HATE CRIMES

Once every 8 hours someone is violently attacked in this country just for being gay. (Thanks, James Dobson. This is your legacy.)

If you, or someone you know has been the victim of a hate crime report it here:

http://gaylife.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htmzi=1/XJ&sdn=gaylife&cdn=people&tm=72&gps=510_1221_1020_581&f=10&su=p284.5.420.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//hate-crime.website-works.com/form_viol.htm

 

"The opportunity to be threatened, humiliated and to live in fear of being beaten to death is the only 'special right' our culture bestows on homosexuals."
- Diane Carman, Denver Post

The FBI quotes a statement by the American Psychological Association about hate crime:

"...not only is it an attack on one's physical self, but is also an attack on one's very identity." Attacks upon individuals because of a difference in how they look, pray or behave have long been a part of human history. It is only recently, however, that our society has given it a name and decided to monitor it, study it and legislate against it."

The FBI defines a hate crime (a.k.a. bias crime) to be:

"a criminal offense committed against a person, property or society which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin."

Felony Physical Assault

When you demonize innocent people you are partly responsible for the violence inflicted on those people. Hate crimes will rise because of a president who sends the clear message that discrimination is ok for the gays. Using gays as pawns in an evil political game sends a message that gays are not equal. Keeping gays out of hate crime laws sends the message that it's ok to bash gays. Saying the gays "undermine" straights causes real violence. This is reality whether you like it not.

Did George Bush, Karl Rove, or James Dobson swing the bat? No, of course not. But the reality is that, if they had not purposely used gays as a wedge issue to divide the country, then anti-gay hate would not be as high. The reality is that someone, somewhere was smashed in the skull with a bat or a fist because someone thought they deserved it. They thought that because of a government that gains from pushing anti-gay lies. Hate crimes against gays have slowly risen since George Bush took office. If you think for one minute there is not a cause and effect to playing with people in politics then how do we explain the rise in hate crimes? It's even more disgusting when the President's Vice President's daughter is gay. They spit in her face. Money is more important than you, honey. We will pay you $100,000 to run daddy's campaign to make up for it.......

"The leaders of America's anti-gay industry are directly responsible for the continuing surge in hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. ... The right went into demonic, anti-gay hyperdrive following the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision in July of 2003. Since then, church pews have been awash in ugly, anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering. ... The literal blood of thousands of gay people physically wounded by hatred during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17261 Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a press release blaming conservative Christians for what Foreman claims is a "spike" in "hate crimes" against gays in late 2003 and early 2004.

When he says that gays will "undermine" marriage what message does our president send?

When James Dobson sends 10 page letters that depict gays as the anti-christ that will be the ruin of America what message does that send?

When Karl Rove uses the political tactics of hate and fear to divide the country to benefit his candidate what will the after math be?

"Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence." Scottish critic & jurist (1773 - 1850)

a. Kevin Aviance 6/06 New York City

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060611-011843-2381r

7 guys jumped 1 gay man and broke his jaw. They punched and beat him while pedestrians watched. No one tried to help.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." MLK

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." MLK

"All that is required for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing." Author unknown

HATE CRIMES From July 20, 1998- March 29 2002

Roughly 1200 anti-gay Hate crimes occur every year in this country.

The "lucky" ones that didn't die..

Notice how violent these beatings are:

 

July 20, 1998, Springfield, Ill.

Thomas Goacher, 27, was charged with a hate crime, aggravated kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated battery for the alleged abduction, torture and robbery in January of a man whom Goacher presumed to be gay.

July 31, 1998, Falmouth, Maine

Brian McCallum, 39, was charged with terrorizing, violating a protective order and disorderly conduct for allegedly threatening to kill and behead two lesbian neighbors.

Aug. 25, 1998, Tremont, Maine

Robert E. Powers Jr. was arrested for allegedly taunting a man with anti-gay slurs and throwing rocks at him.

Sept. 2, 1998, New York City

Three men allegedly assaulted two men they believed to be gay.

Sept. 14, 1998, Hayward, Calif.

Donald R. Santos, 40, and Lance E. Alves, 45, were charged with making terrorist threats and interference of civil rights because of sexual orientation for allegedly threatening a woman and yelling derogatory comments at a gay and lesbian bar.

Sept. 15, 1998, Novato, Calif.

One week after announcing his homosexuality, Adam Colton, 17, was attacked by three teen-agers who taunted him outside a store. He was also taunted with anti-gay remarks and incidents at school.

Sept. 19, 1998, Chicago

Three men were allegedly attacked by two men who made anti-gay remarks.

Sept. 23, 1998, Bridgeport, Pa.

Greg Thorpe, 30, was charged with aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, terrorist threats, harassment, stalking, disorderly conduct, conspiracy and ethnic intimidation for allegedly making anti-gay threats and assaulting a lesbian outside a bar in August.

Oct. 7, 1998, Traverse City, Mich.

Jeremy Jamrog, 21, and James Johnson, 24, were charged with aggravated assault for allegedly attacking a gay man and yelling f*&%ing fagot.

Oct. 14, 1998, Orlando, Fla.

Five men allegedly assaulted a gay man and shouted obscenities.

October 1998, Baltimore

Leonard "Lynn" Vines, 32, a cross-dresser and native of East Baltimore, was accosted in front of his cousin's home and shot six times by a group of 10 people asserting that "we don't allow no drag queen fagots in this neighborhood." Vines survived the attack, which police investigated as a hate crime, and received an outpouring of support from Maryland residents outraged by the violence. Paul Bishop, 21, also of Baltimore, was charged with attempted murder. (The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 8, 1998)

Nov. 6, 1998, Seattle

A gay man was severely beaten with rocks and broken bottles in his neighborhood by a gang of youths shouting "fagot." The victim sustained a broken nose and swollen jaw. When he reported the incident to police two days later, the officer refused to take the report.

Nov. 7, 1998, Easton, Mass.

An Easton teen-ager threw a large rock at a 17-year-old boy he thought was gay, kicked him in the head and yelled, swore and called the victim a "fag." The victim suffered a broken nose and a concussion. A week before the assault, the perpetrator told friends he hated gay people and thought they should be beaten up.

Nov. 8, 1998, Palm Springs, Calif.

Raymond Quevedo, 18, and three youths, ages 16 and 17, were charged with assault with a deadly weapon for an alleged gay bashing during gay pride weekend.

Nov. 17, 1998, Aptos, Calif.

A man allegedly used anti-gay epithets and assaulted a woman at Cabrillo College.

Dec. 18, 1998, Providence, Mass.

David E. Sheldon, 19, and Taylor Grenier, 18, were charged with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting a gay man and yelling anti-gay slurs outside of a bar in November.

Jan. 18, 1999, San Francisco

A carload of men allegedly threw a bottle at and taunted two gay men.

Jan. 20, 1999, Alfred, Maine

Frank L. Breton, 47, was convicted of hate crime assault for assaulting his neighbor in March because he believed the man was gay.

Feb. 2, 1999, Philadelphia

Steve Grimscheid, 20, and Craig Grookett, 20, were convicted of aggravated assault for attacking a gay psychiatrist.

Feb. 7, 1999, Miami

Three young women stalked, beat and stabbed a gay man while yelling anti-gay epithets.

Feb. 11, 1999, Tillamook, Ore.

James Ash, 48, and Kevin Hawthorn, 25, were charged with intimidation and assault for allegedly beating a man because of his sexual orientation.

Feb. 13, 1999, Pawtucket, R.I.

Joseph A. Risho, 45, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly hitting a man with a bottle while yelling anti-gay slurs.

Feb. 16, 1999, Houston

Roderick Brenneman, 59, was convicted of assault and sentenced to a year in jail for partially blinding a man in October because he believed the man to be gay.

Feb. 17, 1999, Novato, Calif.

A 17-year-old gay male student, Adam Colton, was ambushed and severely beaten. The letters "F-A-G" had been scratched into his stomach and arms. Colton had been beaten the previous September in an anti-gay incident.

Feb. 23, 1999, Antioch, Calif.

A 15-year-old was charged with assault and battery, and committing a hate crime for allegedly assaulting another teenager calling him anti-gay slurs.

March 1999, Decatur, Ill.

A university student was allegedly beaten by three men who made anti-gay remarks.

March 15, 1999, Traverse City, Mich.

Jeremy Jamrog was convicted of assault and battery for assaulting a gay man in October. James Johnson pleaded guilty to disturbing the peace in connection with the incident.

March 19, 1999, San Francisco

Ban Dol Im, 21, Henry Sai Hung Kwong, 19, and Thang Cao Truong, 18, were charged with suspicion of aggravated assault with a hate-crime enhancement after they allegedly yelled anti-gay epithets and assaulted a man.

May 6, 1999, Santa Clarita, Calif.

Osvaldo Renteria, 26, and Manuel Villasenor, 32, were charged with suspicion of committing a hate crime after they allegedly burglarized a residence and beat three gay men.

June 6, 1999, Greenfield, Mass.

Two prep-school students, ages 18 and 20, were charged with a hate crime after allegedly using a knife to carve an anti-gay slur into another student's back at Northfield Mount Hermon High School because he liked to listen to the British rock band Queen, whom they referred to as a "gay band." The wounds from the letters were 4 to 5 inches high and deep enough to draw blood.

July 18, 1999, West Hollywood, Calif.

Two transgender women were attacked by three men who beat them with aluminum baseball bats while yelling antigay epithets. One of the victims required hospitalization for a head injury.

July 24, 1999, San Diego, Calif.

Hundreds of people were tear gassed as a military style tear-gas canister was released near the Family Matters contingent at the San Diego gay pride parade. The 70-person contingent included small children and babies in strollers.

August 1999, Passaic, N.J.

Kareem Washington, a gay man who sometimes dressed in women's clothing, was stabbed multiple times and left to die in an industrial area in Passaic, N.J. Police were unsure of the motive for the murder; however, the victim's wallet, with cash and identification intact, was found on his body. The victim was wearing a skirt, high-heeled shoes and stockings. (The Record [Bergen County, N.J.], Aug. 30, 31, 1999)

Sept. 19, 1999, Providence, R.I.

A group of men shouting anti-homosexual slurs allegedly assaulted five gay men.

Sept. 20, 1999, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Four youths allegedly fired shots from a pellet gun toward a woman whose car had diversity and rainbow stickers on it. The youths also allegedly yelled derogatory comments regarding the woman's sexual orientation.

Oct. 29, 1999, Indianapolis

A trio of men - of which an 18-year-old has been apprehended and charged - while allegedly committing a series of home invasion robberies, broke into the apartment of two men. Convinced that the men were gay, the perpetrators forced the men to strip naked under gunpoint, tied them together and tortured them with a hot iron. Both victims were burned repeatedly and were kicked, beaten with a small baseball bat and other household items and taunted with homophobic remarks during the attack, which lasted more than 30 minutes. One of the victims was forced to drink a mixture of bleach and urine. The robbers also tried to burn the building down on their way out but later inexplicably returned, put out the fire and gave some water to the man they made drink the bleach mixture.

Oct. 31, 1999, At sea off the California coast

A 37-year-old gay man was the target of a brutal anti-gay attack on board a cruise ship. The victim was assaulted by two other passengers in a hallway of the ship, who called him a "f#@%ing faggot" several times. He sustained injuries including a broken nose, three skull fractures around his eyes, chipped teeth and multiple contusions. Because the attack happened at sea, beyond the reach of state and local laws, police have been unable to pursue the case as a bias related

incident, referring it instead to the federal government.

Nov. 7, 1999, Lawrence, Kan.

Two heterosexual men, one a student at Kansas University, were walking down the street when some men called them anti-gay epithets. After responding to the remarks, the two were attacked by five men. One of the victims was knocked backward on a concrete planter and held down while two attackers struck his face with their fists. The other ran to call the police. This was the third such incident in as many months. One of the victims said that the police initially told him they could not arrest the perpetrators because, "it was their word against ours."

Nov. 21, 1999, Maple Grove, Minn.

Two 21-year-old men were charged with a hate crime after attacking a woman they perceived to be a lesbian in a "road rage" incident. The men allegedly pushed the woman and called her a lesbian and then later attacked her.

December 1999, Boca Raton, Fla.

A Broward County male prosecutor was arrested after "trashing" a gay nightclub while wearing women's clothes and calling patrons "fags" and "dykes."

Jan. 15, 2000, Elmwood Park, N.J.

After days of anti-gay taunts and threats, a classmate beat a 16-year-old gay student at Memorial High School in Elmwood Park. The teen's face was bruised and cut from being tackled and repeatedly punched in the face and body.

Jan. 28, 2000, Boston

A group of high school teen-agers sexually assaulted and attacked a 16-year-old Boston High School student on the subway because she was holding hands with another young girl, a common custom from her native African country. Thinking the victim was a lesbian, the group began groping the girl, ripping her clothes and pointing at their own genitals, while shouting "Do you like this? Do you like this? Is this what you like?" When the girl resisted, officials said, a teen-age boy who was with the group allegedly pulled a knife on the girl, held it to her throat and threatened

to slash her if she didn't obey her attackers. The girl passed out from being beaten. Three high school students were arrested in the attack and charged with civil rights violations, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, and indecent assault and battery.

Feb. 6, 2000, Tuscon, Ariz.

A 20-year-old gay University of Arizona student was sitting at a cafe when a man came up behind him and punched and stabbed him with large knife. Witnesses heard the perpetrator saying that he had "killed a f%$#ing faggot," "this is what gays deserve," and "let this be a warning to the gay community." The victim was treated at a local hospital and released. The attack spurred an anti-hate rally on campus a few days later that drew over 1,000 people.

Feb. 10, 2000, Bay Shore, N.Y.

Javier Morales, 18, was charged with allegedly assaulting a man he believed was gay.

Feb. 14, 2000, Novato, Calif.

Robert White, 18, was charged with assault for allegedly attacking a man who White believed was gay.

March 1, 2000, Salt Lake City, Utah

A case, which has been used to highlight the need for strengthening Utah's hate crimes statute, resulted in two defendants pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault charges and a third defendant pleading guilty earlier to simple assault and criminal mischief for his part in a 45-minute crime spree that began outside a gay bar in 1999 in which two people were beaten and three others terrorized. "Are you a faggot?" one of the defendants yelled. "He is a faggot!" another replied, as they chased the first victim to his car and pounded on his vehicle until the victim was able to escape to call the police. Later, the defendants yelled anti-gay slurs and threw beer bottles at another car that had two men in it. Forty-five minutes after the initial attack, two of the defendants waited outside the gay bar and beat two men who had just exited the bar. One defendant told the arresting officer that they were "just out for a good time."

March 6, 2000, Carbondale, Ill.

A male student at Southern Illinois University was allegedly taunted with anti-homosexual slurs and beaten by an unknown assailant.

March 29, 2000, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Christopher Davidson was sentenced to six months in jail for shooting out the rear window of a woman's car that had gay pride stickers on it.

April 2, 2000, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Jason Allen, 20, was charged with allegedly attacking another man because he believed the man was gay.

April 3, 2000, Bakersfield, Calif.

Three white males allegedly attacked a student because they believed the student was gay.

April 6, 2000, Ashland, Ore.

Michael Susee was charged with intimidation and assault for allegedly attacking three gay men while yelling anti-gay remarks.

April 19, 2000, Keene, N.H.

Jonathan Shapiro, 19, was sentenced to three years of probation for carving anti-gay epithets into a student's back in 1999.

April 20, 2000, Stafford, Va.

Thomas Rivers, 18, allegedly attacked a 15-year-old gay teen-ager by bashing him in the back of the head with a metal pole, almost killing him. The previous year, after Rivers learned that the younger boy thought he was cute, Rivers lashed out by shouldering him in hallways at school, shouting slurs and spitting on him. The attack came eight months later when Rivers saw the boy walking in an area park. (The Washington Post, Dec. 8, 2000)

April 25, 2000, Germantown, Md.

A judge granted a protective order for a woman who was allegedly attacked by a man because of her sexual orientation. According to the victim, she, her partner and their 11-year-old daughter have been the victims of repeated anti-gay slurs and have had rocks and other items throw at their home because they are gay and some neighbors "want us out of the neighborhood." The incident in question occurred after a verbal altercation between the victim's child and the perpetrator's child, culminating in the perpetrator's attack of the victim. When police arrived on the scene, the victim was laying on the ground; her hand was bleeding; she had been kicked repeatedly in

the head by the perpetrator and his 12-year-old son while the son was allegedly yelling, "I'm going to kill you dyke bitch." Her face was swollen, and she had footprints on her shirt and marks on her neck and chest that required overnight hospitalization. Despite this, the police did not handle the incident as a hate crime and said that it was against their regulations to arrest the perpetrator because they had not witnessed the attack, thus forcing the woman to seek the aforementioned protective order to ensure her and her family's safety.

May 17, 2000, Holbrook, Mass.

A grand jury indicted a 17-year-old high school student on seven charges for attacking a fellow student he believed to be gay. For five months prior to the attack, the perpetrator allegedly harassed the victim. In the attack, which occurred in the school cafeteria, the perpetrator hit the victim five or six times in the head before knocking him to the floor. The attack left the victim with a punctured eardrum and internal bleeding.

May 23, 2000, Salt Lake City

Police are investigating whether a 19-year-old woman working for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance was beaten and robbed because her attackers presumed she was a lesbian. The woman was canvassing when a male attacker in his 20s -- one of two white men with shaved heads -- allegedly ran up behind her, punched her in the face and knocked her down. The woman said the suspect then kicked her in the face while he yelled "dyke" and "queer." Initially, police response was slow, and the incident was not being treated as a hate crime. After pressure from local activists, police have said they are investigating the case as a potential hate crime.

May 30, 2000, Salt Lake City

A man armed with a pellet gun stormed into a gym, fired a couple of shots and purportedly made threatening comments to the gay people in the gym. A 23-year-old man was arrested for assault and police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. The club's manager said the gym is a health and social club for gay and straight men. (Salt Lake City Tribune, May 30, 2000)

June 8, 2000, Muncie, Ind.

Brian W. Worden, 21, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking a man with a tire iron because Worden believed the man was gay.

June 10, 2000, Albuquerque, N.M.

A man in a minivan yelling obscenities ran down participants in a gay pride parade. One victim was hit twice in the knees and thrown off the hood. The perpetrator tried to swerve into the crowd, which included small children, three times before police pulled him out of the vehicle and arrested him.

July 4, 2000, Brooklyn, N.Y.

An Arabic man, Othnanabed Magdy, 18, was charged with allegedly slashing three men and threatening the life of another because he believed the men to be gay.

July 11, 2000, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Police were searching for a large man, usually clad in black who had been slashing and beating men in a park known as a gay hangout. Four victims had been attacked over a course of two weeks with either a baseball bat or knife. One victim heard his attacker yell, "I'm going to kill you." Another suffered slash wounds to his neck, hands, head and arms. The incidents are being investigated as possible hate crimes. (The New York Post, July 11, 2000)

July 29, 2000, Mahwah, N.J.

A man who allegedly attacked two men after calling them gay was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, bias harassment and bias assault. Witnesses told police that the alleged perpetrator, William Courain, 26, was at an apartment complex party when he began making obscene remarks to several of the guests about their sexual orientation. He left the party and confronted two men in the parking lot, calling them gay and making obscene comments before attacking them. Witnesses say he began punching and kicking the two victims, one of whom

suffered bleeding from the mouth and eyes and was treated at a local hospital. (The Record, Aug. 1, 2000)

July 30, 2000, San Diego

Two black men armed with a baseball bat allegedly attacked a gay man.

Aug. 8, 2000, Providence, R.I.

Police are investigating an alleged gay bashing attack in which two young men said they were severely beaten and kicked by two strangers. The two victims were walking down a street when a car slowed and passed them. Minutes later the car drove by again, and the occupants allegedly began shouting vulgarities, anti-gay slurs and said, "We're going to kill you." The victims yelled back; the perpetrators allegedly got out of the car, shouted more anti-gay slurs and vulgarities, threw a beer can at them and then proceeded to beat and punch the victims in the head and body

until one of them almost lost consciousness. The perpetrators eventually got in their car and fled, and witnesses called for help. (The Providence Journal, Aug. 11, 2000)

Aug. 9, 2000, Daly City, Calif.

Police charged four men with a hate crime for allegedly assaulting two gay men in a fast food restaurant. (The Washington Blade citing San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 25, 2000)

Aug. 11, 2000, New York City

A 17-year-old who announced to his parents that he was gay earlier in the year was recovering after his parents severely beat him. Police say that Hendrick Paterson, 49, and Sharon Paterson, 36, allegedly repeatedly smashed their son with a lead pipe at a relative's home as they yelled anti-gay slurs. "God will punish you for your lifestyle!" "You can't be gay," the couple are quoted as saying. The son was rushed to the hospital where he was treated and released for multiple welts to his body. The NYPD hate crimes unit arrested the couple. It is unclear how they will be charged. The attack was apparently the culmination of a simmering six-month feud between the boy and his parents, who were so outraged by his sexual orientation that they kicked him out of the house. He went to live with an aunt, a few miles away, where the attack occurred. (The New York Daily News, Aug. 13, 2000)

Aug. 16, 2000, New Hope, Pa.

Douglas Trinkley, 21, and Larry Chroman, 36, were charged with simple assault, disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment of another person for allegedly attacking a man because of the man's sexual orientation.

Aug. 18, 2000, Washington, D.C.

A group of boys shot through the front window of a well-known lesbian bar on Capitol Hill, known as Phase I. Though witnesses had identified a gang of young boys as the perpetrators, they escaped without being apprehended or questioned because police response was slow. The bar manager had to call several times, and after finally arriving, the police were reluctant to take a report. Three years before the incident, a canister of tear gas was tossed into a gay bar two blocks from Phase I, and police classified that incident as a hate crime. (Letter from Bar Manager, Aug. 19, 2000)

Aug. 19, 2000, San Francisco

Two men were arrested on charges of stalking, assaulting and robbing men in gay bars in what police say was "brazen, bicoastal crime spree that included four robberies in Maine and vicious attacks on gays," including slashing one victim's throat in California. The perpetrators were arrested when a bouncer at a gay bar recognized their distinctive Boston accents after reading about them in warning flier distributed by police. (The Boston Globe, Aug. 23, 2000)

Aug. 19, 2000, Los Altos, Calif.

Peter Ellsworth, 21, was charged with a hate crime after he allegedly called two men anti-gay epithets and assaulted one of them in front of a hair salon.

Aug. 23, 2000, Allentown, Pa.

Two men face assault charges after police initially issued summary disorderly conduct citations for grabbing, kicking and biting another man. Because the two perpetrators also allegedly used anti-gay epithets during the attack, the victim complained to police and to a local gay activist group that they were initially only given citations. (Allentown Morning Call, Sept. 8, 2000)

Aug. 25, 2000, Palm Springs, Calif.

A judge ordered a U.S. Marine, Lance Horton, to pay $4,300 to a gay couple he admitted beating and to complete charity work as part of his five-year probation, according to the Desert Sun. Horton pleaded guilty to two counts of assault and to two hate crimes as part of a plea agreement that involved no prison time. (The Washington Blade, Sept.m 8, 2000)

Aug. 26, 2000, Tulsa, Okla.

A man was accused of harassing a gay couple for six months, including painting anti-gay messages on their house, shooting at them with a paint-ball gun and shouting death threats. (Tulsa World, Aug. 26, 2000)

Aug. 27, 2000, Illnois

Police are investigating an off-campus beating of an Illinois State University student as a possible gay-related hate crime. Christopher Weninger, who is not gay, was walking home from a party when three men approached him and one asked him for a cigarette. As Weninger handed the man a cigarette, another man punched him in the face and called him "queer." The men then ran away. Weninger suffered a broken nose and eye socket. The victim was apparently wearing a shiny rayon shirt that is popular among some gay men in the area. (The Washington Blade, Sept.8, 2000)

Sept. 1, 2000, West Hollywood, Calif.

Police responded to a call about a possible assault to find a transgender woman lying on the ground. The victim had been severely assaulted and had possible stab wounds to the neck, back and genital areas. The victim was in serious condition and required surgery for her injuries. The incident was being investigated as a possible hate crime, according to police. (Police Notice from Deputy Don Mueller, West Hollywood Sheriff Station, Sept. 11, 2000)

Oct. 1, 2000, Traverse City, Mich.

A 23-year-old bartender at a local dance club frequented by gay patrons was attacked as he was removing the trash out of the back door of the building around 2 a.m. An attacker grabbed him by the shoulders and began shouting "faggot" and other obscenities at him. He swung the large metal trashcan at the one attacker, knocking him over, as two other men jumped out, one brandishing a baseball bat. The bartender ran and sprinted nearly four city blocks before circling back to the club. The attackers chased him, yelling "We're gonna break your legs," and jumped him again as he tried to enter the club. They finally fled when other employees heard him yelling for help. His car had also been vandalized with an anti-gay epithet that night. (Traverse City Record-Eagle, Oct. 6, 2000)

Oct. 4, 2000, LaCrosse, Wis.

Jason Welch and Jason Elisius, both 21, were charged with a hate crime for allegedly targeting two gay men because of their sexual orientation.

Oct. 21, 2000, Fort Worth, Texas

A Bell High School student, 17, was hospitalized after two 17-year-olds allegedly attacked him in a parking lot, beating him and scratching an anti-gay slur into his car. The victim suffered a broken nose and numerous other injuries, including cuts, bruises and two blood clots on his brain. News reports indicate that the victim was not gay.

(MSNBC.com, Oct. 26, 2000)

Nov. 8, 2000, Riverside, Calif.

Daniel Martinez Murguia, 19, was charged with a hate crime for allegedly beating a man he believed to be gay.

Nov. 14, 2000, Long Island, N.Y.

Micheal Ashley, 42, was charged with allegedly assaulting his roommate because of the roommate's sexual orientation.

Dec. 2, 2000, Carlsbad, Calif.

Four youths are being charged with a hate crime - and one with assault with a deadly weapon, for allegedly beating a 34-year-old man because they believed he was gay. The victim testified that he was confronted by a group of people as he was walking home from a bar. One person from the group yelled at him, "Hey, faggot, what are you looking at?" according to a witness. (KGTV, The SanDiegoChannel.com, April 13, 2001)

2000, Colorado

Two men in a car harassed a white lesbian as she left a 7-11 store; one of them yelled an obscenity and called her a "faggot." The victim got into her own pickup truck and drove away, but the offenders followed her and eventually drove her off the road. When she got out of her car, the two men assaulted her sexually and beat her unconscious. A detective who later interviewed the victim about the incident was verbally abusive, calling her a "liar" when she said she couldn't provide a detailed description of her attackers. (Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual Violence in 2000, A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs)

Jan. 7, 2001, Ashburn, Ga.

Robert Martin, 32, was hospitalized in critical condition after being found lying outside an abandoned school with head injuries from a blunt object. Martin was wearing a dress at the time. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation was investigating but had no motive or suspects. Press reports indicate that Martin had been beaten and harassed before because of his perceived homosexuality. (The Associated Press, Jan. 10, 2001)

Jan. 15, 2001, Prospect Park, N.Y.

Police released a sketch of a suspect after the fifth ninja-like stabbing in Prospect Park, N.Y., near a popular area for gay man. Police suspect bias as the motive, as no robbery attempts have been made. The victim was slashed across the throat and stabbed in the chest and back. (PlanetOut, Jan. 19, 2001)

Jan. 17, 2001, Helena, Mont.

An openly gay student at Carroll College withdrew from school 14 days after being knocked unconscious and beaten in his dorm room. The victim did not initially report the incident due to fear of further retribution. Someone struck the student in head with a bottle as he returned to his room from the dorm showers early in the morning and then beat him while he was unconscious. The attacker also wrote "Die Fag" on his body with an ink marker. Cuts on the student's eye required surgery. (The Associated Press, Feb. 9, 2001)

Jan. 25, 2001, Washington, D.C.

Police arrested a 17-year-old in a gay-bashing incident in the DuPont Circle area after the youth and another young man followed two men leaving a gay bar while shouting anti-gay names at them. After attacking the victims, the youths fled when passersby said they had called the police. One perpetrator was later apprehended. (The Washington Blade, Feb. 2, 2001)

Feb. 11, 2001, Rifle, Colo.

Kyle Skyock, a slightly built 16-year-old, was found unconscious by a jogger on the side of the road after being beaten by four teen-age boys because they thought he was gay, he said. Skyock's injuries included: large purple bruises on the front and back of his head, a fractured skull, a circle of burn blisters on his shoulder, a black eye, three broken ribs, a foot-shaped bruise on his stomach and another bruise described by doctors as in the shape of a two-by-four. Skyock

claims to have left a party with the four boys in a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Eventually, the car stopped, Skyock said, and he was pulled from vehicle and thrown to the ground, and the boys started kicking him. They picked him up, ramming his head into the tailgate. They threw him back in the vehicle and punched him some more. They pulled him out and kicked him again. "Faggot" "I want a turn with the bat! Give it to me. It's my turn, it's my turn," he said he heard. Police initially have said they believe that Skyock was drunk, and his injuries were a result of falling down. Skyock's family has been critical of how the police have handled the case and has said that after the incident one of the alleged perpetrators reportedly bragged on the school bus that he had beaten up a "fag." After seven months, police finally interviewed Skyock after his family hired an attorney to pursue charges being filed against the alleged perpetrators. Previously, they refused to talk to him because they said his mother insisted on having an adult present with him. To date, no charges have been filed, and the family has filed a civil case against the alleged perpetrators. (Rocky Mountain News, Aug. 27, 30, 2001)

March 6, 2001, Middleburg, Pa.

Two brothers, Todd Justin Clinger, 20, and Troy Lee Clinger, 18, were charged with attempted homicide after severely beating a neighbor, Michael Aucker, 41. Police allege that one of the brothers, Troy, said that Aucker tried to kiss and hug both of them while the trio drank beer in their trailer. Police said they walked out on the deck, where the brothers allegedly punched and stomped on Aucker with heavy work boots several times before taking the bleeding Aucker to his

nearby trailer. Aucker was discovered a day and a half later by a neighbor and co-worker. Heremained in a coma and every bone in his face and nose were broken, according to press reports. (Sunbury Daily Item, March 14, 2001)

March 8, 2001, South Kingstown, R.I.

Three men allegedly attacked a gay man while using an anti-gay epithet.

April 1, 2001, Beverly, Mass.

Jonathan Silveira, 17, was charged with assault for allegedly assaulting a man he believed was gay.

April 13, 2001, San Antonio, Texas

A 39-year-old man was attacked because he was thought to be gay, police said. The victim had stopped in a park to look at some rocks when a man with a knife came up behind him. The man held the victim in a bear-hug before stabbing him in the chest with a knife which he described as a three-inch Buck knife. The suspect allegedly called him anti-gay names as he stabbed him. (KSAT San Antonio, April 13, 2001)

April 15, 2001, Baton Rouge, La.

Two men allegedly taunted and attacked four lesbian students outside the gay-friendly Cybercafe restaurant near Louisiana State University. The four women alleged that two men approached them and repeatedly asked them if they were "boys or girls." The women also allege that one of the perpetrators threw a drink in one of women's faces and called her a "dyke." Tommy Lott, 36, of Livingston, was charged with three counts of simple battery. Michael Holderman, 19, of Livingston, was also charged with one count of simple battery, but the charge was dismissed after he completed a pre-trial program. One of the victims, Regan Ilgenfritz, 22, was charged with one count of simple battery and one count of destruction of property related to Lott's broken glasses. She claims she was defending herself and that Lott punched her repeatedly when she was trying to protect her girlfriend. Police said that anti-gay slurs are protected speech, and that the perpetrators have said that the women were the first to use physical force. (Southern

Voice, Aug. 30, 2001)

April 27, 2001, Kent State University, Ohio

Mikell Nagy, an openly gay university student, was eating breakfast with friends when he heard someone make an anti-gay comment toward another friend across the room. He went over to see if the friend was okay. The next thing he knew, a man walked up behind him, called him a "faggot" and punched him in the face. According to witnesses, blood was pouring from cuts above his left eye. His two front teeth were chipped in the incident and his right cheek stayed swollen for more than a week, according to news reports. The incident resulted in an on-campus rally against hate crimes. (WEWS NewNet5, April 27, 2001; Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 28, 2001)

May 10, 2001, North Richland Hills, Texas

David Israel Avery, 17, has been charged with criminal mischief for allegedly attacking two gay teens.

May 25, 2001, Honolulu

Two teens were charged with attempted murder after allegedly dousing the tents of gay campers, while people were inside, with flammable liquid and setting one on fire in Polihale State Park. Police believe the crime is a hate crime based on "insinuations and remarks" made by the suspects at the time. Victims in the attack said the perpetrators threw rocks and shouted homosexual slurs at about 20 men prior to setting the tent on fire. Two men, Eamonn Carolan, 18, and Orien Macomber, 19, were sentenced to five years in prison each. According to press reports, the sentences could be boiled down to a year and half each. (The Associated Press, June 2, 2001; KITV TheHawaiiChannel.com, June 1, 2001; Kauai World, Jan. 21, 2002)

May 26, 2001, Manteca, Calif.

Linell Reese, 20, was charged with a hate crime for allegedly attacking a man while yelling anti-gay epithets.

June 6, 2001, Chicago

A young Chicago man is accusing police of ignoring his pleas for help after a gay-bashing incident in May that ended with his being criminally charged. Benjamin Stephens, a 21-year-old from the north side, said he was out to dinner with a friend when three men lured him from the restaurant, beat him and called him "faggot." A stranger saw the incident and drove him to the police station, where he said officers refused to help find the men who had attacked him. Stephens said he became angry, and officers arrested him, hit and shoved him around. The incident comes on top of a suit filed earlier this year by a man who says he was beaten by several off-duty Chicago police officers because they mistakenly thought he was gay. An Amnesty International report released earlier this year titled, "Allegations of Homophobic Abuse by Chicago Police Officers," alleges a series of anti-gay incidents, involving abuse and torture by Chicago police over the past few years. (Windy City Times, June 6, 2001; Chicago Tribune, Jan. 12, 2001; www. Amnesty.org, June 5, 2001)

June 20, 2001, Albany, N.Y.

Three teens were charged by a grand jury Tuesday with a hate crime in connection with the beating of a man on the Cohoes bike path. The incident occurred June 20 at about 10 p.m. when the trio allegedly called a 24-year-old Cohoes man a faggot and assaulted him, District Attorney Paul A. Clyne said. "He was sitting on a bench minding his own business and these three guys came by and called him fucking faggot and started beating him about the head and neck with their fists," Clyne said. "He managed to run away at some point and promptly reported it to police." The man was treated for bruises and pain by emergency medical technicians, Clyne said. The suspects, Marquis Turner, 18, and Anthony Ward, 16, both of Griswold Heights Apartments in Troy, and Michael Ward, 19, of 23 Division St., Cohoes, were initially charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. The suspects are free pending arraignment in county court Friday. The grand jury elevated the charge to third-degree assault as a hate crime, making it a Class E felony which carries a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in prison. "It appears this person was targeted solely upon a belief or perception that he was gay," Clyne said. (The Times-Union,

Aug. 29, 2001)

July 10, 2001, Tucson, Ariz.

Franchot Opela, 27, was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and undergo eight hours of anger counseling, plus attend sensitivity training before the year's end, for beating a man because of his sexual orientation in February 2000 outside of a bar. Opela is a paramedic with the Tucson Fire Department. The victim, Fabian Padilla, 23, is suing Opela and the bar. According to the suit, he was singled out because he was perceived to be gay and was severely beaten by Opela who called him "faggot" as he beat him to the ground with both fists. Opela fled after the assault, according to witnesses. Padilla was left lying on the sidewalk bleeding from his head and was treated for severe eye and head injuries. (Tucson Citizen, Feb. 7, 2002)

July 18, 2001 Americus, Ga.

Van Deventer was sentenced to one month in jail and 11 months of probation and ordered to pay a $600 fine, serve 40 hours of community service, take anger management classes and give $1,900 to a gay woman Deventer attacked in October 2000.

July 24, 2001, Greeley, Colo.

Salvador Rivera, 24, was sentenced to 45 days in jail on work release, placed on two years of unsupervised probation and ordered to pay court costs and restitution for allegedly beating his gay cousin in October.

Aug. 1, 2001, Roanoke, Va.

Two men and the pastor of a predominantly gay church were attacked by three men after a Bible study and prayer meeting, police and the pastor said. The Rev. Catherine Houchins was struck in the face as she tried to call 911 on her cellular phone after three men attacked her and her parishioners, Armen Grigoryan and Richard Justus. "They were yelling fucking faggots, get out of town," Houchins said. The alleged attackers came out of an alley as the victims were getting into their cars. The attackers knocked Grigoryan down to the ground and punched Justus as he tried to help his friend. "They were in a total rage," said one witness. "I've never seen such rage in my life." The perpetrators fled when the witness intervened. Police responded to the 911 call and searched the area for half an hour with no success. (The Associated Press, Aug. 3, 2001)

Aug. 18, 2001, Ithaca, N.Y.

Michael Palahicky, 20, was charged with harassment as a bias crime after he allegedly punched a man and called him a faggot.

Aug. 26, 2001, Las Cruces, N.M.

Two New Mexico State University students were arrested in connection with the beating of a fellow student after asking if he was gay. Campus police spokesman Stephen Lopez said Rustin Short, 18, of Carlsbad, N.M., was arrested Thursday morning. Austin Lanier, 18, also of Carlsbad, later turned himself in, Lopez said. Both are freshmen who live on campus. The name of the victim has not been released. Police say around the same time, three men followed another male student into a female student's room in the same dormitory and asked him more than once if he was gay. That student and the student who was beaten were friends, police said. Police have not classified the beating as a hate crime. Cabot told the Las Cruces Sun-News earlier this week that there was not enough evidence to prove it was a hate crime. "There's a possibility that it may be," he added. One student has withdrawn from the university since the incident citing safety as her reason for leaving. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, August 31, 2001)

Ronald W. Smith, 33, allegedly attacked a man because of the man's sexual orientation.

Aug. 31, 2001, Palm Springs, Calif.

Randy Reyes was sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the 1999 beating of two gay men outside of a local restaurant - three years for assault with force likely to cause injury to one victim and three years for great bodily injury to the second. One of the victims said that the assault on him was "barbaric and inhumane" and for "no other reason than I'm a gay man." (The Washington Blade quoting The Desert Sun, Sept., 21, 2001)

Sept. 2, 2001, Athens, Ga.

Christopher Gregory, a 20-year-old gay man was left with facial injuries after being attacked in an anti-gay incident outside a gay bar. Gregory was walking with friends when a group of approximately four men and three women began shouting anti-gay epithets at them, such as "faggot," "look at those faggots" and "[expletive]-packers." After he turned and said, "Leave us alone!" one of the men allegedly punched him in the right eye, sending him to the concrete. He did not see the punch coming and landed on his face. As the alleged perpetrators walked away, one

yelled "stupid faggot." Gregory was treated at a local hospital and reported the incident to police. He said the police were "anything but sympathetic" and were more concerned with his alcohol consumption than details about the bashing. The police filed the report as a hate crime that was alcohol related, have not interviewed witnesses and do not have any suspects, according to new reports. (Southern Voice, Sept. 13, 2001)

Sept. 6, 2001, Madison, Wis.

Two men were arrested on the University of Wisconsin campus for their part in attempting to strangle a gay man. The Rev. Chuck Spignola brought a group to campus to talk about abortion and homosexuality. One of his followers allegedly told a gay man that his time had come to go to hell and started choking him. Spignola also had been arrested in June 2000 in an incident where he poured gasoline on a security volunteer at a gay pride parade in Columbus, Ohio. The volunteer had just asked Spignola to step away from participants when he sprayed her with gas. "You're all gonna burn in hell," he yelled. He then set fire to a rainbow-colored gay pride flag, which he had

done on several earlier occasions. (WISC Channel3000.com, Sept. 7, 2001; www.tolerance.org website, Sept. 7, 2001.)

Sept. 11, 2001, New York City

Micahel Galgano, 38, who was charged with a bias crime and reckless endangerment, claimed that he did not commit a crime but was highly emotional after witnessing the World Trade Center attack. Galgano, a paroled rapist, was arrested hours after the terrorist attacks for allegedly threatening two gay men holding hands near St. Vincent's Hospital. "He threatened to assault the victim, while reaching into his knapsack" as if he had a weapon, according to police who were searching for Galgano because he did not show for a follow-up court date. (The New York Post, Dec. 14, 15, 2001)

Oct. 11, 2001, College Park, Md.

University of Maryland campus police are investigating a violent hate crime that occurred on National Coming Out Day. Around 1 p.m., a 22-year-old woman wearing gay-supportive pins was hanging her bicycle on her car rack when a man approached her from behind and struck her on the back of her head, pushing her head into the rack and knocking her to the ground. The white male kicked her several times while she was on the ground as he screamed f-ing dyke according to police. The woman, who was treated at the University health center, sustained a black eye, a bruise on her nose and scratches on her legs and arms. The woman only saw the man's leg, and police have no suspects. (Prince George's Journal, Oct., 14, 2001, The Washington Blade, Oct. 19, 2001)

Nov. 18, 2001, Huntington, W.Va.

Michael Fife, 28, was in a coma for almost a month after he was beaten, robbed of $20 and left in an alley for dead while walking home from a gay nightclub. Fife suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding and has not awoken from the coma. Three people have been charged in the beating. Police have said that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The incident was reported in the press after another man's home was ransacked on Nov. 30 and hate-filled graffiti was scrawled across his walls. Police are investigating the break-in as a possible hate crime. The graffiti included a swastika and slurs against gays, Jews and blacks. "We got one, we'll get you too" was also scrawled on the wall, according to press reports, leading at least one local business owner to say he thinks the incidents are related and that Fife was attacked because the alleged perpetrators thought he was gay. (Charleston Gazette On-line, Dec. 4, 2001)

Nov. 26, 2001, Englewood, Fla.

James Borghi and Randy Twombly, both 20, were each charged with one count of felony hate crime for allegedly assaulting a man they believed was gay. Borghi was also charged with theft and Twombly was charged with a misdemeanor in the fight.

Nov. 29, 2001, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Three teen-agers were charged with battery, conspiracy and a hate crime for allegedly assaulting a student they believed was gay.

Dec. 22, 2001, Lake Elsinore, Calif.

Two men, ages 19 and 22, and a 20-year-old woman allegedly beat and made defamatory remarks to two people they perceived to be gay and also used racial slurs toward a black store clerk.

Dec. 28, 2001, Marshfield, Mass.

A teen-age assailant beat a man in his late 20s because the assailant thought he was gay, according to police. The victim was standing outside a store on Plain Street when a car containing three men pulled up. One of three began to yell obscenities at the victim including calling him names "derogatory towards being gay," according to police. The victim and two friends entered the store. Upon exiting the store, the assailant attacked the victim, beating him with his fists. The victim fell and the assailant continued beating him and kicking him while yelling f-ing faggot. The assailant was later apprehended and charged with three charges of assault and battery, including one with a dangerous weapon (a shod foot) and one with intimidation due to sexual orientation. (The Patriot Ledger, Jan. 1, 2001)

Jan. 5, 2002, Tacoma, Wash.

A woman was shot as she came to the aid of three men being attacked in a suspected hate crime. Three nightclub patrons were in a parking lot near a club the men had just left. Two or three other men left a second nightclub and returned to the same parking lot where they sat in their pickup truck. The men in the truck noticed the patrons and began to ask them, "Are you gay? Are you gay?" police said. One of the men in the truck told the patrons that the lot was a "straight parking lot," and demanded they leave. The men in the truck then approached the patrons and began

beating them. The woman and her husband heard the patrons pleading for help. When the women came to the aid of the men one of the attackers hit her and the two began rolling around on the ground. The attacker then pulled out a gun and shot the women once in the chest and fled the scene in the pickup truck with the other attackers. The bullet traveled through her chest and lodged in her cheek. She was treated at Tacoma General Hospital and has since been released. Officers have made no arrests in this case. (The News Tribune, Jan. 8, 2002)

Jan. 11, 2002, New York City

Eric D. Miller, 26, was shot in the chest on a Harlem street by one of two men who attacked him and Jason Taylor, 20, and shouted anti-gay remarks at them, police said. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime, and detectives were searching for the two attackers. Miller was treated at the hospital and released. He and Taylor were walking to a friend's apartment from the homeless shelter where they had been staying when they were confronted by two men who became enraged at the sight of the couple, according to Miller. "They said, ?Black men shouldn't be gay,'" Miller said, who noted that his assailants were also black. "Then they started throwing rocks at us." The victims' friend was not home; so they had to pass by the perpetrators a second time. One of the perpetrators threw a bottle at Taylor and a fight broke out between the two groups. Then, one of the attackers pulled out a small handgun and fired once into Miller's chest. "He kept saying, ?Fire, Fire' that I should burn in hell," Miller said, a former Marine who earns money giving music lessons to children. "If God had intended for me to die for being gay, this would have been my fire, but it wasn't meant to be. This is America, and however you want to live you should be able to, legally and happily," he told the press. (The New York Times, Jan. 14, 2002)

Feb. 7, 2002, Greenwich Village, N.Y.

A gay man was assaulted by a group of approximately 15 men in Greenwich Village. The 36-year-old man, was walking down Christopher Street on his was to a gay bar at around 2 a.m. when one of the men yelled an anti-gay slur as he passed the Christopher Street PATH station. The victim turned to see who yelled at him when someone punched him in the back of the head, police said. The victim was treated for minor injuries at St. Vincent's Hospital

in Manhattan. (Newsday, Feb. 8, 2002)

Feb. 8, 2002, Missoula, Mont.

Carla Grayson, Adrianne Neff and their infant son narrowly escaped their burning home alive when their home was set ablaze in February in what police have called an attempted homicide. The lesbian couple is a named party in a lawsuit challenging the University of Montana, Grayson's employer, for not providing benefits to same-sex partners. The couple received a threatening letter one day after filing the suit. The letter contained a white powder and a sheet of paper with three words: "Die Dykes Anthrax." The ACLU condemned the attack, saying the fire went far beyond

intimidation. "Whoever set this fire did not intend to simply frighten or intimidate this family. They meant to kill them," said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. The Missoula County attorney has asked police investigators to refrain from talking to the media about an ongoing arson investigation. Police spokesmen have said repeatedly since the fire that they were investigating two standard arson scenarios -- that the fire was started by an intruder or that it was ignited by someone already in the house. (The Missoulian, March 7, 2002; The Associated Press State and Local Wire, Feb. 25, 2002)

Feb. 13, 2002, Muskegon, Mich.

Michael Glenn Keep, now 31, is on trial for murdering Paul Edward Chmiel in prison because he was gay. Keep admitted in a written confession that he hated gay men. According to reports, Chmiel allegedly offered a sexual act to Keep in exchange for a cigarette. Although there was no sexual contact or assault by Chmiel, Keep was infuriated by the situation, slapped Chmiel, crushed his ribs, and strangled Chmiel to death. "It was a pretty vicious death. The motive is his dislike of gay men," police said. (Outlines Chicago, May 10, 2000)

March 26, Denver

April Mora, 17, reported that she was attacked by three men, who held her down and carved the words "dyke" and "RIP" into her flesh with a razor. Before leaving, Mora says the men punched and kicked her in the stomach. She said that she was attacked because she is gay, and said that she was probably singled out by the men because she does not "look like a girl." Reports have indicated that the Denver police asked Mora whether her wounds were self-inflicted and even requested her to take a polygraph test, which she refused. The victim and her family have questioned the police's handling of the case, calling them rude and arrogant. Detectives continue to investigate. Colorado's hate crime law covers crimes motivated by race, color, religion and national origin, but not sexual orientation. (The Denver Post, March 29, 2002, Rocky Mountain News, March 28, 29, 2002)

March 29, 2002, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Community groups are calling the case of physical torture of John Runner, a 34-year-old man with disabilities, a hate crime based on sexual orientation. Runner was found in his home severely beaten and burned with bacon grease. Part of his brain had to be removed during emergency surgery. Law enforcement allege that Runner's cousin and roommate, Maurice Ellis, found Runner in bed with another man and an argument ensued. Investigators say Ellis hit and kicked Runner unconscious then burned his chest and head with bacon grease and that the physical battery and torture continued over a 12-hour period. Runner remained in critical condition at an area hospital. Runner had been unable to work for several years because he cannot use his left hand and walks with a limp. The League for the Blind and Disabled, United Voice and the Stop the Hate Coalition are among those have said they believe the attack was a hate crime and that his disability prevented him from being able to defend himself. (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, April 3, 2002)

"Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence." Scottish critic & jurist (1773 - 1850)

*********************************

Murder

Lives viciously taken away

http://www.glaad.org/action/campaigns_detail.php?id=3300&PHPSESSID= Gays that have been murdered

Mathew Shepard 10/98 (Wyoming)

Beaten and hung on a fence to die

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=130&PHPSESSID=

http://www.wiredstrategies.com/mrshep.htm Matthew Shepard's father's statement to the court

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard

Anti-Gay Family Research Council had anti-Gay advertising at the time of the murder.

http://www.glaad.org/action/al_archive_detail.php?id=1622&PHPSESSID=

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=130&PHPSESSID=

The report of the Wyoming attack comes one day after the Center for
Reclaiming America and Coral Ridge Ministries held a joint press conference
with the Family Research Council to announce a new series of anti-gay
television advertisements, in the same vein as their previous campaign,
which was placed in major newspapers this summer. They might as well have murdered

him themselves.

"What happened to Matt Shepard may shock and horrify
you, but something like it happens on a day to day basis in this country.
What's worse, Wyoming has no hate crimes bill to protect victims and
prosecute those who target them, because radical religious groups insisted
it would extend 'special rights' to lesbians and gay men, who have become
less than equal in their eyes. Is it a 'special right' to not be beaten
into a coma because of who you are? Ask the victims of the thousands of
anti-gay hate crimes...they're the ones who know."

GLAAD Executive Director, Joan M. Garry continued, "We invite those who
are so obsessed with the lives of lesbians and gay men to examine the tone
and tenor of their remarks well before they issue them. Think of who will
hear their words. Think of who will see these indelible images. If you
think homophobic advertisements like those which ran in our newspapers this summer are devoid of repercussions--think again. These ads give people permission to hate.
They are insightful vehicles. They have a real impact on real people's lives."

http://www.today.ucla.edu/1998/981028in.html pro gay

http://www.discriminations.us/2004/11/the_appeal_of_victimhood.html ABC trying to say no hate crime

Brandon Tina 12/1993 (Nebraska)

BRANDON TINA 1973-1993

Murdered for being gay

John Lotter is on death row

Marvin Nissen life without parole

http://mason.gmu.edu/~ynajafi/brandon.html

Gwen Araujo 10/2002

Beaten to death and buried in a shallow grave.

http://www.glaad.org/media/newspops_detail.php?id=3058&PHPSESSID=

Activist Terrianne Summers 12/01 http://www.glaad.org/media/np_archive_detail.php?id=353&PHPSESSID=

Fred Martinez 7/01

http://www.glaad.org/media/np_archive_detail.php?id=363&PHPSESSID=

J.R. Warren 7/00

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=89&PHPSESSID=

Billy Jack Gaither 3/99

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=116&PHPSESSID=

Barry Winchell 12/99

http://www.glaad.org/action/al_archive_detail.php?id=1476&PHPSESSID=

Baseball bat to the skull. Calvon Glover, murder, got life imprisonment.

Scott Amedure 8/96 The Jenny Jones diabolical

Murdered by Jonathan Schmitz. Shot.

http://www.glaad.org/action/al_archive_detail.php?id=2347&PHPSESSID=

Nicholas West (Texas) 11/93

West was kidnapped, beaten, robbed, and murdered because he was gay. The three men charged with his death bragged in their confessions to the police about killing him because he was gay. The murder was first reported by the Texas Triangle, a gay weekly. It was picked up by the New York Times. Only after that did any Texas daily newspaper report on the crime. Speakers at the rally talked about other gay bashings.

http://www.holysmoke.org/fem/fem0385.htm

Paul Broussard (Texas) 7/4/1991

Broissard was beaten and stabbed to death in Houston on July 4, 1991, by 10 suburban youths.

Charlie Resendez (Texas) 2004

Charlie was stomped to death in San Antonio. The killer left shoe prints on Resendez's face. The judge let him off on probation.

Steven Harvey Jamaican activist (Jamaica)

Three men who broke into Harvey's home on December,1 confronting him and his two roommates. The armed men demanded money. "We hear that you are gay," the gunmen yelled at the trio. The two housemates denied it but Harvey apparently remained silent. The housemates were gagged and bound. Harvey was ordered at gunpoint to help the gunmen carry valuables to his car. He was forced into the vehicle and kidnapped by his attackers.

Two hours later, he was found, shot dead. http://www.365gay.com/Newscon05/12/121005jamaica.htm

Roxanna Kay Ellis & Michelle Abdill 12/95 (Oregon)

http://www.glaad.org/media/archive_detail.php?id=238&PHPSESSID=

August 1998, Honolulu

A heterosexual man was killed in a public shower facility by a group of teen-agers because they thought he was gay.

September 1998, Fresno, Calif.

On Sept. 20, the apartment of transgender female Chanel Chandler was set on fire. Inside authorities discovered Chandler's body. She had been stabbed repeatedly with a broken beer bottle. According to police, the fire, which did not reach the room where Chandler's body was found, was likely a failed attempt to hide the murder. A police spokeswoman said about Chandler's gender identity and expression, "In a situation like this, that's the first motive

you jump on." In April 1999, murder charges against Christopher Lopez, 20, and Christopher Chavez, 17, were dropped after the two spent five months in jail. Fingerprints of one of the suspects were found on a bag inside Chandler's apartment. KFSN News TV of Fresno noted that Lopez and Chavez would not waive their right to a speedy trial. Since necessary evidence, such as DNA test results, was not available yet from the state crime lab, the district attorney's office dropped the charges rather than go to trial and risk an acquittal. To date, no charges have

been refiled. (The Fresno Bee, Nov. 9, 1998, Dec. 15, 1998, Dec. 16, 1998, Feb. 6, 1999, April 20, 1999)

Nov. 18, 1998, El Dorado, Ark.

James Ward, 37, was stabbed to death in his home. Jeremy Legget, 18, who was charged with the crime, claimed that Ward had made two sexual advances toward him.

Nov. 23, 1998, Huntley, Ill.

Christopher S. Martin, 22, was sentenced to life in prison for the hate-motivated murder in 1996 of a gay man.

Jan. 14, 1999, Little Rock, Ark.

Yitzak Abba Marta was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the 1996 beating and strangulation of a Transvestite.

Jan. 14, 1999, El Dorado, Calif.

Thomas Gary, 38, died after being run over by a truck and shot with a shotgun. The assailant claimed that Gary had made a pass at him.

Jan. 17, 1999, Texas City, Texas

Two black gay men, Laaron Morris and Kevin Tryals, were shot to death and one of the men was left inside a burning car.

Jan. 25, 1999, Taunton, Mass.

Derek Glacken, 27, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the fatal 1996 stabbing of a man whom he believed to be gay.

February 1999, Houston

Steve Dwayne Garcia died of a gunshot wound to the shoulder in a murder police described as a possible hate crime. At the time of his death, the victim was going home from a party wearing women's clothing and shoulder length hair. Because none of his jewelry was taken, investigators suspected he was targeted because of the way he was dressed. (The Houston Chronicle, Feb. 7, 1999)

Feb. 19, 1999, Sylacauga, Ala.

Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man, was abducted, beaten to death with an ax handle and set afire on burning tires in a remote area.

March 12, 1999, Los Angeles

Juan Chavez, 35, pleaded guilty to murder for the strangulation killings of five gay men in 1986 and 1989

March 1, 1999, Richmond, Va.

A gay, homeless man was killed and his severed head was left atop a footbridge in James River Park near a popular meeting place for gay men.

June 2, 1999, West Palm Beach, Fla.

Two teen-agers admitted that they beat a gay man, Steven Goedereis, to death on April 27, 1998, because he called one of them "beautiful."

June/July 1999, Northern California

Three synagogues in the Sacramento, Calif., area were destroyed by arson. Two brothers, who have links to an organized hate group, are suspects in the arson as well as the shotgun murders of two gay men, Winfield Scott Mowder and Gary Matson, in Redding, Calif. On Nov. 6, 1999, The Associated Press reported that one of the suspects in the Redding murders, Benjamin Matthew Williams, told a newspaper that he killed the gay men "because he believed their homosexuality violated God's laws." The Associated Press reported, "He said he hoped his violence

would incite more killings. ?I'm not guilty of murder,' Williams said. ?I'm guilty of obeying the laws of the Creator,' which he said holds that homosexuality must be punished by death. ?You obey a government of man until there is a conflict,' he said. ?Then you obey a higher law. So many people claim to be Christians and complain about all these things their religion says are a sin, but they're not willing to do anything about it. They don't have the guts.'"

July 3, 1999, Philadelphia

A 59-year-old gay man was found beaten to death in his apartment. The bodies of two other gay men from the Philadelphia area were found in the Schuylkill River in early June. Police are unsure if the first two deaths were the result of hate violence.

Oct. 31, 1999, Iverness, Fla.

After shouting anti-gay epithets, a teen-ager allegedly drove into a group of young people dressed in drag on Halloween night, killing 17-year-old Allison Decratel and injuring another person. The teen-ager, Richard Burzynski Jr., 17, and passenger Thomas Alan Bonneville, 16, drove past the cross-dressed group several times shouting "faggots" at the boys in the group before steering the car into the group of teens. The perpetrators fled the scene but were apprehended 50 miles north of the incident. On November 19, Burzynski was indicted on six counts, including

first-degree murder. (St. Petersberg Times, Oct. 29, 2000; Citrus Times, Nov. 2, 1999.)

November 1999, Baltimore

A group of six people went on a crime spree that included over a dozen armed robberies and four car-jackings. While most of the victims were threatened at gunpoint and otherwise not injured, one man was hit in the head with a baseball bat, and Tracy Ranta, a prominent transgender activist, was fatally shot in the chest. Police did not consider it a hate crime, only attempted robbery. Nevertheless, according to the detective on the case, one of the assailants asked

the shooter why he had shot "that lady." The shooter replied, "That was no lady - that was a faggot." Some transgender activists believe that since Ranta was the only one killed, the murder was a hate crime based on her status as a transsexual. Five people were arrested in connection with the murder. (The Baltimore Sun, Dec. 5, 1999)

Nov. 5, 1999, Center City, Pa.

John Thomas, 60, was charged with killing a gay man in October.

December 1999, Upland, Calif.

A man died after being hit in the head with a pool cue by an attacker who accused him of being gay. Jason Anderson pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. (Los Angeles Times, Inland Valley Edition, Sept. 8, 2001)

Dec. 12, 1999, Washington County, Pa.

Three men who went to an adult bookstore to "roll a pickle," or rob a homosexual, now face charges of kidnapping, robbery, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence and one count of conspiring to commit the crimes in the disappearance of Ira Swearingen, 49, a medical consultant from Stout, Nev. The gruesome details of the abduction, beating and murder of Swearingen were revealed in court. After being abducted, Swearingen was stuffed inside the trunk of his rental car while one of the perpetrators allegedly said, "Did ya hear it? I broke his jaw." Another perpetrator heard gurgling of blood and heard the victim screaming. They yelled "Shut up faggot! Shut up, pickle." Later, the victim was driven to an isolated area, forced to strip and marched into the woods as he pleaded for his life at which point, one perpetrator testified, he shot the victim between the eyes at close range.

Jan. 19, 2000, Columbus, Ohio

Scott Roberts, a gay man, told The Columbus Dispatch that he believes he and his partner of six years, Bill Camelin, were attacked because they are gay. Camelin was shot to death in the attack, and Roberts was wounded in the knee. Shortly after midnight, Roberts said, he and Camelin saw two men smile and signal to them in another car; so they followed them down a side street thinking they might be another gay couple. Once parked, the two suspects allegedly got out, asked what the men wanted and shot the two victims.

Feb. 4, 2000, Wayne County, Mich.

A jury convicted a 15-year-old boy of manslaughter for killing Alexander Charles, a 16-year-old schoolmate the previous May. Police reports reveal that the perpetrator told investigators that he was angry with Charles, possibly over an unwanted sexual advance.

March 22, 2000, Dix Hills, N.Y.

A distraught father committed suicide after the New York Police Department told him that they believed a skull and bones found in a plastic container in a park in Queens belonged to his stepson, Steen Fenrich, 19, who had been missing for six months. The teen's Social Security number and racial and anti-homosexual epithets were written on the skull with a marker.

April 12, 2000, San Francisco

Edgar Mora, 27, was sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and two years for a hate crime in connection with the March 1998 murder of a gay man.

May 15, 2000, Suitland, Md.

A male-to-female transgender woman was found dead in her apartment. Known as Carla Natasha Hunt, 35, the victim's body was the second male-to-female transgender woman to be found dead in the Washington, D.C., area. The authorities do not believe the two slayings are linked but local activists fear the two slayings may be hate crimes. Both victims frequented a section of the District known as a gathering place for transgender persons who solicit sex for money. The victim was found shot to death in the foyer of her apartment. The first victim, Tyrone "Tyra" Henderson, 22, whose body was found in an alley in northwestern Washington three weeks earlier, had suffered severe blunt force trauma to the head. According to news reports, the murders caused panic in the transgender community.

June 1, 2000, Baltimore

Gary William Mick, 25, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder and armed robbery after admitting that he murdered a gay man and tried to kill another because, he told police, he thought gay men were "evil." In the first attack, a New Jersey man was bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer at the Admiral Fell Inn in the Fells Point area of Baltimore. Mick met his second victim, a dentist, at a bar, had dinner with him and went home with him. He later attacked him with a knife. The men struggled and the victim escaped. The perpetrator told police that a childhood incident caused him to hate homosexuals.

June 15, 2000, Denver

First-degree murder charges were filed against Samuel Grauman, 21, who was accused of killing, Daniel O'Brien, 36, because O'Brien was gay. Grauman and another man were believed to have befriended gay men they thought would be easy robbery targets. (The Associated Press, June 15, 2000)

June 20, 2000, New York City

Amanda Milan, a 27-year-old transgender woman died after her throat was slashed with a knife outside the Port Authority. Witnesses say that a group of cab drivers cheered and applauded as the crime was committed and shouted transgender-phobic remarks. One of the perpetrators allegedly shouted phrases like "You're a man!" and "I know that's a dick between your legs." Three men were arrested in connection with the murder and held without bail. The incident has not been classified as bias crime. (lgny.com news July 10, 2000)

July 4, 2000, Grant Town, W.VA.

Arthur "J.R." Carl Warren Jr., 26, an openly gay African-American man was brutally murdered.

Two 17-year-old boys allegedly killed Warren, whose body was found on the edge of his hometown. Known to call Warren names considered racial epithets and anti-gay slurs, the boys allegedly beat him and repeatedly kicked him with steel-toed boots. They threw him in a car and drove across town, ignoring his pleas to be taken home, which they passed on the way to the gravel pullout where they savagely kicked him and then ultimately killed him by driving back and forth over him. Local law enforcement officials have refused to even consider the possibility that this was a hate crime. Neither current federal law nor West Virginia's hate crimes law include sexual orientation. The Justice Department has opened a preliminary investigation into the case. (Interviews with Warren family)

July 7, 2000, San Diego

Paul Cain, 28, a member of the Nazi Low Riders, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the beating and strangulation of a homosexual man in 1995.

July 25, 2000, Barron, Wis.

Raymond C. Welton, 33, was charged with a hate crime in the murder Michael Hatch, a 22-year-old hearing-impaired, disabled man on Oct. 20. Prosecutors contend that Hatch was robbed and beaten to death with a tire iron in part because his assailants thought he was gay. Three perpetrators allegedly lured Hatch from a bar because one of them had gone to school with him and thought he was gay. They allegedly shouted "hatred for gay people" during the beating. (The Associated Press, July 25, 2000, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Aug. 20, 2000)

July 28, 2000, Portland, Ore.

Eric Walter Runnings, 49, was sentenced to death for killing a lesbian couple in 1998.

Aug. 16, 2000, Cohoes, N.Y.

A former honors graduate and high-school football star received a 12-year prison sentence for killing a gay man in 1999 after they reportedly had a sexual encounter. Albany County prosecutors said David Linen, 21, fatally beat Robert Carpenter, 43, after engaging in sex with him. (The Washington Blade citing Albany Times Union, Aug. 25, 2000)

Aug. 24, 2000, Allentown, Pa.

A 24-year old fatally shot a 15-year-old youth attending a party in his home after the teen touched him on the arm and other partygoers suggested the teen was gay. According to the Allentown Morning Call, a witness said that the alleged perpetrator, Michael Gambler, retrieved a shotgun and shot Kevin Kleppinger in the forehead. Friends say that Kleppinger was not gay and had been rubbing the perpetrator's arm because he thought he had accidentally spit on it. Other teens in the apartment began teasing the victim that he might be gay before the perpetrator shot him. (The Washington Blade, Sept. 15, 2000)

Aug. 25, 2000, Baton Rouge, La.

A jury convicted Quincy Powell of second-degree murder for the beating and stomping death of Michael Fleming, 38, a gay man in June 1999, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. Prosecutors said that Powell killed the victim because he was gay and subsequently referred to the victim as "faggot Mike" when he recounted the murder. (The Washington Blade, Sept. 8, 2000)

Sept. 22, 2000, Roanoke, Va.

Ronald Edward Gay, 53, allegedly walked into the Backstreet Café and opened fire on patrons, killing one person and wounding six others. Gay told police that he shot seven people in a gay bar because he was angry about jokes people made about his last name. Gay has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Danny Lee Overstreet. Police have said that Gay admits shooting people "to get rid of, in his term, 'faggots.'" Police also report, "He told us people made fun of his name. He told us that he was upset about that." (The Washington Post, Sept. 24, 25, 2000)

Nov. 20, 2000, Savannah, Ga.

The body of Billy Jean Levetter, 46, a transgender individual, was found in a secluded area, face up with a wound to the back of the head, his pants pulled half-way down and shirt pulled up. Levette was the second transgender victim to be found dead in the Savannah area in about a year after the body of "Sissy" Charles Bolden, 36, was found in the woods in October 1999. Bolden was wearing women's clothing and had been shot to death. Both victims were known as "streetwalkers," and the motive is unknown, according to police. (The Southern Voice, April 13, 2001.)

March 4, 2001, Houston

Police found the body of Francisco Javier Luna in the parking lot of a downtown business. The victim suffered several gunshot wounds to the face, stomach and shoulder. Luna was dressed as a woman at the time of his murder, was wearing make-up and a brown lady's wig was found near his body. (KPRC Houston.com, March 5, 2001)

March 20, 2001, New Orleans

A robbery attempt of a gay-male couple resulted in one man dead and the other critically wounded by gunshot wounds. Neighbors and local business owners in the gay-friendly area suspected anti-gay hate as a motive and have voiced concern about rising crime in the area. One owner said that he has heard that police have asked residents to keep the crime rise quiet so as not to scare anyone. (Southern Voice, March 29, 2001)

May 30, 2001, New York

Authorities arrested Richard Rogers, 50, a man they think may be a serial killer responsible for killing up to five gay and bisexual men in the early 1990s based on fingerprints found on plastic bags used to dispose of dismembered bodies. Most of the victims were between the ages of 44 and 55 and were last seen at gay bars in Manhattan. (The New York Times, May 30, 2001)

June 9, 2001, Washington, D.C.

Alexander Gray, 22, was reportedly jumped and beaten by a group of men who called him "faggot" hours before he was fatally shot by a District police officer. Police are calling the beating a probable hate crime and have identified several suspects. Emergency medical technicians and police reportedly found Gray laying on the sidewalk crying in southeast Washington in response to a call. Gray told them about the attack. Gray, who had a cut over his eye and a gash on his head, refused medical treatment and an offer to be taken to the hospital for observation. Gray was

reportedly handcuffed and placed in a police car after he began cursing officers and threatened to assault several bystanders. Police drove him home, but Gray stopped by a neighbor's house after being dropped off. The neighbor called 911after Gray began spitting up blood. EMT's responded and again examined him; again, he refused treatment and said "all he wanted to do was go home and lie down." He reportedly started walking home but was soon being followed by two police officers, who told him he was not dressed appropriately, as his pants were torn, possibly due to

the assault, and his underwear was exposed. He began to jog; the officers chased him and later shot him because they said he was wielding a knife at some people who were playing dice. Witnesses say they never saw a knife. Police have launched an investigation into the shooting, and the U.S. Attorney's office has convened a grand jury to look at the shooting. (Washington Blade, June 29, July 6, Dec. 21, 2001)

June 21, 2001, Cortez, Colo.

The body of an openly gay, transgender teen, Fred Martinez Jr., 16, was found south of Cortez, Colo., five days after he left home to go to a carnival. Police have arrested another teen in the murder and are investigating whether the homicide was a hate crime based on sexual orientation or race. The perpetrator allegedly bragged that he "beat up a fag." Martinez often curled his hair, plucked his eyebrows, wore makeup and toted a purse to school. His mother told the press that she firmly believes her son's slaying was a hate crime based on his gender identity or because he was transgender. (Rocky Mountain News, July 3, 200; Cortez Journal On-Line, June 28, 2001; Denver Post, July 19, 2001)

June 29, 2001, Wichita, Kan.

A 58-year-old openly gay Wichita, Kan., hairdresser, Marcell Eads, was beaten and died from burns and smoke inhalation after the alleged bashers set his home on fire. Zachary Steward, 18, and Brandon Boone, 17, were arrested and a district court judge ruled there was enough evidence to charge the two with first-degree murder, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery. According to police detective Blake Mumma, Steward gave a statement in which he said that Eads had made sexual advances toward him, prompting Boone to start beating Eads with a broomstick and later with the end of a table and a rock. Steward also admitted to striking Eads, Mumma said. The alleged perpetrators also accused each other of setting the fire that killed Eads, and both took credit for trying to put out the fire. Trial was set for Oct. 8. Testimony showed that sex and sexual orientation appeared to be key factors in the motive. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, Aug. 22, 2001)

June 30, 2001, Las Vegas, Nev.

In Las Vegas, Jerry Lee Stamper-Ousley, 24, was found beaten to death inside his apartment complex. The victim had frequented a gay bar earlier that evening and died from blunt force trauma to the head. Police have no leads in the case, no suspects and have made no arrests. Investigators believe robbery may be the motive, but they have not ruled out a possible hate crime. (Las Vegas Review Journal, July 1, 2001)

July 26, 2001, Ketchikan, Alaska

David Blair, also known as Steve Perry, 35, was found dead by the Ketchikan Police Department. Blair was an openly gay Alaskan Native from the Organized Village of Saxman. Terry L. Simpson Jr., 19, and Joshua A. Anderson, 20, have been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, first-degree robbery and second-degree theft. They are being held on $50,000 bail. Police arrested Simpson and Anderson in response to a tip called in to Ketchikan Crime Stoppers, according to news reports. Originally, though he later reportedly recanted, the caller said he overheard the two men bragging that they were planning to "beat up and rob [Blair] because he is a fag," said Ketchikan District Attorney Stephen West. If Blair's murder is an anti-gay hate crime, the district attorney's office can do no more than it is doing now because the state's hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation, West noted. (Ketchikan Daily News, July 27, 2001, Interviews with Ketchikan District Attorney)

July 29, 2001, Nashville, Tenn.

Willie Houston, 38, was fatally shot in the chest in Nashville, Tenn., after the alleged gunman, Lewis Maynard Davidson III, 25, taunted him with anti-gay epithets. Houston had just finished a midnight riverboat cruise with his fiancee, Nedra Jones, and friends. Houston escorted a blind male friend by the arm into a restroom while holding Jones' purse. Inside the restroom, the gunman allegedly hurled anti-gay insults at the friends. He followed them out of the restroom while continuing his verbal harassment. Davidson then allegedly returned to his car where he

retrieved a gun and said, "Now what you got to say?" before firing the weapon at Houston. Police are searching for Davidson and have yet to officially call it a hate crime, saying the investigation is "still very much open." While the victim is reportedly not gay, Tennessee hate crime laws cover violence based on real or perceived sexual orientation. (The Tennessean, Aug. 1, 2001)

Aug. 19, 2001, Reno, Nev.

Adam Ezerski was arrested by federal law enforcement in Reno on the eve of a gay pride celebration for allegedly murdering a gay man in Florida. He had allegedly strangled Anthony Martilotto, 39, to death on July 26. On Aug. 13, he allegedly attacked Kevin Begoon in San Francisco and fled after striking Begoon in the head with a plaster statute and trying to strangle him. The suspect's brother said that Ezerski was a "homophobic woman chaser." (Bradenton Herald, Aug. 19, 2001)

Aug. 26, 2001, Leawood, Kan.

Gary D. Raynal, an openly gay, 44-year-old man, was found dead under an apartment deck after being tortured and severely beaten by at least two people, according to police. Raynal had been sexually tortured with a metal rod, according to his sister, Sandra Sheppard, and officials familiar with the investigation. His ears had also been burned, and he might have been strangled. His sister thinks he was killed because he was gay. Police have said they have suspects in the case and are investigating the possibility that anti-gay bias may have played a role in the crime. (Kansas City Star, Aug. 30 and Sept. 1, 2001, Interview with Police Sergeant Scott Hansen, Sept. 6, 2001)

Aug. 26, 2001, Portland, Ore.

Lorenzo "Loni" Okaruru, according to detectives, died after being savagely beaten about the head and face with a blunt instrument, most likely by a man who picked up someone he thought was a woman and was angered to find out Okarura was a biological male. Law enforcement officials have said they believe Okaruru was killed based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Civil rights groups and others in Portland, Ore., are denouncing the killing and say the murder shows the misunderstanding and hatred directed at members of the transgender community. The Washington County Sheriff's Office classified Okaruru's Aug. 26 beating death as a hate crime, the first such killing in the county. (The Associated Press State and Local Wire, Sept. 4, 2001)

Sept. 4, 2001, Queens, N.Y.

Edgar Garzon, 35, died three weeks after he was attacked when leaving a gay bar in Jackson Heights, N.Y., on Aug.14, according to police. Garzon suffered a skull fracture in the attack and died at Elmhurst General Hospital. Garzon had just left Friends Tavern when two men in a red car exchanged words with him and followed him toward his home. At the intersection the suspects got out of their car, pounded Garzon with either a baseball bat or lead pipe, then fled with his wallet. Police have labeled the beating a bias attack. (Newsday, Sept. 5, 2001)

Sept. 5, 2001, Madison, Wis.

An appeals court ruled that a man convicted of first-degree intentional homicide after testifying that he was driven to kill a tavern owner because of the man's sexual advances will not get a new trial. Kelly V. Bodoh, 23, faces life in prison after being convicted in the 1998 murder of Robin Elsinger, 40. Bodoh appealed the conviction saying that his attorney was deficient for not ordering psychosexual and alcohol evaluations that would have made other potential defenses, such as homosexual panic or posttraumatic stress, apparent. (The Chicago Tribune, Sept. 6, 2001)

Nov. 2, 2001, Cedaredge, Colo.

Local authorities opened the files into the investigation of the October 2000 shooting death of a gay-man, Steve Ruck, 31, in response to legal pressure from a local newspaper. Authorities ruled the death as a suicide, but hazy details and unanswered questions about the incident have led local gay-rights groups to say that it might have been a hate crime. Ruck died of a gunshot wound to the head and was in the bedroom of a neighbor, Bobby Wells, 62, when the shooting occurred. Ruck and Wells had spent the day golfing and drinking and both were intoxicated at the

time of his death. Wells gave authorities numerous accounts of what happened before the shooting. Initially, he said he was not in the trailer when Ruck died. Later, he said he and Ruck were lying on the bed in the dark, and he did not see Ruck shoot himself. He also said they were sitting in the bedroom looking at Wells' pistols. In another account, he said he was in the bathroom when the shot occurred. He also said that Ruck had at one point placed a loaded pistol to his head. Ruck's blood was spattered on Wells' clothing and feet showing that he was 4 to 6 feet away

from the victim at the time of the shooting. Wells said he is not gay and has no animosity toward gays. He said in one interview that he had no idea that Ruck was gay. In another, he said he might have heard he was. (Denver Post, Nov. 2, 2001)

Nov. 14, 2001, Milwaukee

Pablo Parrilla, 25, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide while armed in connection with the death of Juana Vega, 36. Friends and relatives of the woman are calling on the district attorney's office to charge the man with a hate crime for murdering his sister's girlfriend because she was a lesbian. The shooting occurred when Vega went to the home of her girlfriend's family to attempt reconciliation. Instead, Parrilla confronted her outside the house and shot her repeatedly, the criminal complaint says. One friend quoted Parrilla as saying on numerous occasions, "I'm going to kill you because you are gay," and "You turned my sister gay." Parrilla's sister had her first lesbian relationship with Vega, according to friends. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 20, 2001)

Dec. 12, 2001, Jacksonville, Fla.

Terrianne Summers, 51, a transgender activist, appears to have been shot in the back of the head while getting out of her car in her driveway, according to news reports. Local activists have asked police to investigate the murder as a possible hate crime. Police suspect it was an attempted robbery. Summers' purse, however, was not taken from the car. Local authorities have yet to identify any suspects. Summers, a retired Navy Lieutenant Commander, organized a local protest against the Winn-Dixie supermarket chain in January after an employee was fired for cross dressing offduty, according to Monica Helms, director of Trans=Action, a transgender advocacy group based in Atlanta. (The Florida Times-Union, Jan. 25, 2002)

Dec. 14, 2001, Mobile, Ala.

A jury found a North Carolina man guilty of murdering Jamie Ray Tolbert, 24, a gay Mississippi man, in an incident that occurred almost a year before on Jan. 1, 2000. The jury recommended life in prison without parole for Brett David Kabat, the first of two defendants in the case who are accused of kidnapping Tolbert from a Biloxi gay bar and brutally strangling him and beating him to death before dumping his body in Alabama and stealing his truck. Because friends say Tobert was gay, was last seen at a gay bar, and the nature of his murder was particularly brutal, local gay activists believe that Tolbert was targeted because he was gay. Tolbert's family has said that Tolbert was heterosexual. When police found Tolbert's body, he was beaten beyond recognition with just a few teeth left in his mouth, according to testimony. The district attorney has said there is no evidence that this is a hate crime and that "it was a crime of opportunity, plain and simple." (Southern Voice, Dec. 21, 2001)

Jan. 11, 2002, New Orleans

Police continue to investigate the murder of Kevin Paris, a 33-year-old gay transient who was stabbed and shot before his attacker meticulously cut his body into 12 pieces, vertically slicing his spine with a hack saw. The pieces were found in January 2001, in various garbage bags within a quarter-mile area just outside of New Orleans. The coroner said it was the worst case he had ever seen. Police admit it is a cold case that could use any information the public may have regardless of how insignificant it may seem to be. (The Southern Voice, Jan. 11, 2002)

Jan. 19, 2002, Chicago

A swastika and anti-Semitic and anti-gay messages were found scrawled near the origin of a fire in a Lakeview highrise that killed a man, authorities said. Though little damage was done to the building, Gregory Galvez, 71, a longtime resident, died of smoke inhalation as he tried to make his way down the stairs from his ninth-floor apartment, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Police said his body was found on the fifth-floor stairwell. Residents and police said there had been a rash of small fires in the building and hate messages scrawled on elevator walls over the last several weeks. At least one resident, the president of the building's condo association, had received hate mail, the source said. (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 21, 2002)

Jan. 26, 2002, Houston

Hugo Cesar "Bibi" Barajas was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds to the neck, arm and chest near a club that caters to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Barajas, who is anatomically male, was dressed as a woman at the time of the murder and was found in halter top, blue jeans, silver high heels with straps and a "woman's wig with curly brown hair." According to police, she was also wearing make-up. Police are investigating the murder as a possible hate crime and have no suspects, no motives and no witnesses in the case. Since the murder, transgender community activists have called for the state hate crimes law to be amended to include gender identity or gender non-conformity as a protected category. They have cited six similar murders of transgender women in the last three years alone. (Houston Voice, Feb. 13 and March 1, 2002; Texas Triangle, Feb. 1, 2002).

Feb. 4, 2002, Portage, Wis.

Jury selection began in the murder trial of Darrin Grosskopf, 33, who is accused of murdering Keith Ward, 21, in March 2001. Grosskopf claims that he and Keith had been drinking the night before the murder and that he was rudely awakened by Ward allegedly trying to sexually assault him. Investigators found Ward's naked body with a stab wound in the chest in Grosskopf's apartment. Investigators also found a hunting knife near the body with apparent bloodstains. Grosskopf allegedly told people he thought that Ward was gay. This along with comments he made to police led prosecutors to seek a hate-crime enhancement. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, Feb. 4, 2002)

Feb. 24, 2002, Santa Barbara, Calif.

Clint Scott Risetter, a 37-year-old gay man, was killed after an alleged arsonist poured gasoline over him while he slept and set him on fire. Martin Thomas Hartman, whom police say is a mentally troubled 38-year-old suspect in a number of arson fires in the city, said he killed Risetter "because he was gay, and he has a lot of hatred towards gay people." Hartman told police that he met Risetter about six months ago and learned recently that Risetter was gay. Hartman has been charged with murder, arson and a hate crime in connection with Risetter's death.

(Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2002)

April 10, 2002, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the Department of Justice's indictment of Darrell David Rice for the 1996 slaying of two female hikers in Shenandoah National Park, Va. The indictment marks the first time ever that the Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act was invoked to charge someone with a hate crime based on sexual orientation or gender. The Hate Crimes Sentencing Enhancement Act covers only crimes committed on federal property. On June 1, 1996, Julianne Marie Williams and Laura Winans were discovered dead in Virginia's mountainous Shenandoah National Park, bound and gagged with their throats slit. Rice was indicted by a grand jury in Charlottesville, Va., charged with four counts of capital murder, two of which allege that he chose his victims because of their gender and sexual orientation. While the law used by the department is an important tool for law enforcement, its opportunity for application is limited to crimes that were committed on federal property. If these murders would have happened in any of the dozens of state or regional parks in the Commonwealth of Virginia or

anywhere else in the county except on federal property, the department would not have been able to establish jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the case.

April 10, 2002, El Paso, Texas

Police classified the killing of a gay man, Hector Arturo Diaz, 28, as a hate crime. Diaz was fatally shot in the back apparently by an acquaintance. His body, clad in female clothing, was left in a parking lot. Justen Grant Hall, 20, was arrested and charged with the murder. According to news reports, police had asked for the help of the gay community to solve the case because Diaz was a transvestite. (El Paso Times, April 24, 27, 2002.)

Ignorance is not bliss:

Jamaica http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=188612

A gay reporter was in a bar in Montego Bay where he ask the bar maid what if her son turned out to be gay? She said she would cut his throat. That's how deep the level of intolerance of homosexuals goes. Nice family values. Violence against gay men in our country is widely advocated by a wide cross-section of our society. Actions are very extreme and inhumane with people going as far a to through sewage on them. Politicians ridicule them, the general public "bun dem", policemen abuse, harass and embarrass them. Policemen have been at the center of controversy as reports have shown that they are not "protecting and serving" all, instead they attack and hinder.

"The opportunity to be threatened, humiliated and to live in fear of being beaten to death is the only 'special right' our culture bestows on homosexuals."
- Diane Carman, Denver Post

Mr. President, this is not a joke. People are dying in the most inhumane ways. People are beaten and tortured because of what people think of gays. You are contributing to the violence. You are contributing to the hate. It's time to wipe the smirk off of your face and realize the magnitude of your actions.

The message that you send is enormous. If you think for one minute you are not responsible for the violence against gays that will increase because of you using gays as political pawns you are fooling yourself. Maybe that is how you sleep at night.

People, as you read these horrific acts of violence against gays ask yourself. Could these be happening because of a government that sends a message that gays are the enemy? Gays are unequal. Gays would "undermine marriage."

Since George W Bush has been in office hate crimes have increased. The percentage of all hate crimes that are anti-gay went from 13% to 16%. If Gays are only 6% of the population why are the percentage of hate crimes that are against gays 16%?

Hate Crimes Legislation

Currently gays are not included in Hate Crimes Legislation. The Anti-Gay groups are fighting it with everything they have.

Family Research Council:

Robert Knight, head of the Cultural Studies department at the Family Research Council. "Hate crime" legislation does indeed target thoughts and speech, he says, and if passed would provide "special protected status" for homosexuals. He notes that there are already laws on the books against violent actions against persons -- including homosexuals -- but that "hate crimes" legislation provides penalty enhancements against the perpetrator's thoughts and beliefs. "The only thing that hate crime laws target are thoughts," says Knight. "It's really an attack on free speech." Memo to Mr. Knight: God is love, God is love, God is love

American Family Association:

Stephen M. Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy, is concerned about the far-reaching implications of "hate crime" laws. "First of all," says Crampton, "the focus in criminal law has always been actions -- the taking of an innocent human life. Premeditation is considered as an evidentiary matter -- it distinguishes, for example, between murder and manslaughter." He notes that "hate crime" laws go a step further. "Hate crime laws actually delve one step deeper into a suspect's mind: They criminalize what a person thinks about a homosexual in the commission of a crime. While hatred for anyone may be abhorrent, it is not illegal." Memo to Mr. Crampton: God is love, God is love, God is love

Concerned Women for America:

Robert H. Knight is Director of the Culture and Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America. Kenneth L. Ervin, II assisted with the original article on which this is based.

"Hate crime" laws pose a danger to civil liberties in three ways:

1. They pave the way for suppression of the freedoms of speech, association and religion.

2. They violate the concept of equal protection under the law.

3. They introduce the un-American concept of "thought crime," in which someone's actions are "more" illegal based on their thoughts or beliefs.

There is no evidence that victims of "hate crimes" are receiving any less protection than victims of other crimes. To suggest otherwise insults the men and women of the nation's law enforcement community. http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=2575&department=CFI&categoryid=papers

Really....?

April 25, 2000, Germantown, Md.

A judge granted a protective order for a woman who was allegedly attacked by a man because of her sexual orientation. According to the victim, she, her partner and their 11-year-old daughter have been the victims of repeated anti-gay slurs and have had rocks and other items throw at their home because they are gay and some neighbors "want us out of the neighborhood." The incident in question occurred after a verbal altercation between the victim's child and the perpetrator's child, culminating in the perpetrator's attack of the victim. When police arrived on the scene, the victim was laying on the ground; her hand was bleeding; she had been kicked repeatedly in

the head by the perpetrator and his 12-year-old son while the son was allegedly yelling, "I'm going to kill you dyke bitch." Her face was swollen, and she had footprints on her shirt and marks on her neck and chest that required overnight hospitalization. Despite this, the police did not handle the incident as a hate crime and said that it was against their regulations to arrest the perpetrator because they had not witnessed the attack, thus forcing the woman to seek the aforementioned protective order to ensure her and her family's safety.

Nov. 7, 1999, Lawrence, Kan.

Two heterosexual men, one a student at Kansas University, were walking down the street when some men called them anti-gay epithets. After responding to the remarks, the two were attacked by five men. One of the victims was knocked backward on a concrete planter and held down while two attackers struck his face with their fists. The other ran to call the police. This was the third such incident in as many months. One of the victims said that the police initially told him they could not arrest the perpetrators because, "it was their word against ours."

Nov. 6, 1998, Seattle

A gay man was severely beaten with rocks and broken bottles in his neighborhood by a gang of youths shouting "fagot." The victim sustained a broken nose and swollen jaw. When he reported the incident to police two days later, the officer refused to take the report.

May 23, 2000, Salt Lake City

Police are investigating whether a 19-year-old woman working for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance was beaten and robbed because her attackers presumed she was a lesbian. The woman was canvassing when a male attacker in his 20s -- one of two white men with shaved heads -- allegedly ran up behind her, punched her in the face and knocked her down. The woman said the suspect then kicked her in the face while he yelled "dyke" and "queer." Initially, police response was slow, and the incident was not being treated as a hate crime. After pressure from local activists, police have said they are investigating the case as a potential hate crime.

2000, Colorado

Two men in a car harassed a white lesbian as she left a 7-11 store; one of them yelled an obscenity and called her a "faggot." The victim got into her own pickup truck and drove away, but the offenders followed her and eventually drove her off the road. When she got out of her car, the two men assaulted her sexually and beat her unconscious. A detective who later interviewed the victim about the incident was verbally abusive, calling her a "liar" when she said she couldn't provide a detailed description of her attackers. (Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Bisexual Violence in 2000, A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs)

July 29, 2001, Nashville, Tenn.

Willie Houston, 38, was fatally shot in the chest in Nashville, Tenn., after the alleged gunman, Lewis Maynard Davidson III, 25, taunted him with anti-gay epithets. Houston had just finished a midnight riverboat cruise with his fiancee, Nedra Jones, and friends. Houston escorted a blind male friend by the arm into a restroom while holding Jones' purse. Inside the restroom, the gunman allegedly hurled anti-gay insults at the friends. He followed them out of the restroom while continuing his verbal harassment. Davidson then allegedly returned to his car where he retrieved a gun and said, "Now what you got to say?" before firing the weapon at Houston. Police are searching for Davidson and have yet to officially call it a hate crime, saying the investigation is "still very much open." While the victim is reportedly not gay, Tennessee hate crime laws cover violence based on real or perceived sexual orientation. (The Tennessean, Aug. 1, 2001)

A young Chicago man is accusing police of ignoring his pleas for help after a gay-bashing incident in May that ended with his being criminally charged. Benjamin Stephens, a 21-year-old from the north side, said he was out to dinner with a friend when three men lured him from the restaurant, beat him and called him "faggot." A stranger saw the incident and drove him to the police station, where he said officers refused to help find the men who had attacked him. Stephens said he became angry, and officers arrested him, hit and shoved him around. The incident comes on top of a suit filed earlier this year by a man who says he was beaten by several off-duty Chicago police officers because they mistakenly thought he was gay. An Amnesty International report released earlier this year titled, "Allegations of Homophobic Abuse by Chicago Police Officers," alleges a series of anti-gay incidents, involving abuse and torture by Chicago police over the past few years. (Windy City Times, June 6, 2001; Chicago Tribune, Jan. 12, 2001; www. Amnesty.org, June 5, 2001)

Maybe Mr. Knight should read those hate crimes above. In more than a few the police didn't do as much as they should have.

Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806

Wired Strategies, a gay political website operated by John Aravosis, maintains that "anti-gay speech is the root of violence and even murder against gays."

Here's Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a press release blaming conservative Christians for what Foreman claims is a "spike" in "hate crimes" against gays in late 2003 and early 2004:

"The leaders of America's anti-gay industry are directly responsible for the continuing surge in hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. ... The right went into demonic, anti-gay hyperdrive following the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision in July of 2003. Since then, church pews have been awash in ugly, anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering. ... The literal blood of thousands of gay people physically wounded by hatred during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment." http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17261

B. BULLYING

FAGGOT, DYKE, LESIE, HOMO, POOFDA, QUEER, CHILD MOLESTER, UNNATURAL, HOMOSEXUAL,GOD HATER, SISSY

Research from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) found that 84% of LGBT students report being verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation. However, the National Center for Education Statistics found that only 1% to 2% of students aged 12-18 had been called a derogatory word related to their religion, disability, or race. More research needs to be done on this issue, but no matter what the numbers say, we know that the use of anti-gay slurs at school is a problem.

http://www.inqueery.com/html/homophobia_stops_here.html

While trying to deal with all the challenges of being a teenager, gay/ lesbian/ bisexual/ transgender (GBLT) teens additionally have to deal with harassment, threats, and violence directed at them on a daily basis. They hear anti-gay slurs such as "homo", "faggot" and "sissy" about 26 times a day or once every 14 minutes. Even more troubling, a study found that thirty-one percent of gay youth had been threatened or injured at school in the last year alone!

4. Gay and lesbian teens are at high risk because ?their distress is a direct result of the hatred and prejudice that surround them,' not because of their inherently gay or lesbian identity orientation.

5. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.

http://www.nmha.org/pbedu/backtoschool/bullyingGayYouth.cfm American Psychology Association Bullying gays

http://perham.eot.com/~vati/peterson/hist.html great article about the true facts about gays

"The opportunity to be threatened, humiliated and to live in fear of being beaten to death is the only 'special right' our culture bestows on homosexuals."
- Diane Carman, Denver Post

More about Hate crimes against gays:

http://gaylife.about.com/od/hatecrimes/i/gayhatecrime.htm

http://gaylife.about.com/od/hatecrimes/i/gayhatecrime_2.htm

 

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4/12/07

Gay Marriage Foe Arraigned On Charges Stemming From Demonstration
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/04/041207massattack.htm

Posted: April 12, 2007 - 7:00 pm ET 

(Worcester, Massachusetts) The former leader of a Catholic group advocating a constitutional ban on gay marriage in Massachusetts has been arraigned on assault and civil rights violations stemming from a demonstration last December.

Larry Cirignano, 50, who at the time was the head of Catholic Citizenship, is alleged to have attacked a woman taking part in a counter demonstration at an anti-gay rally in front of Worcester City Hall last December 16. (story)

Sarah Loy, 27, was part of a group who stood near the front of the rally where Cirignano was speaking. 

Loy was carrying a sign reading "No discrimination in the Constitution". 

Cirignano reportedly had just finished leading the Pledge of Allegiance when he spotted Loy and her sign.

Police allege that he left the podium and tackled Loy to the ground. "You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now," he reportedly told her as her head was pushed into the concrete sidewalk.

As Loy lay bruised and bloodied on the sidewalk Cirignano reportedly returned to lectern, joining other leaders of the protest in condemning same-sex marriage and demanding the proposed "discrimination amendment" be put on the ballot.

Other members of her group helped Loy from the scene. Loy who is straight and a supporter of same-sex marriage, had gone to the protest with her husband David. 

Cirignano several weeks later left Catholic Citizenship to lead a similar anti-gay marriage group nationally and now lives outside Washington DC.

At his arraignment hearing Cirignano was released on personal recognizance on the condition he stay at least 100 yards away from Loy and have no direct or indirect contact with her. 

The indictment states that Cirignano interfered with Loy's constitutional rights, including the right to demonstrate and freedom of speech.

He is scheduled to return to court May 1.

The Worcester rally was one of several Catholic Citizenship helped organize to pressure lawmakers to approve the proposed amendment.

On January 2, lawmakers approved the "discrimination" amendment.  It must receive a second approval this year in order to go on the 2008 ballot.

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4/13/07

Lawmakers name hate crimes bill after Matthew Shepard