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Phoenix Rising
Sex and violence: bashings at
Laurelhurst Park
Love
in the shadows. Brick restroom set amidst the
rhododendron bushes and trees melted into amorphous shapes
in the darkness. Sex-hungry eyes blind to danger shot through
with pain as crack of skull against porcelain and concrete
sounds in the empty night. Footsteps muted in the darkness.
Another bashing.
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ju st out y 8 r February 1990
S C A L L Y
ssaults against gay men cruising
Laurelhurst Park and Lents Park repre
sent an ongoing problem, and an overworked
police department does not have the resources
to serve and protect everybody. The advice
from the police for gay men is, simply,
discretion.
For calendar year 1989 there were 31
incidents of assault or robbery in Laurelhurst
Park. The Portland Police Bureau regards
nine of those incidents as probably gay
bashing incidents. So, over one-third of the
reported crimes of violence against persons
represent violence specifically directed at gay
men.
There was a problem in previous years at
Lents Park with such assaults, but a sort of
neighborhood watch involvement by citizens
in the area has kept violence out of the park’s
men’s room, which was the source of the
problem.
“If we could advise potential victims that
there is a problem,” said Captain Wayne
Inman of East Precinct. "These assaults are
occurring; the intelligent thing to do would be
to avoid these parks, especially after dark.”
“We rarely have assaults on two people,”
Inman said. “We would encourage people to
go with someone. Two people are much more
difficult to assault than one. If one observes
unusual or suspicious activity, then one
should leave the area and go to a well-lit area
or to where people are present”
The lack of personnel hampers the ability
of the police department to focus on assaults
based on sexual orientation. The trial
surveillance of the m en’s room at Laurelhurst
Park last year that ran for a week prevented
assaults for that week.
One can only conjecture on the editorial
outrage and citizen comments that would
accompany the announcement that police
officers were being stationed in public '
restrooms to protect gay men cruising for
sexual partners.
It’s difficult to determine what, if any,
impact additional officers would have on the
police force’s protection of gay men in
Laurelhurst Park. The striking aspect of the
interview with Inman was his assumption that
assault was almost always associated with
sexual solicitation. That may be the case, but
the problem of gay men or men perceived to
be gay being assaulted while engaged in
activity was left unaddressed.
Also unanswered was the question of
whether or not assaults in the men’s room
-<*
occurred because of solicitation for sex by the
victim in that location, or because the victim
had to use the facilities and was followed by
or came upon the assailant.
The issue of a lack of officers meant a
cancellation of sensitivity training for police
officers in dealing with gay people. The
A
A GALA VALENTINE
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A L A N
police claim to have addressed the area of
sensitivity, especially in the area of cultural
sensitivity which the Portland Police Bureau
feels covers all minorities.
“When you’re having difficulties in
responding to emergency calls,” Inman said,
“your training time is reduced to a bare
minimum. We first have to train for skills that
ensure our officers’ survival.”
Inman said that there is no difference in
response time or procedure when an officer
answers a gay bashing call. The incident is
treated as an assault. He stated that officers
are sensitive to the gay issues involved, and
that he has received no complaints about
police-gay interactions.
The passage of the hate-crimes bill last
year has caused some changes in the way
police report gay-bashing assaults.
“W e’re sensitive to state reporting
requirements,” Inman said, “gay bashing
requires a different reporting mechanism.
W e’re sensitive that the cases don’t go
unreported.”
Captain Inman is a real likeable guy,
sandy-haired and open-faced, but for a cop he
uses the word “sensitive” to a de-sensitizing
level of numbness.
The hate crimes bill, then, changes police
relations to the gay community only in the
reporting process. A guy assaulting you
doesn’t give a damn what statute he’s
violating or that your civil rights are being
violated.
Inman commented on the defense used by
people using violence against gay men
soliciting for sex, that they were afraid of
contracting AIDS.
“Can an offended person respond with
physical force based on a comment or
solicitation, the answer is no,” Inman said.
“One can respond with physical force to
protect or defend. Violence directed at a
solicitation might be a mitigating
circumstance in court, but it does not justify
the assault."
Inman was the Portland Police Bureau’s
liaison to the gay community when he was
commander at Central Precinct, and thus
probably has more awareness of gay issues
than the average cop on the beat.
So what does it all mean? If you want to
cruise Laurelhurst after dark, use the buddy
system. If you’re simply walking or using the
park, be wary. Don’t expect the response time
to vary because it’s a gay bashing. It’s easy to
confuse professional detachment and
callousness on the part o f the police officer
responding to such a call.
“The officers see so much of this type of
human behavior," Inman said.
It’s easy to be very emotionally upset
when you’re a victim, but you can add to your
own trauma by having false expectations of
what the police can and cannot do.