From: Date: Mon, 10 Oct 94 21:22:56 EDT Subject: NGLTF Pleads for DOJ Intervention in Mississippi ************************************************* National Gay and Lesbian Task Force NEWS RELEASE Contact: Gregory Fisher (202) 332-6483 ext. 3309 (800) 757-7736 pager Beth Barrett (202) 332-6483 ext. 3215 2320 17th Street NW Washington, DC 200009 ************************************************* NGLTF PLEADS FOR DOJ INTERVENTION IN MISSISSIPPI Ruthless Murder of Gays Stuns Lesbian and Gay Community Nationwide Washington, D.C. -- October 10, 1994 -- Expressing a vote of "no confidence" in the local authorities of Jones County Mississippi, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) today requested federal intervention into the murder investigation of two gay men following ten months of escalating hate violence. The bodies were discovered Saturday morning near Laurel, Mississippi, a town located some 15 miles from Camp Sister Spirit, a feminist-lesbian retreat. The camp, outside Ovett, Mississippi, has been the center of anti-gay harassment since its establishment in 1993. Both men, identified as gay, had been shot in the head at close range and their bodies dumped in a remote area outside of Laurel. Law enforcement officers in the central Mississippi county refuse to acknowledge the potential hate-related nature of the crime, even though the murders come in the wake of ever escalating harassment, intimidation, and violence. In a letter sent today to Attorney General Janet Reno, NGLTF Executive Director Peri Jude Radecic, asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) for immediate assistance in ending the violence in Jones County. Radecic pleaded with Reno and the Department of Justice to take action in five areas: * Authorize Community Relations Service (CRS) mediation between the gay and lesbian community and local law enforcement. * Oversee the investigations into the murders through deployment of Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) officers. * Investigate the murders as a violation of the civil rights of the victims. * Issue an FBI and DOJ Civil Rights Division report as to why, after ten months of documented violence, harassment and intimidation, there have been no arrests. * Monitor the actions of Jones County Sheriff Maurice Hooks. For the past ten months, tension has run high in Jones County as local residents have waged war against Brenda and Wanda Henson, co-founders of Camp Sister Spirit, and their supporters. The Hensons have reported over 64 acts of violence and intimidation including death threats, bomb explosions, and gunfire. In fact, only six hours after the murders in Laurel, gun shots were fired across the property of Camp Sister Spirit. All the reported incidents have resulted in only one minor arrest from the Jones County Sheriff's department. Other acts of harassment and violence against gay and lesbian people including abduction, sexual assault, beatings, and stabbings have gone unreported to local authorities, according to G/L. Friendly, Inc., a gay and lesbian community service organization in Mississippi. "The lack of responsiveness from local authorities to the Camp Sister Spirit situation and also to a series of unsolved racially motivated murders in the same area have left people frightened and faithless that justice will be served in Jones County," Radecic said. "By their inactivity, the Sheriff's department has created an atmosphere of open season on gay men and lesbians. NGLTF first acted on behalf of Camp Sister Spirit in December, when Radecic wrote the Attorney General requesting CRS mediation between the camp and the local community. Reno responded by authorizing CRS to intervene in Ovett. That action marked the first time the agency had mediated community tensions based on sexual orientation. In her response, Reno highlighted the adversity gay, lesbian and bisexual people face because sexual orientation is not included in federal civil rights laws. "After months of asking, requesting, and demanding federal intervention in central Mississippi, we achieved this historic response, but it was not enough to save the lives of these two men," Radecic said. "Today, I am pleading with Attorney General Reno to bring the full jurisdiction of the Department of Justice to bear on this situation and countless situations like it throughout our country before more lives are lost. - end -