Subject: [BRC-ANN] Murder of Queens Man Reflects Racism, Homophobia (fwd)
From: Mia H H Lam <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 11:23:08 -1000

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 15:49:35 -1000
From: David Elliot <[email-masked]>
Subject: [BRC-ANN] Murder of Queens Man Reflects Racism, Homophobia

NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:
David Elliot, Communications Director
202-332-6483 ext. 3303
800-757-6476 pager
[email-masked]

http://www.ngltf.org
1700 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC

MURDER OF GAY, AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN REFLECTS 
TWIN DISEASES OF RACISM, HOMOPHOBIA, NGLTF SAYS

March 24, 2000 -- Kerry Lobel, executive director of the
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the murder of
Steen Keith Fenrich, a 19-year-old gay African-American man
in Queens, New York, reflects how far our nation has to go
to overcome the inter-related diseases of racism and
homophobia.

Tuesday night, a man walking in the woods near Oakland Lake
Park in Bayside, Queens found a plastic container containing
a bleached skull, a foot, loose teeth, and a pair of
trousers. The words "Gay nigger number one" were written on
the skull. Police officers from the 111th Precinct in Queens
then notified John Fenrich that they may have found the
remains of his missing 19 year-old stepson. After a
seven-hour standoff with police, John Fenrich shot himself
to death. During this standoff, John Fenrich, who is white,
allegedly admitted to murdering his stepson last September
and said he disapproved of his stepson's homosexuality. The
murder apparently occurred after Steen Fenrich tried to move
home with his mother and stepfather last September following
a break-up with his boyfriend.

"Racism and homophobia are byproducts of a society that does
not value diversity," Lobel said. "A climate exists in our
country that devalues people of color as well as gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Racism and
homophobia are symptoms of the same disease and the disease
is named intolerance. Tragically, these two symptoms of
racism and homophobia converged in the death of Steen Keith
Fenrich."

Lobel added that the death of Fenrich is yet another example
of why both Congress and state legislatures throughout the
country should pass strong hate crimes laws inclusive of
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin
and disability.

Hate violence against GLBT people has increased dramatically
over the past decade, even as violent crime has declined
overall. In 1998, 2,552 anti-GLBT incidents were reported in
the United States. Furthermore, anti-GLBT attacks are also
among the most violent bias crimes. GLBT murder victims are
more likely than heterosexual victims to die brutal deaths
characterized by dismemberments, multiple stabbings and
severe bludgeoning, and their killers are less likely to be
caught, according to a 1994 study by the National Coalition
of Anti-Violence Programs. Of 152 anti-GLBT murders between
1992 and 1994 documented by the study, almost 60 percent
involved "extraordinary violence" and "overkill." In 1999,
anti-GLBT murders in the U.S. involved the beheading of a
man in Virginia, an Alabama man bludgeoned and burned on a
pyre of tires, and a transgendered woman in Boston stabbed
dozens of times in her home.

____________________________________________________________

Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has
worked to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice
against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at
the local, state and national level. As part of a broader
social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality,
NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the
diversity of human expression and identity where all people
may fully participate in society.

This message was issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force Communications Department. If you have a question
regarding this post, please direct it to the contact at the
top of this message.

To reach the NGLTF Communications Department at NGLTF,
please call David Elliot, Communications Director, at
202-332-6483 x3303 or pager 800-757-6476 or email
[email-masked].

-30-

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