'Gay Bashg' a Growg Threat to Homosexuals - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• CHAPTER 9 GAY-BASHG: VLENCE AND AGGRSN AGAST GAY MEN AND LBIANS
• GAY BULLYG, GAY BULLI AND DEALG WH GAY BASHG
• ‘GAY BASHG’ A GROWG THREAT TO HOMOSEXUALS
• TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED
• HOMOSEXUAL SAILOR BEATEN TO DEATH, NAVY CONFIRMS : CRIME: GAY-BASHG MAY BE MOTIVE, ACTIVISTS AND FAY MEMBERS SAY. THEY CHARGE VER-UP BY ARY.
• ‘GAY BASHG’--AIDS FEAR CED AS ATTACKS ON MALE HOMOSEXUALS GROW

CHAPTER 9 GAY-BASHG: VLENCE AND AGGRSN AGAST GAY MEN AND LBIANS

Publisher SummaryThis chapter foc on dividual gay-bashg through theorizg that ntribut to the stigmatizatn of homosexualy and vertly by failg to acknowledge and exame the problem of antigay vlence. The pervasive homophobic i of the society at large and of the amic muny self rulted both the neglect and the ghettoizatn of this important problem. The outset of aggrsn and vlence agast gays and lbians take many forms om the obv, such as physil attacks, sults, and vic jok, to the subtle but equally pernic, such as the refal to regnize the existence and legimacy of the gay muny and gay culture, the re-wrg of verse by famo poets to obscure referenc to same-sex love, and the genocidal failure by the Amerin ernment to fund AIDS preventn efforts at an aquate level.

The level of acceptabily or unacceptabily of homosexual behavr vari tremendoly om culture to culture and even over time wh the same culture. Gay bullyg statistics dite that gay teens are two-to-three tim more likely to m suici than other youths and about 30% of all suicis have been lked to a genr inty crisis. Gay bullyg statistics dite that 9-out-of-10 gay youth have been subject to bullyg and that, of those, almost half were physilly harassed and a quarter report beg physilly asslted.

Any dividual mor cince of gay bullyg or gay bashg may be somethg that someone n al wh but the ma problem wh is s pervasive and nsistent nature to the pot where jur an dividual's self-teem and sire to live. Many anizatns are dited to stop gay bashg and gay bullyg and there are more and more iativ lolly, like high schools, to stop gay bashg.

GAY BULLYG, GAY BULLI AND DEALG WH GAY BASHG

Over 4000 Gay-Straight Allianc are now registered wh the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network and iativ such as "No Name-Callg Week" now exist to put the spotlight on all typ of bullyg and bashg. He scribed his first exposure to the ps' gay bashg when he was told to meet a group of six to ten officers at a lol Sydney park while uniform.

Higgbotham quickly realized was not a legimate police operatn, but stead a brazen and public mob attack by uniform police targetg gay men. "Eventually, I unrstood that this was beatg gay people and was beatg gay people wh alumum tncheons and was done by on-duty uniformed police. "The cliffs surroundg the greater Sydney area NSW were popular wh members of the gay muny lookg to hook up durg the 1970s and '80s.

‘GAY BASHG’ A GROWG THREAT TO HOMOSEXUALS

Homophobic groups of men and youth would asslt and often murr gay men, throwg them or forcg them to leap om the cliffs onto the rocks below.

"He relled one ocsn where a gay man approached him on the street while Higgbotham was uniform, reportg he had been a victim of gay bashg. SAN FRANCISCO — Beaten by a roamg pack of thugs out for a summer’s “night of outrage, ” his head bounced off a curb, John Dennis O’Connell died 10 days was attacked solely bee he was a unprovoked asslts, sometim lled “gay bashg, ” have long been a form of homosexual harassment towns and ci where sizable gay populatns draw San Francis, wh a reputatn as a homosexual haven and an timated gay populatn of 15% of 700, 000 people, some say attacks are risg, spe efforts by gay advot and police to put the bashers behd Seidler, the Police Department’s liaison officer wh the gay muny, said the attackers are most often out-of-town toughs who e to the cy exprsly to hunt homosexuals or cy rints rentful of homosexuals sharg their neighborhoods and public of Exposure to AIDSThe latt twist, Seidler said, is attacks by youths who claim that homosexuals are exposg them to AIDS, the adly disease that most monly strik gay men. “One of the thgs you thk about every sgle day when you walk outsi of your hoe is that you uld be a victim of an asslt based on your sexual orientatn--’s drilled , ” said Randy Schell, a unselor wh Communy Uned Agast Vlence, a neighborhood group the largely gay Castro Street area.

TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

“It all go back to the old ncept that gay people are weak and they’re ferr and they’re not gog to try to protect themselv and they’re real easy victims, ” he ncept is changg even as the number of attacks ntu to rise, Schell said; more and more homosexuals are fightg back when attacked or are prosecutg their attackers.

”Faz said some lawyers thought that the O’Connell se was blown out of proportn bee of prsure om the gay muny, which hailed the sentenc as a victory. “(The fendants) sgled out an intifiable group of people and be the people homosexual, black, Jewish, some ethnic mory or somethg like that mak no difference.

”Timothy Whe, 23, and David Rogers, Donnie Clanton and Doug Barr, all 21, had driven 40 to San Francis om their hom Vallejo on July 29, 1984, wh the exprsed tent of “gay bashg, ” Faz said.

HOMOSEXUAL SAILOR BEATEN TO DEATH, NAVY CONFIRMS : CRIME: GAY-BASHG MAY BE MOTIVE, ACTIVISTS AND FAY MEMBERS SAY. THEY CHARGE VER-UP BY ARY.

Frank Reed said the Police Department kept no numbers for attacks on homosexuals but said they were a small percentage of the cy’s total asslts, which numbered 12, 000 1985.

‘GAY BASHG’--AIDS FEAR CED AS ATTACKS ON MALE HOMOSEXUALS GROW

Communy Uned, fanced by the cy and through grants, is tryg to stop the attacks through tn and agency sends speakers to school and civic assembli to talk about the gay muny and teach homosexuals how to protect themselv, Vazquez said.