January 1, 2008
The year in hate.
According to the FBI:
In 2006, law enforcement agencies reported 1,415 hate crime offenses based on sexual- orientation bias. Of these offenses:
62.3 percent were classified as anti-male homosexual biased.
20.7 percent were classified as anti-homosexual biased.
13.6 percent were classified as anti-female homosexual biased.
2.0 percent were classified as anti-heterosexual biased.
1.5 percent were classified as anti-bisexual biased. (Based on Table 1.)
It will be some time before we have the FBI statistics for 2007 but I have a feeling that the numbers will be higher based on what I’ve seen in the news. Just from what I’ve seen online I’m overwhelmed at the level of hatred directed at LGBT people–and that only includes the reported crimes. We know a great number of hate-crimes go unreported for a variety of reasons so what we see in the news and FBI statistics is only a portion of what is really going on.
Here is a small sampling of the hate-crimes directed at United States LGBTs 2007, in no particular order:
Erica Keel (1986 - March 21, 2007) was a 21-year-old African American transgender woman in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On March 21, 2007 she was killed in what police classified as a hit-and-run accident but witnesses claimed was homicide.
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Witnesses and friends of Keel refute that Keel’s death was accidental. Keel was engaged in sex work at the time, and witnesses claimed to have seen Keel enter the car at Broad Street and Girard Avenue. The car then headed North one block, where witnesses say the driver ejected Keel from the car, and ran over her four times as she lay in the street. Lt. Hearn said Keel’s multiple injuries were due to landing on a parked car and hitting a fire hydrant before landing on the pavement.
DETROIT — Andrew Anthos was a private, gentle man whose twin passions to support military veterans and public transportation earned him a reputation for community service.
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Anthos, 72, died at 7:27 p.m. Friday at Detroit Receiving Hospital, 10 days after police say an unidentified man struck him on the left side of the head with a metal pipe and left him for dead.
Detroit police, who are still looking for the assailant, have classified the incident as a hate crime because the attacker repeatedly shouted slurs at Anthos. Michigan does not have a specific hate crime law.
Alfred Dibble, a gay man who often dressed as a woman, was found beaten, unconscious, and dressed in women’s clothing in downtown Stockton, AZ, on May 19, 2007. He was taken to a local hospital where he died without regaining consciousness on May 23. The Dibble family, joined by anti-violence organizations, asked that his murder be treated as a hate crime.
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The CUAV reported that police have not classified Dibble’s murder as a hate crime due to lack of evidence.
Officer Pete Smith of the Stockton Police Department said that investigators have little evidence, no suspects, and little evidence that leads them to classify the murder as a hate crime.
Thalia Mosqueda, a transgender woman, was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Daytona, FL, nightclub on July 29, 2007, and died soon after. Her killer, Cesar Villazano, said he became enraged when Mosqeuda made sexual advances toward him.
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Mosqueda encountered Cesar Villazano at Garibadli (a restaurant) when, according to Wesley Rosser, a friend Mosqueda’s, Viillazano was trying to persuade a drag queen at the club to go with him in his car. When she refused, he pulled her hair and tried to force her into the car.
The shooting occurred when Mosqueda intervened, saying to Villazano, “Leave her alone. Can’t you see she doesn’t want to be with you? Villazano argued with Mosqueda before pulling a gun, firing two shots in the air, and then fired a shot at Mosqueda, striking her in the head.
A 15-year-old gay Centennial High School student was taunted and attacked by six classmates last week because of his sexual orientation.
The victim was undergoing surgery for a broken nose and facial injuries today, according to the Gay, Lesbian and Gay Alliance.
The incident happened last Thursday afternoon, when Anthony Hergesheimer was walking home from Centennial High School along Denver Boulevard, the organization said. Six male students, ages 15 and 16, in a vehicle apparently passed by Hergesheimer several times before they stopped and hurled anti-gay insults at him.
The victim of a recent assault has characterized the brutal attack as homophobic, and said his two assailants uttered anti-gay epithets while beating him inside his downtown Missoula apartment.
“They literally left me hogtied on the floor to die, and I’m sure the fact that I’m gay made it easier for them to do it,” said Stevenpaul Richey, 51, who spent nine days in the hospital with a collapsed lung and numerous other injuries following the May 8 assault.
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“They spent the first two days just trying to keep me alive,” Richey said Tuesday. “My head was so swollen I couldn’t get my glasses on.”
A gay man was beaten in San Francisco’s South of Market District Friday, May 18 around 11:30 p.m. while walking down Harrison Street from the Lone Star Saloon toward the Eagle Tavern.
Michael Benda, 45, a freelance graphic designer who lives in the Castro, told the Bay Area Reporter that he was walking alone on Harrison near 10th Street when two guys jumped him. According to Benda, one man punched him in his left eye while a second man laughed. Benda fell to the ground, where the second man proceeded to kick him in the chest and stomach.
“This was like a sport or something for them,” said Benda. “There was no confrontation.”
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Benda told the B.A.R. that the two men then walked across the street to their car, which was parked near Costco and when they drove away “they smiled and waved” at him as they left. …
A gay black man who teaches at a local high school is recovering from three knife injuries he sustained after being stabbed at a Mission taqueria earlier this month.
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Sergeant Steve Mannina, of the San Francisco Police Department’s public affairs office, told the Bay Area Reporter on May 29 that police officers arrested Lyced Yvette Segovia, 24, a Latina from San Francisco, on one count of assault with a deadly weapon at Taqueria Cancun at 3211 Mission Street.
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Frazier told the B.A.R. that while they were eating they heard Segovia begin to yell racial slurs at two other people. He turned around to find out what was happening.
. . .
He told the B.A.R. that Segovia then noticed Frazier’s group and began to verbally and physically assault them.
Mannina said that according to the police report, Segovia allegedly “did make anti-gay slurs and also racial slurs” during the incident. …
Satendar Singh (July 21, 1980 - July 1, 2007), a gay man of Fijian descent, was attacked on July 1, 2007, while socializing with friends in Natoma Lake state park, near Sacramento, CA. Singh was punched by a man from another group in the park that had made racist and homophobic comments to Singh’s group. Singh fell backwards, hit his head, and lapsed into a coma. Singh died of his injuries four days later when his family removed him from life support.
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Around 8:00 p.m., Singh’s group was leaving the area when some of th men from the Russian group confronted them. in the parking lot.6) A friend of Singh’s, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, said the confrontation began when two members of their group returned from a nearby bathroom when two men from the Russian group “saying something” to them.
The men were angry that two of the men in Singh’s group allegedly kissed each other, and they demanded an apology. Singh’s friends denied anyone kissed and refused to apologize. That, they said is when the homophobic and racist taunts – such as “Sodomites” and “7-11” – began. One of the men threatened them, saying, “If there weren’t any park rangers here you’d see what I would do, we’re waiting for you.
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One of the Russian men then threw a beer into the face of a member of Singh’s group, and then “sucker punched” Singh. As Singh fell to the pavement, the two men ran away. Singh struck his head on a concrete sidewalk when he fell.
Three Lowell (MA) teenagers are scheduled to be arraigned this morning, charged in an alleged gay-bashing in which a man was taunted and beaten, according to Lowell police and the Middlesex district attorney’s office.
The alleged assailants saw the man in a residential neighborhood at about 3 a.m. on Friday, and used anti gay slurs before beating him, authorities said.
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The three men, Jonathan Artis, Jeffrey Buchanan, and Jules Rugges, all age 19, face three charges: violation of constitutional rights with bodily injury, assault and battery, and mayhem.
On August 4, 2007, Michael Wrenn, 47, and his friend Aaron Hudy were assaulted in Seattle, Washington, after Wrenn answered affirmatively when their attacker asked if they were gay. The policeman on the scene did not report the incident as a hate crime.
Warren and Hudy were walking home from Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood around midnight on August 4. Walking down the 2200 block of First Avenue, they passed a group of six men, one of whom was urinating. One of the men in the group offered Hudy $20 to tell the man who was urinating that he had a “red-fox penis,” meant to be a comment on his penis size. Hudy declined, and he and Wrenn continued walking.
The man who had been urinating stopped and approached Wrenn and Hudy and asked, “What are you guys, fags?” When Wrenn answered “Yeah. I’m gay. What’s your problem,” the man shoved Hudy aside, pushed Wrenn to the ground and began punching him.
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After the attack, Wrenn and Hudy spoke to the policeman on the scene, and explained to him that they believed the attack was a hate crime, motivated by Wrenn’s sexual orientation. The police office did not get out of his car during the interview. When Wrenn emphasized that the only reason he was attacked was his sexual orientation, the officer responded that to him that being gay “is your issue.”
A Brooklyn, N.Y., teenager has been indicted on murder charges for fatally stabbing a man because he was gay, Kings County prosecutors said Thursday.
Roberto Duncanson ,20, also of Brooklyn, died soon after the May 12 attack.
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Willock and Duncanson passed each other on St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights, and Willock became enraged, accusing Duncanson of looking at him, prosecutors said in a written statement. Duncanson continued walking to a friend’s house as Willock shouted antigay remarks. It’s unclear how Willock knew Duncanson was gay, prosecutors told the New York Daily News.
On his way home Duncanson again passed Willock, and Willock again berated him for his sexual orientation. Duncanson tried to walk away, but Willock came after him, first with his fists and then with a knife. …
Two Seattle men accused of threatening a group of gay men with a knife pleaded not guilty Monday to a hate-crime charge.
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According to police statements, Bell and Davis confronted three men at a Capitol Hill Jack in the Box restaurant about 2 a.m. June 20.
Bell and Davis approached the victims’ car, which was parked in the drive-through lane, police said. Bell, who had drawn a folding knife, yelled profanity at the men and inquired about their sexual preferences, they said.
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Charges have yet to be filed in another anti-gay attack in the area.
On June 10, a 25-year-old man who had been walking in the 700 block of East Pike Street was beaten by a group of five to seven men.
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The attacks do not appear to be related, as the descriptions given of the assailants in both cases are different.
Local police are investigating three incidents this summer as possible hate crimes aimed at gay men.
Off-Cape resident Richard Hall, a gay man, was allegedly assaulted at around 12:45 a.m. on Sept. 10 near Court and Commercial streets after being called a “faggot.”
A second gay man, Daniel Coburn, 42, of East Hartford, Conn., has told police he and others were called “faggots” by a young man on June 30, also near Court and Commercial streets. The alleged perpetrator also pushed other people, threatened Coburn and threw rocks at others, according to Coburn.
In the third incident under police scrutiny, two gay men were allegedly hit with bikes in late August by a group of local youths, Provincetown (MA) police Sgt. Carrie Lopes said.
WASHINGTON — A hate crime investigation is under way in the District after a man left a gay-friendly bar in the District and was beaten by a group of young men, authorities said.
It was the third time this month that someone has been attacked based on their sexual orientation. News4’s Michael Flynn reported that while the victim of this latest attack was beaten, his attackers used anti-gay slurs.
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Police said the victim was hit in the back of the head with something. He suffered cuts and bruises. He was treated and released from a local hospital.
A gay Idaho man has said he will sue the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office if his complaints of anti-gay harassment continue not to be addressed.
Chukk Nielson said that he, his partner, and their son don’t feel safe. Ever since moving into their home in the town of Ammon two years ago, they’ve been targeted with vandalism and other forms of harassment, according to a news report posted online today by KIDK, an area station.
Said Neilson, “We got egged, a deer [head] put into our mailbox, spray painted with words ’fag,’ ’queer,’ [and] toilet papered with human feces wrapped in it, thrown up against our house.”
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According to Neilson, he’s had police at his home a dozen times to investigate various incidents over the last two years. Neilson also said he and his family had made three calls just this past weekend. …
John Lavasser, of Colebrook, said that he was targeted by two men in July because he is gay. He said he didn’t know his attackers, but he believes they knew him. He grew up in Colebrook, and he said people in the community know he is gay.
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Prosecutors said Lavasser was beaten in his car by Sheane Eldritch, 23, and Thomas Baker, 20.
“As they were walking away, witnesses heard them bragging about it, saying, ‘I’m gonna kill that fag,’” Coos County Assistant Attorney Keith Clouatre said.
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Lavasser’s partner, Ron Sayres, arrived moments after the men fled and said he was stunned by what he saw. …
Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced that Phillip Anderton Cooney was arrested for the Sept. 9 attack in the 1400 block of 36th Street Northwest. The 19-year-old student from Texas is charged with assaulting the victim while yelling homophobic slurs.
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“The victim said he was walking by a party that was dispersing and two men started following him and yelling homophobic epithets, “D.C. Police Lt. Alberto Jova said. “One of the males approached him and started punching him with closed fists about the face. The victim in this case suffered cuts and bruises to his face and a broken thumb.”
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“The victim said he made it a point to etch the suspect’s face in his mind and remember him,” Jova said. “Because of that he was able to give a very positive identification.”
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“We are all completely shocked,” Pat Depoy said. “Phil is one of the nicest and most gentle people that we know at this school. He’s one of our best friends. We’re just completely blown away by these accusations.”
Somerville police last week were investigating an alleged hate crime and possible police error after outcry from a gay-rights group.
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A man allegedly started taunting Daloia and her group of six friends earlier in the evening at the On the Hill Tavern in Magoun Square. Gorton said the same man then confronted several of the women at a Dunkin’ Donuts, saying, “You’re a [expletive] lesbian” and the like while his sister flashed her breasts.
Daloia was knocked unconscious, Gorton said; her friends, he added, received “bruises all over their faces and parts of their bodies.” Daloia has been experiencing post-traumatic stress since the incident, he continued. She now fears for her safety and no longer wants to talk to the press.
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According to Upton, “as soon as the chief of police became aware of this allegation, he ordered simultaneous investigations” to determine whether the incident was a hate crime and whether the police acted appropriately. He added that the man was not arrested because he left before police arrived.
NBC5’s Anthony Ponce talked with Marc Loveless, who is leading a group of gay and lesbian community organizations calling for police to investigate the two deaths as hate crimes.
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The community organizations called their own alert in response to the deaths of Larry Bland, on Nov. 17, and Donald Young, on Dec. 23, according to a news release.
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Lynn Bland said he thinks his brother’s death outside the family home started as a robbery but turned into a hate crime.
“He was the only guy in Englewood that came out. He’d tell you, ‘I’m gay, your point is?’” Lynn Bland said.
A Cicero (IL) man angry about an alleged homosexual advance raped the man he claimed propositioned him, and then sodomized him with a broomstick, officials said.
Felipe Rivera, 43, is charged with a hate crime as well as aggravated criminal sexual assault and other offenses, said a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. If convicted, he could face more than 30 years in prison, a source said.
…..“Mr. Rivera got upset apparently because he believed the victim, No. 1, didn’t respond to a female and then, No. 2, somehow winked at him — made what he perceived as a sexual advance,” said Cicero police spokesman Dan Proft.
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Rivera followed the victim to the outer staircase of a basement apartment, where he removed the victim’s pants and raped him, authorities said. Afterward, Rivera punched the victim in the head, leaving him semi-conscious, then inserted a metal broom handle in the victim’s rectum, sources said.
According to a Metro press release issued on Friday, Dec. 28, Metro Transit Police arrested Tarus Stroddard, 18, from Oxon Hill, Md., and four juvenile residents of D.C., each charged with ”robbery, force and violence.”
Nathaniel Salerno was badly beaten during a late-night ride home from Dupont Circle in a mugging that quickly escalated into an apparent hate crime, as his attackers shouted anti-gay slurs as they beat him. Salerno, who lives in Capitol Hill, said Dec. 27 that he has fully recovered physically, though he is planning to participate in a counseling program for victims of violent crimes.
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A trial will determine if the men are charged with a hate crime. ”We will bring all the information to the state’s attorney and they can add a charge if they want,” says Farbstein. ”We will give them all the facts that we have and they take it to a grand jury.”
Now if you’re daunted after wading through all of that here’s a sobering thought; that is but a tiny fraction of the hate-crimes committed against the LGBT population in the US during 2007. And hate-crimes in the US constitute a tiny percentage of those experienced by LGBT people worldwide.
This brings me to the Hate Crimes Bill, aka the Matthew Shepard Act. When the Democrats won control of Congress it was believed that a new age of LGBT rights and equality would be ushered in. 2007 was expected to be the year of ENDA and the Hate Crimes Bill.
Of course the RRRW fought valiantly against both, declaring them to be “Thought-crime legislation” and “Anti-Christian persecution”. It is, apparently, their religious right to discriminate against LGBT people, and to take that right away is to persecute against them. They refer back to the Bible to support their “deeply held religious belief” that LGBT people are abominations, and insist upon their Constitutional right to discriminate against us and abuse us.
Now quotes from the Bible were once used to support the institution of slavery. More recently they were used to support subjugation of blacks and deny the right of interracial couples to marry. While there are still individuals and groups who utilize the Bible in an attempt to promote such ideas, these people are relegated to the fringe of society where they belong.
Sadly our society still allows people who use the Bible to demonize LGBT people a powerful voice. They preach hate from the pulpit and influence voters. They have television programs if not entire networks. They hold high political offices and even run for (if not become) president of our nation.
Thanks to the machinations of the RRRW, even with a Democratic majority in Congress the Hate Crimes Bill was dropped last month. The Senate believed it wouldn’t make it through the House so they simply gave up on it. How is that for a nice big “Screw-You”?
It’s time that people who use the Bible (or any other such excuse) to hate LGBT people be relegated to the lunatic fringe along with other bigots. They belong right there with all of the other extremist whackjobs who think that people deserve to be hated and treated like second (or third) class citizens based on ancient books. And the Matthew Shepard Act needs to become a reality–yesterday.
Filed under: Hate Crimes, Homophobia
