Subject: Anti-Gay Violence on Rise in Germany
From: "MARK WOJCIK" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 Apr 1996 16:30:39 CST

Here is some news from the German Information Center, 950 Third
Avenue, NYC 10022 USA.   Tel: 212-888-9840   Internet:
[email-masked]

>From "THE WEEK IN GERMANY,"  March 29, 1996, p. 6 (Reprinting
permitted, please credit "The Week in Germany" and send copy of
publication to the German Information Center.)

Reports of violence against homosexual men are rising dramatically in 
Germany, even though authorities believe that most attacks still go 
unreported.  Bundestag deputy Volker Beck (Greens) told reporters 
earlier this month that the Association of Gays in Germany 
(Scwulenverband in Deutschland) received 378 calls on its special 
telephone service for victims of anti-homosexual violence in 1995, a 
15 percent increase over the 328 calls received in 1994.  

Many gays who are attacked do not go to the police, Beck added,
because they fear negative consequences.  He also noted that law
enforcement officials estimate that only about a tenth of attacks
upon gay men are reported.

Attacks upon gay men are most commonly the work of groups of young 
men aged 14-25, according to Beck.  In about two-thirds of the 
reported attacks, the victims were robbed or seriously injured.  A 
third of the attacks took place out on the street or in public 
transit.  Germany's Federal Office of Criminal Investigation says 
that approximately 30 fatal attacks on gay men occur in Germany each 
year.

=====================================================
Mark E. Wojcik, Assistant Professor of Law
The John Marshall Law School
315 S. Plymouth Court
Chicago, IL 60604 USA
(312) 987-2391 or [email-masked]
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