Tag Archives: anti-gay violence

Gay History - August 18, 1978: Boston Police Beat, Arrest 2 Gay Teens, State "This is for Anita Bryant"

Gay History – August 18, 1978: 2 Boston Police Officers Gay Bash Three Teens “This is for Anita Bryant!”

On August 18, 1978 three gay teens, two of them in drag, were walking to a Beacon Hill apartment when they heard screams coming from the Arlington Street T station. Two men came out of the station and ran to their cars. When Larry Brown called out their license plate numbers to his friends, the two men chased them down, beat and kicked them, and shouting, “This is for Anita Bryant.”

When the police finally arrived, the three youths learned that the men who had beaten them were actually Boston police officers: John Gillespie and Thomas Clifford. Patrol officers then arrested the victims, with Gillespie and Clifford going free. On the way back to the station, the arresting officers threatened to dump the youths “in the Charles River or the Blue Hills” saying: “queers have no right to live.”

Then Massachusetts State Rep. Barney Frank demanded an investigation, the BPD’s Internal Affairs Division obliged. They found Clifford and Gillespie guilty of physical and verbal abuse against the young men, failing to submit incident reports, and submitting false statements to their commanders and to IAD. Lt. Ralph Maglio was also found guilty of neglecting his responsibilities as a duty supervisor and of making false statements to IAD.

BPD Commissioner Joseph M. Jordan suspended Clifford and Gillespie for three months without pay. Maglio received a one week suspension without pay.

Jordon’s action made it the first time Boston police officers had ever been disciplined for abusing gay people

Source: Box Turtle Bulletin

3 Men Dead In "Intentional" Hit & Run Outside Chicago Gay Bar

Crimes Against Gays and Lesbians Rose 25% in Washington DC in 2017, Trans Violence Falls.

The DC Metro Police have released statistics from last year showing that citywide crimes in general and crimes against transgender individuals decreased by 11 percent in 2017 while the number of crimes involving gay and lesbian victims  has increased over 25%

At a news conference on Tuesday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined the director of the city’s Department of Forensic Sciences, which operates a high tech crime lab, in announcing what they called optimistic crime data in the city for 2017.

“Throughout 2017, crime continued to decease in Washington, D.C., with a 22 percent reduction in violent crime, a 9 percent reduction in property crime, and an 11 percent decrease in total crime,” a statement released by the mayor’s office says.

According to DC’s Metropolitan Police Department’s Lt. Brett Parson preliminary figures for 2017 through the end of November show an increase of over 25%  based on gay and lesbian sexual orientation – from 38 in 2016 to 51 as of the end of November 2017 and shows a decrease in the number of hate crimes targeting transgender people from 18 in 2016 to 13 as of the end of November 2017.

Parson didn’t provide specific figures showing the number of LGBT-related crime incidents investigated or recorded by the LGBT Liaison Unit.

Source:  The Washington Blade

Nevada Man Murders 14 Year Old Son for Being Gay – Video

 

A man in Henderson, Nevada has murdered his 14-year-old son because he couldn’t accept the fact that his son was gay.

The murder took place last Thursday, said 53-year-old Wendell Melton shot his son, Giovanni Melton, in the apartment where the teenager lived alone.

The Henderson Police Department said in a Facebook post that Wendell Melton was arrested at the scene on felony charges of open murder, child abuse and firearms possession and “booked into the Henderson Detention Center.”

The teen’s former foster mother Sonja Jones,, stated that the boy was “abused physically and mentally and spiritually for many, many years” and said she believes he was killed because of his sexual orientation.

“He hated the fact that his son was gay,” Jones said. “I’m sure that inside of his mind, he would rather have a dead son than a gay son.”

Jones added that it was her understanding that Melton had caught Giovanni “with his boyfriend before and pulled out a gun on him.” And hopes authorities “throw the book” at Wendell Melton.

“I hope he never sees the light of day,”

 

3 Men Dead In "Intentional" Hit & Run Outside Chicago Gay Bar

More LGBT People Were Killed In Hate Crimes So Far In 2017 Than In All Of 2016


More LGBT people have been killed in hate-violence-related homicides so far in 2017 than in all of 2016, according to data from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

As of August 2017, there have been 33 hate-violence-related homicides of LGBT people. In 2016, there were 28 — that number excludes the 49 people killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.

The NCAVP’s tally is not definitive, but it’s the most comprehensive yearly indicator — in the absence of reliable nationwide government data — of how many homicides of LGBT people are being reported around the country. The organization gathers data from media reports, friends and family members of victims, and member organizations across the country.

Dallas Drake, senior researcher at the Center for Homicide Research, says that the rate of homicides of gay men  and trans women are worth studying, but he said, the NCAVP is likely undercounting the real number.

“There are a lot more homicides of LGBT people than what they report,” Drake said. “They don’t report generally from communities that are smaller or where cases are not easily identifiable as LGBT homicides.”

Vanessa Panfil, an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice at Old Dominion University in Virginia, said that an increase in violence is in line with a real backlash against progress made on LGBT rights in recent years.

That backlash, she says, has been encouraged in part by the Trump administration walking back Obama-era guidances and policies that were LGBT-inclusive.

Source: Buzzfeed

LGBT Hate Crime Attacks Continue In Dallas, TX With 5 More Happening In 3 Weeks

LGBT Hate Crime Attacks Continue In Dallas, TX With 5 More Happening In 3 Weeks

 

Hate crime attacks have been on the rise in the Dallas, Texas neighborhood of Oak Lawn with over a dozen anti-gay attacks reported last fall alone.

Now reports now emerging that 5 more that have happened in just under only 2 weeks.

• A gay couple was attacked behind the Round-Up Saloon, the city’s iconic country and western gay bar.

• A gay man fought off his attackers after being jumped while walking from Station 4, the city’s largest LGBT nightclub, to his apartment.

• A person attending the Texas Bear Roundup, a large gay event, was attacked on the Cedar Springs strip in the heart of Oak Lawn, with his wallet stolen.

• A man ran from three men wielding a baseball bat between the Round-Up Saloon and the nearby Walgreens drug store.

• A trans woman required stitches after being attacked while walking down the street behind the Brick, a gay bar.

Over 20 new recruits have signed up for the Dallas Police Department’s Volunteers in Patrol but  police still haven’t made any arrests in connection with those incidents, and the volunteers’ presence apparently has done nothing to quell the wave of violence against LGBT people in the city.

John Anderson, one of the volunteer patrol members also states that an alarming occurrence is that many attacks are going unreported to the police.

“Unreported attacks are an epidemic issue in Oak Lawn,” Anderson wrote. “If you are attacked, please call 911 immediately. It does not matter if you are intoxicated or undocumented. The police only care about catching the attackers. We cannot become complacent about the crime wave in Oak Lawn. The attackers were never caught and there are still attacks EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND.”

Please be aware of you surroundings and take care of yourself.  This goes not just for the LGBT community of Dallas but for everyone.

See something, experience something.  SAY SOMETHING.

 

Victim Accuses Huntsville Alabama Police Of “Straight-washing” Gay Bashing‏ – Video

straightwashed

 

Gary Bravo of Huntsville Alabama was “gay bashed” in front of a downtown bar and suffered  four broken bones in his face, a fractured ankle and he has not regained full vision in his right eye yet.  And if that was not bad enough Bravo also had to deal with the  Huntsville Police who refused to report the fact that he attacked for being gay and left it out of the report.

According to Bravo two men beat him and used anti-gay slurs after he tried to stop them from accosting his female friend Friday, June 5.

He said he and his female friend had just bought hot dogs outside of Sammy T’s when one of the men grabbed his friend’s arm. Bravo stepped in and told them to leave her alone. “The next thing I remember, is being swung around and being swung at,” Bravo said. “I ducked, and then after that my memory goes blank.”

Bravo believes the attack was motivated by his sexual orientation.

“When you use f—– and a few other choice words that are not appropriate for all ages, you know it’s directed to you,” Bravo said. “It’s not just a normal fight.”

Free2be Safe Anti-Violence Project set up a special fund for Bravo and have raised approximately $1,800 of their $2,500 goal, according to James Robinson, Free2Be executive director.

Robison said police took Bravo’s statement directly after the altercation.

Bravo said police left his statements about his attackers using anti-gay slurs out of the report.

“You’re an officer of the law,” Bravo said. “You should not object to putting something in a report. Everything should be taken down. It should not be ignored just because I’m a gay man and you don’t want to hear it.”

Lt. Darryl Lawson, communications relation officer with the Huntsville Police Department, said that type of information is not included in a report, just a narrative of the incident.

“We won’t necessarily put in (the report) he said this, she said that,” Lawson said.

Lawson said he was unaware of Bravo or any witness telling police officers that anti-gay slurs were said by the attackers.

“It would still be an assault-second charge,” Lawson said. “The only time the hate crime law comes into play is as an enhancement to whatever the sentencing is.”

Alabama’s hate crime law does not apply to sexual orientation, but if it did, Lawson said, “it would not be a factor at this point in the case” .  

SOURCE: AL.COM

 

4 Gay Men Attacked With Firebombs In Jamaica, Flee For Their Lives

Jamaica anti-gay hate

Four gay men fled for their lives after the house they occupied came under attack by an angry mob of 14 men Tuesday night near St. James in Jamaica who firebombed the house they were staying in.

Jamiaca’s newspaper The Gleaner states local authorities were unable to take the men into protective custody because they would not be safe at police facilities there, but said they are investigating the attack.

“There is an ever present atmosphere of hostility towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Jamaicans, especially those from lower socio-economic status who have to be in crowded public spaces and use public transportation,” Latoya Nugent, manager of education and outreach at J-FLAG said. “Unlike some, they do not have the economic wealth and social capital to avoid these spaces that might be more dangerous. As a consequence, many LGBT live in great fear, and they feel inferior, powerless and invisible because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.”

University of Central Missouri Blames Gay Student For Being Threatened With A Knife

UCM

 

Missouri many be the “show me state”, but all that the University of Central Missouri is showing is its own internal homophobia and its lack of understanding and care of its LGBT students as it is blaming an 18-year old student who was threatened with a knife by his new school-assigned college roommate because he was gay for it happening..

18 year old Alex Worthley, an openly gay freshman at University of Central Missouri was given a dorm roommate who does not like gay people, and asked specifically not be assigned to a gay roommate, but UCM didn’t care and one night when Worthley asked him to turn the volume of his music down, he threatened him with a knife.

He was like, ‘I do have a knife and I’ll use it if I have to,’” Worthley told WDAF TV news.

Worthley reported the incident, and others that had happened in the past to school authorities. Finally UCM  gave the two students different rooms, but also gave Worthley a letter of discipline stating that he was partially to blame.

“There seems to be a strong possibility that some of your own actions and comments were part of the reason this situation escalated from jesting to threatening,”

Worthley was shocked when he received a letter of discipline saying it “Made it feel like because I’m gay that it was my fault that those threats were made.” 

When asked to comment about the pairing of the two freshmen and the letter of discipline UCM spokesman Jeff Murphy issued the following statement:

 “Consistent with university policy, the Office of Student Housing does not make room assignments or reassignments based upon sexual orientation, race or other university protected status.”

“The university cannot comment on specific details regarding a conflict between students, but UCM takes seriously the process in handling such situations and in addressing student concerns, including communication procedures with those involved. We are confident in our existing procedures, but will review this matter, with a goal to make certain there is no misunderstanding about the roles everyone at the university plays in ensuring a positive, supportive campus environment.”

You can watch the full  WDAF TV news report HERE

 

 

Homeless Man Severely Beaten In Los Angeles, CA For Being Gay

A gay man homeless man was severely beaten near Hancock Park in Los Angeles, CA this morning at about 1:00 am in what the LAPD is investigating as a hate crime.

The attacker approached the victim on the street calmly and after a short conversation in which the homeless man described his current situation and described himself  as gay and having AIDS, the beating began.

The attacker uttered anti-gay slurs attacking him,  kicking him and beat him up.

The victim is in his mid-30s and was taken to the hospital where he is in critical condition.

No further information is available at this time.

Source:  LA Weekly

FIGHT BACK! – Lesbian Victim Takes Down Anti-Gay Hate Crime Attacker

It was just another night full of anti-gay hate for22 year old William Adam Lane in Bellingham, WA as he looked for LGBT people to harass.  That is until Lane picked on the the wrong lesbian couple.

A  22-year-old man was arrested for an alleged hate crime against a lesbian couple early Sunday, Dec. 11, after he yelled slurs at them and smashed in the window of a victim’s car, but was then pinned to the ground by one of the victims, police said. William Adam Lane confronted the couple outside a bar early Sunday in the 200 block of Chestnut Avenue when he saw them embracing, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young. Lane made profane, derogatory comments about the couple’s sexuality, but the women “expressed no interest in having a conversation,” Young said. Lane then smashed in the rear window of the Toyota they’d arrived in, causing about $600 damage, Young said. One of the women tackled the suspect and pinned him to the ground while she waited for help from a bouncer at the nearby bar.

The two women, ages 23 and 30, were unhurt and  assault charges will be brought against William Adam lane who was arrested on the spot.
 
*Lights and raises lighter* to the awesome lesbians!
 
Hail Sappho!