Far Right organizations in Colorado and Oregon placed anti-gay initiatives on the statewide ballots in 1992. Both initiatives sought to repeal existing civil rights protections against anti-gay discrimination and to ban such legislation from ever being enacted. The backers of the initiatives blanketed their state with distortions' and lies charging gay people with molesting children, spreading disease, demanding "special rights" and falsely claiming "minority" status in order to further "homosexual hedonism" and undermine traditional family values. Anti-gay violence exploded in the wake of these campaigns. In 1992, the Portland, Oregon victim assistance agency documented 968 bias incidents, more than any other lesbian. gay and bisexual agency in the U.S. Denver victim advocates reported 204 homophobic incidents, with 40% recorded in November and December, after Amendment 2 passed. Eighty-nine reports were received in Denver in 1991. NGLTF continues to receive anecdotal reports of violence by military servicemembers against gay civilians and military personnel. The murder of gay Navy servicenember Allen Schindler, beaten to death in Sasebo, Japan, on October 27, 1992, has drawn wide press attention and angry protests from gay activists. Bias against gays is institutionalized in the U.S. military. Department of Defense Directive 1332.14 directs military officials to discharge gay service members. "This bias creates an environment that fosters contempt for both civilian and military gays and lesbians," said Hiraga. "Military leadership intent on keeping the ban has used tactics of distortion and mistruths similar to those used by the far right." Examples of Incidents > On September 25, Hattie Mae Cohen, an African-Anrerican lesbian, and Brian Mock, a white gay man with a disability, were firebombed to death when skinheads tossed a Molotov cocktail into their house after earlier beating Mock while shouting anti-gay epithets. The skinheads called cohen a "nigger dyke" when she came to Mock's defense during a previous attack. > On May 5, a suburban Detroit lesbian couple was shot and killfront yard by a neighbor upset at their displays of affection. > In July, two men leaving a popular Washington, DC, gay club were shot by two teenagers and left on the street to nearly bled to death. > A 14-year-old boy was beaten by family members and thrown out of his house in April after talking to gay activists outside of his family's church in Sacramento, Calif. > On June 6, the offices of the Portland, Oregon, campaign fighanti-gay referendum were ransacked. Organizational donor and member lists were stolen, and individuals whose names appeared on the lists later received death threats. > On June 28, 25 members of The Ku Klux Klan demonstrated at the gay pride picnic in Gainsville, Fla. The Klan members harassed participants and called for the execution of gays. > A retired California Highway Patrol officer repeatedly threatened a ladera County, Calif. woman and her son during the summer because her brother-in-law had AIDS. After firing his gun at the house of the family, the officer killed the family's animals, beat a family friend and held a gun to the son's head. Government and Community action in 1992 Last year marked continued progress toward countering bate violence at the Federal, state and local levels. Congress authorized research on hate crime prevention among juveniles. Congress also instructed the Department of Justice to expand the mandate of the Community Relations Service to address bias crimes based on sexual orientation. The Utah legislature approved a hate crimes documentation and penalty enhancement law including crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias. In 1992, there was an unprecedented level of organizing to stem the rising tide of anti-gay violence. Lesbians and gays in communities across the U.S. launched safety patrols, public awareness campaigns, violence surveys and protests. Recommendations The NGLTF Policy Institute recommendations for action against anti-gay violence include: > Increased funding for implementation of the Hate Crime Statistics Act and other measures to counter bias crimes; > Immediate passage of state and local laws to curb anti-gay violence and other bias crimes; > Immediate development and implementation of military codes and directives to curb bias violence by Military personnel; > Repeal of the ban on gays in the military; > Immediate passage of local, state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and prompt repeal of laws that seek to regulate private, consenting sexual behavior between adults; > Repeal of state and local laws in Colorado, Oregon and elsewhere that ban protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; > Mandatory training programs for law enforcement personnel to ensure competent and sensitive handling of bias crimes; and Required educational programs in the schools, churches and wider community to counter anti-gay prejudice; > Vigorous condemnation of anti-gay prejudice and violence by leaders in government, education, business and the media. For more information contact: Martin Kazu Hiraga; The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; 1734 Fourteenth Street NW; Washington, DC 20009; Voice 202-332-6483-3307; Fax 202-332-0207. Be sure to mention in your correspondence that you heard of this through The Electronic Gay Community Magazine. The entire contents of The Electronic Gay Community Magazine are Copyright 1993 by The Land of Awes Computer Information System (telephone 316-269-0913 Voice, 316-269-4208 FAX/BBS) but may be reproduced by any means without permission from the publishers provided that this copyright notice remains with each article. ------------------------------