From: Babngltf@aol.com Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 17:16:14 -0400 Subject: NGLTF Press-Coroner Outrage SPOKANE COUNTY CORONER BLAMES GAYS FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL OFFICIAL RAILS AGAINST HOMOSEXUALS, PEOPLE WITH AIDS FOLLOWING AUTOPSY STATEMENT FROM NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE AUGUST 11, 1995...Dr. Dexter Amend, Spokane County Coroner in Washington State, has invoked gays-and-child-molestation stereotypes by blaming the sexual abuse and murder of a nine-year-old girl on homosexuals because an autopsy showed the victim had been sexually molested, including sodomized. "She's been sodomized over and over and sodomy is a homosexual act, it is," said Dr. Amend, an elected official. "To have everybody think homosexuality is OK is a bunch of baloney. I don't care what the political ramifications are on this. It's a horrible, unbelievable thing that this child went through and they (homosexuals) destroyed her life." His comments have outraged local human rights commission members and gay and lesbian citizens in Spokane and nationwide, and have called into question Dr. Amend's ability to perform his job as a medical official. The controversy has also stirred up scrutiny of homophobia and AIDSphobia in the medical profession in general. The body of young Rachel Carver was found near the Spokane River on June 15. The girl's disappearance and murder has shocked the local community. Police arrested her uncle, Jason Wickenhagen, who confessed to the killing. The autopsy indicated the girl had been beaten to death and repeatedly sexually assaulted. KXLY Television local news reported that court records show Rachel's father, uncle and her mother's boyfriend are all suspected of molesting her over the years. Although there is no evidence whatsoever that Rachel Carver was ever abused by a homosexual, Dr. Amend took the opportunity of releasing his autopsy report to condemn gays and blame them for the spread of AIDS. Dr. Amend's comments, as reported by KXLY and the Spokesman-Review, include: "It's a crime that we don't expose the homosexual community, and it is not just a simple...aberrant sexual activity. It is significant when it takes in innocent minds like this Carver gal. "I think it (homosexuality) is an aberrant sex activity that is promoted by the thoughts and sensations that are associated with the sex act that drive people to do...abnormal things and animalistic things and as a result bring about cancers and death on the part of the recipients and the active individuals." Until now, nobody has ever blamed or linked the death of Rachel Carver to homosexuality or AIDS. In follow-up interviews in the Spokesman-Review and other local media, Dr. Amend said, "AIDS is a disease that comes from anal intercourse and homosexuals have anal intercourse. As a physician, my job is to try to control disease. "It can't be normal considering the impact it has on the lifestyle and death of people with AIDS...the bottom line, it (AIDS) wouldn't have started if there wasn't homosexual activity that brought whatever causes AIDS...reactivity of sperm in the rectum or whatever," said Amend. There was no indication from the autopsy report whether Rachel Carver had HIV or AIDS, nor was there an explanation from Dr. Amend of why he was directly linking HIV to this murder case. The Spokane Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has called for Dr. Amend's resignation, saying, "Dr. Amend has scapegoated an entire group of people. His comments are personal in nature and devoid of fact. Most sex crimes are not perpetrated by gays or lesbians, but by heterosexual males. Homosexuality and pedophilia are not the same thing. The SHRC welcomes the opportunity to help the public distinguish between the myth and reality regarding our gay and lesbian neighbors." Members of the local gay community are now considering a recall campaign against Amend. Following is a statement from Robert Bray, spokesperson and field organizer with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the nation's oldest gay, lesbian and bisexual civil rights group. *** Dr. Amend's bigoted and unconscionable comments are revolting, medically unsound and dangerous. He is fueling an environment of harassment and violence and has endangered the lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens of Spokane. His poisonous prejudice and erroneous "facts" prevent him from serving the health and medical well-being of his community. We call on citizens of Spokane, the scientific and health professions, and all people of conscience to stop this medical monstrosity. Dr. Amend makes two wildly inaccurate assumptions. First, that sexual abuse is only a gay phenomenon, and, second, being gay equals AIDS. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and numerous national and international medical groups report that HIV affects men, women and children regardless of their sexual orientation. AIDS is the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 40. HIV does not discriminate, Dr. Amend does. The July 1994 issues of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics and child welfare workers, reports that a child's risk of being molested by a heterosexual may be more than 100 times greater than being abused by a homosexual, lesbian or bisexual. The report, conducted by the University of Colorado, states, "No evidence is available from this data that children are at greater risk to be molested by identifiable homosexuals than by other adults," said the report. Dr. Amend's assertions about the victimization of young Rachel are based on loathsome and medically indefensible stereotypes and mistruths. They are also seriously insensitive. Although he is entitled to his personal opinions, he cannot use his public health position to spew bigotry. Imagine if you are the traumatized parent of a person who has died of AIDS, or of a deceased gay son or daughter, and you must take the body to Dr. Amend. It boggles the mind at how shocking, tragic and incompassionate Dr. Amend's statements are to the family of Rachel Carver and the citizens of Spokane. We support the call for his immediate resignation. We also call on public officials of Spokane -- particular the County Commissioners -- and clergy, elected officials, the media, medical, child welfare and educational leaders of the community to condemn the doctor's statements. Silence equals complicity and allows bigotry to perpetuate. Unfortunately, Dr. Amend's comments reveal a larger problem not endemic to Spokane. He is a licensed doctor as well as an elected official. Despite the advances in medical and scientific research on AIDS and homosexuality, prejudice and bigotry still permeate the medical profession. Blind prejudice allows physicians such as Dr. Amend to practice medicine and matriculate through the medical academic system. Therefore, we also call on the American Medical Association and other professional coroner, medical school and health professional groups, especially those in the state of Washington, to condemn homophobic and AIDSphobic rhetoric of its practitioners such as Dr. Amend. We urge them to implement ongoing trainings that sensitize medical practitioners to the facts about being gay. Finally we call on citizens of conscience around the nation to protest Dr. Amend's comments, urge local officials to respond, and support the local gay and human rights community. Write or call Dr. Amend at the Spokane County Coroner's Office, West 1201 Broadway, Spokane, Wash., 99206, (509)456-2296. Write the County Commissioners to protest Dr. Amend's position. The County Commissioners are George Marlton, Steve Hasson and Phil Harris, County Commission, 1116 W. Broadway, County Courthouse, First Floor, Spokane, Wash., 99260-0100, (509)456-2265 phone, (509)456-2274 fax. Let Mayor Jack Geraghty know how you feel, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane, Wash., 99201, (509)625-6250. Support the local gay community and the Human Rights Commission (HRC). Contact Craig Peterson, openly gay HRC vice chair, Spokane Human Rights Commission, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane, Wash., 99201-3322, (509)625-6263 phone, fax (509)625-6217. Also contact the Rev. Charles Wood, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG-Spokane), P.O. Box 40122, Spokane, Wash., 99202-0901, (509)624-6671 phone. Copy letters and faxes to the Stonewall News, P.O. Box 3994, Spokane, Wash., 99220-3994, (509)456-8011 phone, (509)455-7013 fax; and the Spokesman-Review, editorial page editor, W. 999 Riverside, Spokane, Wash., 99201, (509)459-5000 phone, (509)459-5482 fax. ###