Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 13:26:53 -0400 From: Riki Anne Wilchins Subject: NYPD SODOMIZES BLACK PRISONER - MENACE, GPAC JOIN OUTCRY MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Clare Howell, clareq@gpac.org (718) 638-7062 . NYC POLICE SODOMIZE HAITIAN MAN . MENACE, GENDERPAC & TOPS JOIN OUTCRY OVER CASE OF POLICE RACISM & BRUTALITY NYC POLICE SODOMIZE HAITIAN MAN =============================== (New York, NY: 11 Aug 97) ABNER LOUIMA, A 30- YEAR-OLD Haitian immigrant, was arrested by NYC police on 9 August outside a Brooklyn nightclub, beaten repeatedly, taken to the 70th Precinct house, beaten again, and anally raped by the arresting officer and several others. The story has quickly ballooned from a simple arrest into national news. Mr. Louima, a security officer and married father of two, alleges that he was sodomized with the handle of a toilet plunger while being subjected to racial epithets. His front teeth were knocked out when the plunger was then jammed into his mouth. Mr. Louima made the allegations from his Long Island hospital bed, where he lay in critical condition from a torn rectum and ruptures in his bladder and intestines. ### MENACE, GENDERPAC, TOP JOIN OUTCRY OVER CASE OF POLICE RACISM & BRUTALITY ========================================== (Brooklyn, NY: 16 Aug 97) THOUSANDS OF ANGRY MEMBERS of the Haitian community and black civil rights leaders were joined today by groups including the Gay & Lesbian Anti- Violence Project, Jews for Peace and Reconciliation, and the Transexual Menace to protest police brutality against minority citizens. The demonstration was sparked by the alleged police assault last weekend on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima. This marks the second time gender activists have publicly protested on the troubling issue of prisoner sexual abuse, an issue Menace spokestrans have long accused gay and feminist organizations of ignoring. Said one, "We were asked why we're here; I have no trouble at all connecting the beating and anal rape of a black man with gender- based oppression." Carrying banners, toilet plungers, and chanting, "No Justice--No Peace," approximately 150 protesters gathered outside the 70th Precinct stationhouse to voice their outrage, as more than 2,000 protesters marched from the nightclub to join them. Despite the sweltering heat, angry marchers, and scores of police officers on the scene, no arrests were made during the afternoon- long demonstration. Last week both GenderPAC and Transgender Officers Protect & Serve (TOPS) signed a letter drafted by the Lesbian & Gay Anti- Violence Project and address to NY Mayor Rudy Guiliani, deploring the brutality and racism of the Louima beating. A second protest, marching all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Mayor's office in Manhattan, has been called for August 29. Menace activists are expected to attend. ### Online Editor: Clare Howell, clareq@gpac.org Subscriptions. Please send: Subscribe iyf-online OR Unsubscribe iyf-online TO MajorDomo@Apocalypse.Org For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC web site at: http://WWW.Gpac.Org (c) 1996 InYourFace An on-line, news-only service for gender activism. When re-posting, please credit InYourFace.