Gay anti-violence group: 2008 attacks might be up

By MARCUS FRANKLIN – 1 day ago
NEW YORK (AP) — A rash of attacks against lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender people across the country — including the severe beating of
a New York man whose attackers believed he was gay — suggests the
number of reported assaults could rise in 2008, an advocacy group said.
The
number of reported attacks against LGBT people increased 24 percent in
2007 over 2006, and they were expected to jump in 2008, said Sharon
Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project.
Officials were still crunching the 2008 figures, which will be released next spring, Stapel said.
The
baseball bat beating of Ecuadorean immigrant Jose Sucuzhanay in New
York on Sunday was the latest in a number of reported assaults, said
the project, which coordinates organizations that document violence
against LGBT and HIV-positive people. The attack left Sucuzhanay, 31,
brain dead.
Since the February fatal shooting of Lawrence King, a
15-year-old Los Angeles boy who endured harassment after telling
classmates he was gay, "we are witnessing what appears to be an
increase in both the occurrence and severity of violence motivated by
racism, homophobia, and transphobia," said Stapel.
Stapel
attributed the increase in part to more people reporting incidents, but
she believed there actually could have been more assaults because 2008
was an election year.
"Election years are always violent years
for us because of wedge issues," Stapel said, referring to ballot
measures this year banning gay marriage in California and Florida.
"With increased visibility comes increased vulnerability to LGBT
stereotypes and violence. We've seen some of the most violent hate
crimes that we've seen in a while."
In the case of Lawrence King,
one of his classmates was charged as an adult in the slaying, which
prosecutors classified as a hate crime.
Other incidents include
the discovery of Angie Zapata's body in July in her apartment in
Greeley, Colo. Zapata, 18, was a transgender woman. Police have charged
a man with murder as a hate crime in her death.
In June, a
surveillance tape was publicized showing Memphis, Tenn., police
officers beating Duanna Johnson, a transgendered woman, and shouting
slurs in a jail booking area; a public outcry erupted. Johnson was
found fatally shot on a Memphis street in November.
Also in New
York City, police arrested four teenagers on charges of assaulting a
priest outside a shelter he ran for homeless transgender youths in
July. Witnesses said the four teens had harassed and taunted residents
with homophobic slurs and insults before the assault.
"I expect the number will increase from 2007 to 2008," Stapel said. "I hope I'm wrong about that."
(This
version corrects the date of the videotaped beating in Memphis. The
tape was recorded in February, but didn't come to light until June.)