It was an unmon sight, reflectg an unmon partnership: Three police officers and about 14 gay men, most clad leather, together walkg the dimly l streets of Silver Lake.
Contents:
- POLICE, GAYS PATROL VLENCE-PRONE AREA
- JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
- PAW PATROL AND A GAY DALMATIAN
- QUEER AS COP: GAY PATROL UNS AND THE WHE FANTASY OF SAFETY
POLICE, GAYS PATROL VLENCE-PRONE AREA
* patrol gay *
It was an unmon sight, reflectg an unmon partnership: Three police officers and about 14 gay men, most clad leather, together walkg the dimly l streets of Silver two groups llaborated Friday night to patrol the muny’s gay bars, which homosexuals pla are mon s for “gay-bashg, ” vlence agast homosexuals bee of their sexual orientatn.
Police and gay muny lears say they hope ’s the begng of a betiful a iendship, perd. “I fely thk reprents progrs, ” said Mark Hasks, an anizer of the Silverlake Neighborhood Actn Patrol (SNAP), a 1-year-old, stgglg effort to ploy volunteer patrollers about once a month hop of curbg gay-bashg.
“It’s two groups that have a history of adversarial relatnships, gog to a new era of mment to lickg the problem of gay-bashg. ”Friday night’s foot patrol marked the first time Silver Lake that police and gay activists have directly joed forc to addrs attacks on homosexuals.
JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league to e out as gay. * patrol gay *
Northeast Divisn police officers acpanied SNAP volunteers on a late-night trek through Sunset Junctn, a graffi-srred area around Sunset, Santa Moni and Griffh Park boulevards and Founta Capobian formed SNAP Febary, 1989, after a homosexual employee of his Silver Lake cloth store was beaten after leavg a the begng, the patrol was heavily supported and volunteers walked the streets every weekend, said Capobian. The Los Angel County Commissn on Human Rights, a report released Febary, rerd 86 hate crim last year agast homosexuals.
That number was up 41% om 1988, and two-thirds of the cints volved asslts, the study gay advot said even that number is nservative, bee many cints are never reported to thori. The Gay and Lbian Communy Servic Center Hollywood, which operat a hot le for gay-bashg victims, last year received about 170 plats. However, “gay-bashg” is an elive subject, difficult to fe or quantify.
About one-third of the cints reported to the gay and lbian center were plats about police who homosexuals nsired overzealo their patrols of gay bars for health and safety vlatns. Northeast Divisn police, on the other hand, do not perceive gay-bashg as a major problem. Officer Ben Lee, whose beat clus the Sunset Junctn area, said he nnot remember the last time he received a gay-bashg fact, police seldom receive plats about the Silver Lake bars, he said, and generally leave them alone.
PAW PATROL AND A GAY DALMATIAN
before this starts the gay dalmatian is not marshall he would not dye himself rabow to make everyone know he's gay and he's not gay if your'e a kid and don't know what gay is then ask your parents or stop readg ok to the story now one day adventure bay marshall me om his mpg... * patrol gay *
“The only reports I get, ” he said, are plats om homeowners about homosexuals “cisg rs or walkg around neighborhoods after the bars close.
”Homosexuals are reluctant to report the attacks to police--often bee they don’t believe their plats will be taken serly, said Donna Wa, -chairperson of the Los Angel Gay and Lbian Police Advisory Task and gay advot the past have also disagreed on what nstut gay-bashg. 28, 1987, and robbed of his leather jacket after he left a Silver Lake bar, the gay muny angrily mand protectn om gay-bashg.
But police nsired a random robbery, not a homosexual-targeted crime. Another difficulty quantifyg gay-bashg, even members of the gay muny agree, is that the assailants are sometim homosexuals themselv, who are picked up at Silver Lake bars or on the “cise” and who beat their partners after gog home wh them.
QUEER AS COP: GAY PATROL UNS AND THE WHE FANTASY OF SAFETY
The unty missn’s study found that more gay-bashg cints occurred rinc than public or at plac of spe of the srcy of solid documentatn, the perceptn of vulnerabily remas extremely high the Silver Lake gay muny, activists also occurs Wt Hollywood, the other gay enclave Los Angel, gay advot said.
But they said attacks may be more vlent around Sunset bars’ clientele, maly gay men, attract attentn an area where gang activy abounds, Hasks said. And the nsy of the bars--all wh walkg distance of one another--mak the area a prime lotn for crim aimed at spe of the gay muny’s uneass wh the police, SNAP’s lears cid to appeal to police for help. Whout promisg to make a practice, they agreed to acpany the group on a trial a rult of that meetg, 14 gay male volunteers joed three police officers Friday night.