The Fighter [with statistics]

This scene depicts an act of homophobic violence.  The importance of knowing how to defend yourself is increasingly important for LGBTQIA+ individuals today because anti-LGBTQ violence is on the rise.  In the US alone, there were more than 350 such incidents within 11 months between June 2022 and April 2023.  That's basically one every day.  I've provided statistics links below, including regarding lethal attacks.  I strongly recommend taking quality self-defense classes so that we may safely continue to live out our lives without being bullied into submission.  Please don't become a statistic.  Stay safe out there, and don't stop being yourself.

To artistically represent how such statistics are based on real people, I made this piece using the GIMP newsprint tool (free).  I used a circular erasing gradient to selectively give the edges a subtle newsprint effect while focusing on the realism of the people shown in the center.  Fights are messy, but I hope that the people most at risk can learn better form than the men depicted here.

You can click on the image to open it in 8k and see the newsprint effect better.  To try out this gradient effect yourself, you can watch the demo I made for you here:

 

The bird depicted is a white goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae).  I've made this free to download in 8k because of the importance of its subject matter.

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Anti-LGBTQ Statistics: