Date:         Sat, 23 Mar 1996 10:22:20 -0500
From: AVProject@AOL.COM

ANTI-GAY VIOLENCE REMAINS PERVASIVE IN U.S. DESPITE SLIGHT DECREASE
El Paso, TX leads the nation with the largest proportional increase in
anti-gay incidents for the second consecutive year.

** Please repost as widely as possible **

Anti-gay violence remains a widespread and devastating problem in the U.S.,
according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a
association of lesbian and gay victim assistance, advocacy, and documentation
programs.  The NCAVP and its member organizations recently released their
annual report of anti-gay incidents and trends in 1995.  Data collected by
LAMBDA Services (El Paso, TX) and ten other victim assistance programs across
the U.S. were used to develop a national portrait of hate motivated violence
against lesbians and gay men.  The eleven national tracking programs are
located in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles,
Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Phoenix, Portland (OR), and San
Francisco.  Programs in other areas of the country, as part of the NCAVP,
also contributed valuable data to the report.

A number of criteria are used to determine if an incident was motivated by
anti-lesbian/gay bias.  These criteria largely follow those established by
the FBI for Uniform Crime Reporting.

Nationally, hate motivated violence continues to be pervasive despite a
slight decrease overall in the Report's eleven national tracking programs.
 The national tracking programs documented 2,212 anti-gay/lesbian incidents
in 1995, an 8 percent decrease over the 2,401 incidents documented by the
same programs in 1994.  This is significantly less than the overall decrease
in crime.

Anti-lesbian/gay violence has risen to an all-time high in El Paso. Attacks
against gay men and lesbians locally have been steadily increasing for the
past four years.  Anti-gay incidents are up 43 percent in El Paso this year
(92 incidents in 1994), at a time when other forms of crime overall are down.
 This was by far the largest increase in the nation -- for the second year in
a row -- and represents a 307% increase over just two years ago.  El Paso
reported more incidents (131) than Detroit (90), Phoenix (84), Chicago (83),
and Portland (47).

Nationally, the NCAVP programs reported 2,964 victims in 1995, a 6% decrease
over 1994. There were 146 victims in El Paso, a 4% increase over 1994 (140).

The number of offenses per incident continued to rise indicating that even
though the number of incidents may have declined nationwide, they are
becoming more violent over time.  The data showed high levels of both
physical assault and injury, and the data indicated a high ratio of offenders
to victims.  The number of offenses per incident, an important indicator of
the overall severity of the incidents, rose 17% nationwide.  In El Paso, the
number of offenses per incident rose 12%.  Nationally since 1991, the number
of offenses per incident has increased 44%.

Contrary to a frequently repeated myth concerning anti-lesbian/gay violence,
only a small proportion of the total incidents (15%) involved only
Harassment, non-criminal behavior in most states.  On the other hand, 85% of
the incidents involved acts which would constitute criminal behavior in most
states.  In El Paso, the most common offenses were Harassment (67 offenses),
Intimidation (60 offenses), and Assault without a Weapon (25 offenses).
 Physical assaults and attempted assaults increased in El Paso, from 19
offenses in 1994 to 51 in 1995.  Nationally, these assaultive incidents
resulted in injury to 711 victims in 1995, including 28 persons in El Paso.


The seriousness of injuries inflicted on victims was very high: nationwide,
37% (261) of the persons injured suffered serious injury or death.  In El
Paso, the seriousness of the rate of injury was, fortunately, less with 3% of
the victims (4) suffering serious injury or death.

In Texas, 17 gay men have been murdered in the past seven years specifically
because of their sexual orientation.  Data collected from NCAVP organizations
in 1995 revealed twenty-five (25) documented gay-related murders, down from
29 in 1994.  The majority of murders were accompanied by extreme violence,
with nearly one-third of the prosecuted offenders asserting a "homosexual
panic" defense.  There was one gay-related homicide in El Paso, the same
number as 1994.

On November 2, 1995, El Paso Police officers investigated the brutal murder
of Robert (Bobby) Alba, 56.  An employee of the city's largest gay nightclub,
Alba was apparently bludgeoned to death in his apartment with a dining room
chair.  The man with whom Alba was last seen alive, Cesar Lara, is currently
sought by police in connection with his murder.  This appears to be a pick up
crime, with robbery as a secondary motive, and police say they do not know
how Alba and Lara met.  Upon arrest, police say Lara will be charged with
capital murder.

Incidents involving more than one offender were much higher in El Paso than
nationally: 87% of the incidents involved two or more offenders, compared to
38% nationally.

More than 40% of the offenders were strangers to their victims; relatives or
family members comprised 24% of the offenders (48), as compared to 4%
nationally.  Pick-up offenders accounted for 12% (23) vs. 3% nationally.

Directly contradicting a prevailing myth that anti-lesbian/gay violence is
committed by minority youth attacking white victims, the data clearly show
that anti-lesbian/gay offenders are far more likely to attack a person of
their own race or ethnic group, than a person of another race or ethnic
group.  In El Paso, for example, of the incidents in which the race or ethnic
group of both the victim and the offender were known, 67% involved Latino/a
victims and Latino/a offenders.  Only 8% involved white victims and Latino/a
offenders.  This suggests that offenders may feel particular animosity toward
gay men and lesbians of their own race or ethnic group and use violence to
enforce heterosexual identity and conduct within their own group.

Despite the high number of reported incidents, this appears to be only a
fraction of all such incidents.  Gays and lesbians frequently hesitate to
report such incidents to the police.  The rate of reporting incidents to the
police remained low in 1995 -- 36% -- and was significantly less than the
estimated reporting rate of 48% for all crime.  This low reporting rate is
attributed largely to mistrust and fear of the police by victims.  Only 18%
of the documented incidents in El Paso were reported to the police, the
second lowest reporting rate in the nation.

The mistrust victims feel appears to be well placed: of the victims who
sought police assistance nationwide, 37% said the police response was
indifferent, and 8% said police were verbally or physically abusive (8%).

The disparity between incidents classified as bias-motivated by law
enforcement and incidents reported to the local programs continues to be very
wide, with a ratio of roughly one law enforcement classification for every
five incidents documented by the local programs.  Moreover, even when victims
reported an incident to the police and stressed its biased nature, police
failed to classify those incidents as bias-motivated more than half the time
(51%).  Hate crime information from the El Paso Police Department was not
publicly available at the time this report was issued.

Ballot initiatives and other organizing tactics of the Radical Right are
contributing to a rising sea of intolerance.  In addition, candidates for
high office, radio show hosts, and 'religious' leaders saturated the
atmosphere with damaging lies and myths about gay and lesbian people creating
a fear of homosexuals.  In 1995, more political and religious authorities
targeted gays with words of hatred that can make acts of hatred seem more
acceptable and justified.

All of the members of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs,
including LAMBDA Services, believe that violence will again surge in 1996, as
lesbian/gay issues are used as a wedge in national elections, and because
fifteen statewide campaigns to block the recognition of same-gender
marriages.  Anti-gay rhetoric creates an atmosphere where gay people are
dehumanized. Comments by openly homophobic candidates for president,
politicians, and religious leaders will most certainly spur increased
intolerance and violence.

A number of recommendations were made in the report to help end the violence.
 Among them were recommendations that additional training should be provided
to local police, specifically addressing anti-gay/lesbian crime, to help them
recognize and sensitively respond to bias crimes.  Current hate crime laws
should be strengthened and provisions which provide for enhanced penalties
for bias-motivated crimes should be vigorously enforced.  The City of El Paso
and the State of Texas should enact legislation that prohibits discrimination
against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender
identity.

The answers for us include more involvement with police, with each other, and
higher visibility for all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or
transgender.

The NCAVP acknowledges with deep gratitude the thousands of victims and
survivors of anti-lesbian/gay violence in 1995 whose pain, courage, and
determination made this report possible.

For CONFIDENTIAL and FREE information or help, call the 24-hour Gay & Lesbian
Victims' Assistance Hotline at 800-259-1536 or write to LAMBDA Services AVP,
PO Box 31321, El Paso, TX, 79931-0321 USA.

Office: 915-533-6024 or 915-562-GAYS  FAX: 915-534-7778  Email:
AVProject@aol.com