if more people fully understand the issues at hand, he said.

“When students have to hear some less-than-positive words, we really want to change that culture and to let people know that bullying, harassment and discrimination are not tolerated at Iowa State,” said Brad Freihoefer, coordinator of the LGBT Student Services at Iowa State.

There are some issues on campus Blumenfeld believes could be fixed tomorrow if people put their minds to it.

Blumenfeld said something as simple as not having gender-neutral bathrooms and living spaces for transgender students across campus can be harmful, or at least inconvenient, for students who don’t identify with a masculine or feminine gender norm.

“We want this to be a safe place for all students,” Freihoefer said. “With that Rutgers University story, and frankly all the acts of violence, we want to end any of that. We want this to be a safe and welcoming place for all people.