Experts seek clues
to cause of bashing
(AP) Michelangelo Signorile was nine years old when his
ears first Ini mud with t)ie jeers "sissy" anti from his
New York si hoolmntes Scared the taunts worn true. ho turned
Ins fear nnd fury on other outcast boys
“I Imhatne a queer-basher to prove I wasn't queer," Signorile
writes in his book, Queer in Ann-ru n
"You'd make sure to do it in front of everyone to show
everyone else you were mac ho.” Signorilo said, des< ribing how
lie punt bed and pummelled his victims "Hut I think also it
was showing yourself '
Kvenltially, Signorile. o 32-year-old writer best known for
"outing" famous but closeted gays, aatipteil that he was gay
Hut until tfie age of 17. the threat of ostracism and fright at
lus budding homosexuality turned Signorile Into a schoolyard
gay basher — two reasons among many that psychologists offer
to explain anti-gay violent e
Research into such violent e is ns s< ant as reports of the inci
dents themselves What informs the experts is a mix of obser
vation. experienc e. rnlut ated assumptions and common sense
(.regorv M. Herek. a sot ini ps\i nologist at the University
ol California at Davis widely ranked as the nation's leading
expert on anti-gay violence, dost rdtes a knot of reasons that
homosexuals are targeted
The i lots of young men who visit gay neighborhoods to
jmiini e on homosexuals may ho|>e to prove they tieloug in their
peer group of "real men
Those who target lesbians fuel affronted by women who don't
ap|M-ar to need men. even as objects of sexual tiesire
In a sin lets mured and secret I v —- and not always secretly
exi lied by violent e. the roughing up of homosexuals may
seem appropriate
Cwiy bashers may lie at ting on sexual confusion, unsettled by
any attrai turn to their own sex and lat king understanding about
sexuality
Among voting men, nspot iallv. there's a strong need to prove
themselves and to forge bonds, Herek said
"The teens anti early ills is a time of identity consolida
tion, struggling w ith issues of manhood and mast ulinity. how
one Im-i times a man." be said "Hy attacking a gay man or a les
bian. these gov s are trv mg sv mbolii ally to affirm their man
liootl
t.av bashing i an lie a wav of expressing values. Herek said
"take saving I'm n gienl person. I adhere to these values I'm
a good Christian, homosexuality is the devil and I'm going to
altai k this.'" he said
Plain old xenophobia, funr of strangers, may also lie at work
"The fat t that (homosexuality) is uncommon, and there
fore it's strange, and if you. yourself g«l a lillle excitement
out of a same-sex person, tins could be upsetting," said Kay
Hixler, psychology prolessor emeritus at the University of
laniisville, an expert on gender differences in Ixihavior
Under the tangle of feelings (hat ignite gay bashers lies a
hatred of women, suggests Matthew Weissman, a psyi bologist
in Washington. DC
"We are a culture that fears and despises the feminine aspect
of i harm.ter." Weissman said The sticky stereotype of women
as passive nnd weak gets altm hed to gav men. he said
"I think tor a lot of straight people, when they think a gay
man may let himself lie [lenetrated, it opens up fears among
men nlmut passive desires "
Gay bashing incidents on rise
(AP) — It happens ail of the time in Ron Cay
of* neighborhood in Chicago. a guy enclave called
Lake View. A car full of kid* pulls up and asks
directions. Their unwary victim bends down to
answer
"And all of a sudden somebody's fist will come
out and hit the guy in the fac e, and they'll drive
away laughing," said Cayot. a disabled 39-year-old
< arpenter whose voice is a choked rasp
The threat of violence is the other longtime com
panion of gay men and women. Widely assumed
to be underreported, the casebook of anti-gay
killings and assaults is a numbing desc ent into
cruelty
It happened to Cnyot Three young men just
pulled up beside him and a friend one night, and
veiled Faggot’" and. after a Sc uffle, "Aiming1"
Then the gun spoke, three times, tearing open
his neck, pierc ing his abdomen and lodging a bul
let in his shoulder
It would lie months alter the Marc h 11. 1992,
attac k before Cayot could speak again, even eat
again on his own He still can't work, and his left
arm. the one he writes with, is numb A series of
operations has left him with more than a million
dollars in hospital hills he can't pay.
His assailants remain at large
"They think that gav people are weak, they
think that we're all 'pansies' and that it’s a real
easy target." Cayot said.
So they target them, again and again.
On Feb. 9, a mugging in Hartford. Conn., turned
into a rape when two brothers asked a man if he
was gav and he said ye* That same night, in Madi
son, Wis , a guv man was punched, c hoked and
kic ked while an assailant si reamed "I hate fag
gills'"
The list of the vie tints is unending Allen
Sc hindler. his skull smashed against a toilet in
Japan until the- gav American sailor's body was
unrecognizable to Ins mother. Ann Maria Rosales,
shot in the face on Jan 7 in Washington, I) C . as
she left a Itar holding hands with another woman
A witness told police Rosales' assailant demand
ed VVliat's wrong with you. girl?" then said he
intended to have sex with her, and then killed Iter
A grand ptrv dec.tried hatred of lesbians was at
least a partial motive for defendant Gregory White,
now awaiting trial
Anti-gay violence is markedly demeaning and
vicious, some sav it's the last permitted hate
c rune, and it is happening more and more often.
"We're in a |M!rio<l of increased ac ceptance and
empowerment (of gays) on the one hand, and
increased backlash on the other." said Kevin
lierrill. a consultant in Washington. I).C . who 11
years ago liegan the first systematic recording of
anti-gay violence for the National Cav and Lesbian
Task Force
"Anytime a persecuted, dtsempowered group
agitates for equality, there is a backlash, we've
seen that over and over again in our nation's his
tory,"
Once self concealed, afraid of sc andal and nsjec -
lion, homosexuals suddenly seem to he ail over
the place.
They hold gay pride pic nit s in t itv parks They
‘They think that gay people
are weak, they think that
we're all ‘pansies’ and that it's
a real easy target.’
Ron Cayol.
Gay bashing victim
inarch on Washington. They demand representa
tion on city councils and in Congress They go on
talk shows and hold hands in public They let it be
known that the person they keep house with is not
of the opposite sex.
Thev become the subject of si rutiny. whether
the topic is AIDS, gay rights, cries of evil from con
servatives or the welcome of the Clinton adminis
tration — which installed lesbian Rolterta Achten
berg as an assistant secretary in the Department
of Mousing and Urban Development while push
ing to lift the ban on gays in the military.
Tying this directly to violence is only a hunch,
however. The figures art* meager.
It's widely assumed, by people who work with
victims of such violence and those who track it.
that much more occurs than gets reported. Victims
fear hostile or disinterested police. They may
encounter prosecutors wary of the vagueries of
hate crime that make it hard to prove.
So what guts most notice is the bloodiest street
violence, the worst attacks outside gay bars or in
neighborhoods or other areas frequented by gays.
"We end up talking about street violence
(because) it's the only place where we have data. It
looks more like a crime." said Gregory Herek. a
six ml psychologist at the University of California
at Davis widely considered the pre-eminent
researcher into anti-gay prejudice and violence.
"We have evidence there is an iceberg out
there," llerek added. "We see the tip of that ice
lierg in lesbian and gav street youth who frequent
ly flee to large cities to escape violence in their
homes and in their schools.”
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, seek
ing a i (insistent measure of a little reported crime,
takes a five-< ity survey of agencies that aid victims
of anti-gay violence. It toted up H17 in< idents of
anti-gay assaults in 1092, up from 775 the year
before Slayings attributed to homophobia jumped
from eight in 1991 to 12 last year, the task forc e
said
"The continuing rise, particularly in cities with
long-established \ ictims services, indicates to us it
is not just increasing awareness, hut increasing
incidence of hate violence." said Martin lliraga.
director of the task force's Anti-Violenc e Project.
A particular feature of anti-gav assaults, lliraga
said, is that it commonly begins with insults that
rapidly escalate
Until recently, gay hashing wasn’t even a spe
cific crime In many plai.es it's still not officially a
motive for assault, only 21 states and the Distric t
ol Columbia inc hide sexual orientation in their
hate crimes laws.
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