radgoblin:

I just found out that Kitty Genovese, the woman whose murder is the most popular example of the bystander effect, was a lesbian who lived in the apartment complex with her girlfriend. 38 of her neighbors, some of whom had probably come to understand that the women weren’t just roommates, watched and listened as a man stabbed and raped her. I can’t help but wonder if their reluctance to help her was based in homophobia, believing that she deserved or even caused the attack due to her “deviant” lifestyle.

Being that it was the sixties, Kitty’s girlfriend, Mary Ann Zielonko, didn’t let on that they were more than roommates during the trial and interviews. She had to protect herself, and wanted to spare Kitty and her conservative catholic family’s reputations. She had to keep her grief to herself. Even other lesbians in the community were scared to be seen talking to her publicly for fear of somehow being outed because of how high profile the case was becoming.

I’ve heard about this case dozens of times and this is the very first time I’d ever heard about all this. Mary Ann Zielonko spoke out about their relationship in the early 2000s and still, this aspect of the case has been almost completely swept under the rug. My heart breaks for both of them.