Subject: Gay Bashing Stats Please
From: Sam Damon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 06:37:06 -0400 (edt)

> Date: Wed, 26 Jul 95 17:55:38 PST
> From: [email-masked] (Bruce Amsbary)
> Subject: Gay Bashing Stats Please
> 
> This afternoon I put up a post on the Gay & Lesbian con on my local BBS
> which mentioned that hundreds of gays and lesbians are murdered and bashed
> every year simply for being Queer.  The local on-line Fundie minister asked
> for statistics to back up my assertion.

In the first national survey to  focus exclusively on antigay violence,
conducted by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force in 1984, here are some
results of its respondents (Gregory M. Henrek and Kevin T. Berrill, eds.,
Hate Crimes: Confronting Violence Against Lesbians and Gay Men, Newbury
Park, Calif.: Sage, 1992):

 - 94% had exprienced some sort of victimization
 - 19% had been punched, kicked, hit, or beaten at least once because
   of their sexual orientation
 - 44% had been threatened with physical violence because of their
   sexual orientation

In a summary of 26 antilesbian and antigay violence or victimization surveys
conducted between 1977 and 1991 (Ibid.):

 - 80% of respondents were verbally harrassed
 - 44% were threatened with violence
 - 33% were chased or followed
 - 25% were pelted with objects
 - 19% experienced vandalism
 - 17% were physically assaulted
 - 13% were spat on
 - 9% were assaulted with an object or weapon

In the five major US cities that have professionally staffed agencies that
monitor antigay violence -- Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Paul, New
York, and San Francisco -- reports of antigay incidents increased by 172%
between 1988 and 1992 (National gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute,
Anti-Gay/Lesbian Violence, Victimization and Defamation in 1992, Washington
DC, 1993):

 - In 1988, 697 incidents were reported
 - In 1989, 949 incidents were reported
 - In 1990, 1,389 incidents were reported
 - In 1991, 1,822 incidents were reported
 - In 1992, 1,898 incidents were reported

All of the above are quoted from page 69 of one of the BEST collection of
gay statistics: _GAY & LESBIAN STATS: A Pocket Guide of Facts and Figures_,
an 80 page book edited by Bennett L. Singer and David Deschamps (1994, The
New Press - $5.95).  A must-have for any gay library.

Congressman Gerry Studds writes in its introduction, "Some forty years ago,
a popular volume was published called 'How to Lie with Statistics'.  As its
author puts it, 'A well-wrapped statistic is better than Hitler's *big lie*;
it misleads, yet it cannot be pinned on you.'

As lesbians and gay men, we have all too often found ourselves at the mercy
of such well-wrapped statistics.  Yet we do not have at our disposal a
solid base of information with which to refute the big lies of our own
time."

Pages 68-72 is devoted to "Violence."  Among other chapters are
Activism/Politics, AIDS, Bisexuality, Civil Rights/Law, Demographics/Social
Activities, Family/Relationships, Health/Medicine, International, Media,
Military, Public Opinion, Religion, Sex, Workplace, and Youth Education.  A
special section summarizes all the previous studies that attempt to count
the number of homosexuals in the US.  Every factoid in the book is copiously
referenced to its original source.  Each factoid is concise, usually no
longer than 10 lines.