[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 36 (Friday, March 25, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 25, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
COMMENDING THE NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE POLICY INSTITUTE FOR 
                THEIR EFFORTS TO COMBAT ANTIGAY VIOLENCE

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I applaud the National Gay and 
Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute [NGLTF] for their work to document 
the extent of anti-gay violence and its victimization. For the past 9 
years, NGLTF has issued an annual report examining anti-gay violence in 
America. I bring your attention to their latest report, entitled 
``Anti-Gay/Lesbian Violence, Victimization, & Defamation in 1993.'' 
While increasing public awareness of the problem of anti-gay violence, 
this report helps generate constructive solutions. I commend the NGLTF 
for their continuing efforts, and I would like to share with you some 
of their recent findings.
  Encouragingly, the report indicates an overall decrease in the number 
of anti-gay incidents reported in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis-
St. Paul, New York City, and San Francisco. The reported incidents 
include harassment, threats, physical assault, vandalism, arson, police 
abuse, kidnaping, extortion, and murder. The six cities documented a 
total of 1,813 of these incidents in 1993. This represents a 14-percent 
decrease over the all-time high reported in 1992, and the first annual 
decline after 5 years of a steady and dramatic rise in the number of 
anti-gay incidents. Although promising, these figures still represent a 
127 percent increase from the number of episodes reported 5 years ago.
  Only Denver experienced an increase in the number of reported 
incidents. The report attributes this increase to the passage of 
amendment 2, an anti-gay statewide ballot initiative in Colorado. 
Following passage of that initiative, 41 percent of the year's 204 
anti-gay incidents occurred in a 2-month time span. Overall, Denver 
reported a 12-percent increase.
  The report shows a decrease in the number of threats, physical 
assaults, robberies, reports of police abuse, and anti-gay murders. 
However, anti-gay arson, vandalism, bomb threats, and harassment 
continued to rise.
  The increase in the severity of the reported anti-gay incidents 
represents a disturbing trend. Although the number of reported 
incidents declined in 1993, victims reported the occurrence of multiple 
criminal or victimizing acts during each incident. Nationwide the 
number of multiple offenses during anti-gay incidents rose 22 percent 
from 1992.
  Although these numbers present a startling picture of the level of 
hate in our society today, some specific examples more graphically 
describe the problem. The NGLTF reports that in January 1993, a 
teenager dragged a 55-year-old Vietnamese man to the rocks on Laguna 
Beach, CA, kicked him with steel-toed boots and beat him unconscious. 
Police could not identify the race of the victim for several days 
because of the severity of his facial and skull fractures. The teen 
admitted he drove to Laguna Beach looking for gay people to harass.
  In Wichita, KS, two men shot a gay man and robbed him of his wallet 
when he stopped to help them dislodge their car in January 1993. The 
men admitted to ``stalking faggots.'' Their actions left the gay man a 
quadriplegic.
  In Fairfax County, VA, three male teenagers burned a gay man on his 
neck and head with cigarettes. The teenagers then followed the man, 
calling him a ``fag'' and ``queer,'' and threw beer cans at his head.
  These stories and the data present a sad story about the level of 
anti-gay bias in this country. While reports like this one won't put an 
end to the violence and the hatred, they are extremely valuable in 
ensuring continued public awareness.
  I thank NGLTF for their efforts and urge them to continue to inform 
all of us about the incidents of anti-gay violence so that we will 
continue to search for solutions.

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