Just news
Crime Victims Bill of Rights
used against gaybashers
Multnomah County's Victims Assistance Program aims to
walk crime victims through the legal system
BY
A N N D E E
H O C H M A N
oug Beloof wants to hear more about
gay-bashing. He wants to know about
the lesbian with the bumperstickers who
her windshield shattered, the gay teenager
who gets threatened at the bus stop, the
couple who has beer cans tossed at them
around the corner from the gay bar.
Doug Beloof wants to know these things
because he heads the District Attorney’s
Victims Assistance Program, and one of his
goals is to boost services to crime victims
who traditionally remain silent.
“ One of the things I’ve been trying to do is
improve our services to under-served popula
tions — people of color, refugees, gay men
and lesbians,” he said. “ When people do
report crime, we want to make that as untrau-
matic as possible. And we want to increase
the reporting of crime. The more it’s reported,
the more attention will be paid to it.”
Locally, no one keeps statistics on violence
against gays and lesbians. But some com
munity leaders who hear about violence from
victims say they believe such incidents
are increasing. AIDS-related discrimination
and backlash, the passage of Measure 8 and
the simultaneous rise in Skinhead activity
have provided fuel for anti-gay violence,
they said.
Between February 10 and March 10, the
Metropolitan Human Relations Commission
received nine complaints of hate group
activity, three of which concerned sexual
, orientation or HIV-status. A lesbian reported
that while walking through a Southeast Portland
park, a woman playing with some children
noticed her and said, “ Let’s play Smear the
Queer.” Another caller reported that the
“ Homos Hurt Kids” were spray-painted on
the side of a Southwest Portland bowling alley.
When MCC Pastor Gary Wilson was on
vacation last month, the church received three
death threats — a first-time occurrence in
the three years Wilson has been there. And a
Just Out reader survey early this year showed
that 66 percent of respondents had experienced
verbal abuse based on their sexual orienta
tion; 15 percent said they had experienced
physical abuse.
“ Measure 8 gave clear permission to those
people who are lunatic enough to think there
is such a thing as permission,” Wilson said.
National statistics, while spotty, indicate
both an increase in anti-gay violence and a
greater willingness to report and collect such
data. An eight-city violence study published
five years ago by the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force showed that more than one in five
gay men and one in ten lesbians had been physi
cally assaulted because of their sexual
orientation.
A total of 7,008 incidents of violence and
harassment against lesbians and gay men were
reported to the NGLTF in 1987, compared to
4.946 incidents in 1986 and 2.042 in 1985.
“ The increase in 1987 over 1986 probably
represents, more than anything, an increase
in reporting rather than an increase in
violence," said Kevin Berrill, director of
the NGLTF’s Anti-Violence Project. “ It
reflects the fact that certain groups have gone
to great lengths to document this. But there are
whole states where we get absolutely no
figures.”
Even so, the data matters because it makes
the issue of gay-bashing real. Berrill said.
D
One of the goals of the Anti-Violence Project
is to raise awareness, both in and out of the
gay community, about the actual threat of
anti-gay violence. Having concrete numbers
helps the task force and other groups to press
finds for legislation protecting gays and lesbians
and better police training to respond to gay
bashing crimes.
“ Anti-gay violence is probably the least
controversial issue on the lesbian and gay
agenda,” Berrill said. “ I think this is an
issue we can win at a time when we’re losing
battles on AIDS and civil rights. Violence
is the most brutal manifestation of homophobia.”
Before legislators or police can respond,
victims must report the incidents — and that is
a step many gay men and lesbians have tradi
tionally been reluctant to take. Gay community
leaders estimate that 80 percent of anti-gay
attacks go unreported.
“ The two reasons I hear people not reporting
incidents are they’re in closets or they don’t
believe the system has any interest in working
for them,” said Wilson.
“ People are afraid they’ll be further victim
ized by the reporting process,” said Cathy
Siemens, former executive director of the
Lesbian Community Project and currently a
member of the Metropolitan Human Relations
Commission.
Legal precedent gives some credence to
those fears. In Multnomah County Circuit
Court in March, the attorney defending
Darrell Monical, who said he killed Eugene
Doney after Doney “ attempted to have homo
sexual contact” with him, held the victim
partly responsible for the incident’s outcome.
In arguing for a five-year instead of a ten-
year minimum sentence, the attorney, Wendell
Birkland, said, “ We’re only saying Mr.
Doney contributed to his own death . . . If he
hadn’t tried what he tried on Mr. Monical, he'd
still be alive.”
A 1985 report from the NGLTF on gay and
lesbian victimization noted that many gay and
lesbian crime victims stay away from the legal
system to avoid further trauma.
“ Because they fear exposure, stigmatiza
tion, and discrimination, many gay and lesbian
victims suffer alone,” the report said.
“ Those who are not ‘out’ about their sexual
orientation find that they must lie about the
circumstances of the incident. “ Like victims
of rape, victims of anti-gay violence are some
times blamed for their victimization.”
In some places police departments and
justice systems are waking up to the reality
of anti-gay violence. California and Wisconsin
recently stiffened penalties for those convicted
of hate crimes, including those based on sexual
orientation. A bill currently in the Oregon
legislature would mandate collection of statis
tics on such crimes. A similar bill has been
introduced in the US House of Representatives.
Multnomah County District Attorney
Michael D. Schrunk proposed a bill that would
have added “ sexual orientation” to a law
prohibiting intimidation on the basis of race,
color, religion or national origin.
Wilson said gay men and lesbians must
lobby about this and other measures to recog
nize and respond to anti-gay violence. “ We
have to say to people, ‘Look, the system is not
going to work for you until you get out of your
closet and go talk to your legislator and
demand that it work for you,’ ” he said.
Even if such legislation passes, its success
ultimately depends on people reporting crimes.
And that is where Doug Beloof comes in. He
and others in the Victims Assistance Program
aim to walk crime victims through the legal
system, informing them of their rights, talking
to their partners or friends, accompanying them
to hearings and to trial.
“ It’s my personal view that pursuing a valid
case in the criminal justice system is empower
ing. The other choice you have as a victim is
to give up,” Beloof said.
Berrill of the NGLTF said the gay com
munity is beginning to respond to the threat of
violence by acting to prevent, as well as,
report it. Some communities, following the
lead of women’s "Take Back the Night ’
----------- --------- —
programs, have begun self-defense training
and whistle campaigns for gay men and
lesbians.
And. as in the movements to recognize rape
and domestic violence, the first step toward
stopping anti-gay violence is a determination
that such crimes will not be tolerated.
Beloof said he is prepared to talk with gay
and lesbian community groups about victims'
rights and his program, to help spread the
message that, “ Just because you’re gay. you
don’t have to be harassed and beaten on
the street.”
^
....
Crime Victims Bill of Rights
Under measure 10, the Crime Victims Bill of
Rights, you now have certain legal rights as the
victim of a crime. Among these are:
1. The right, if you request, to keep your
address and phone number from the
criminal defendant;
2. The right, if a defense attorney or his
representative contacts you, to be told who
they are, that you do not have to talk to
them, and that you may have a deputy dis
trict attorney present if you do decide to
talk to them;
3. The right to a court hearing if you are
harassed or initimidated by the criminal
defendant;
4. The right to be considered when court dates
and hearings are changed;
5. The right to be in the courtroom during the
trial of your case;
f '
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N
.V
6. The right to appear personally or with your
own attorney, in addition to the deputy
district attorney, and express your views at
sentencing;
7. The right to have compensatory Fines
imposed on convicted criminals to try and
compensate you for the injury you have
suffered;
8. The right, if you request and provide the
Police Board with an address, to be notified
of and appear at parole hearings; and
9. The right, again if you request, to Be noti
fied 30 days before a criminal is released
from prison.
Know your rights and enforce them.
If you have any questions concerning your
rights, please contact a deputy district attorney
at 248-3162 or Victims Assistance Program
at 248-3222.
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