More than 500 gather for vigil for lesbian brutalized in home invasion
Update: 7/23/12: Lincoln police have now classified the attack as a hate crime due to the victim’s sexual orientation.
LINCOLN,
Neb. — Over 500 people gathered on the steps of the Nebraska State
Capitol Sunday night to hold a vigil for a lesbian woman brutalized
early Sunday morning in what local LGBT activists are calling a hate
crime.
According to Lincoln, Neb., Police Captain Joe Wright,
patrol officers responded to an address two blocks south of Lincoln High
School in the downtown area, for a reported assault and house fire.
More than 500 people gather on the steps of the State Capitol in Lincoln, Neb. Sunday.
The
victim, whose name has not been released, told officers that she had
been attacked earlier that morning by three masked men who barged into
her house, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, cut her all over
her body and carved homophobic slurs into her skin before dumping
gasoline on her floor and lighting it with a match.
A friend
described the cuts as “things carved on her body that can only be
described as hate, that somebody can only be taught and we need to stop
teaching it.”
A source to
LGBTQ Nation said “the words
‘cunt,’ ‘fag’ and ‘dyke’ were carved onto her face and body, and that
the assailants tried to set her house on fire.”
Lincoln fire
department arson investigator Damon Robbins, told the local media that
there was evidence that a match flame ignited vapors from a pool of
gasoline on the woman’s floor, but the flash fire did not continue to
burn and caused no noticeable damage to the house.
Friends said
the men who assaulted her also spray painted anti-gay words in her
basement, including “We found u dyke.” Friends called the attack a hate
crime because the woman assaulted is a lesbian.
“When someone
takes the time to handcuff someone with a zip tie and carve derogatory
comments or words into somebody else’s body, that’s sheer hate and at
this point, this is a hate crime,” the friend said.
Anti-gay epithets were scrawled on the basement walls.
“Our
hearts go out to the victim, her family and close friends,” said Tyler
Richard, president of Outlinc, a group that supports LGBT people in
Lincoln. “Many in our community are understandably experiencing a great
deal of sadness, anger and confusion. We look to our entire community to
pull together in this difficult time, ” he said.
The assault has
sparked outrage in Lincoln’s LGBT community, which is already galvanized
by the ongoing debate over the city’s fairness amendment — a proposal
to ban discrimination in housing and employment based on a person’s
sexual orientation or gender identity. The measure is now on a ballot
referendum for this November.
Karen Bratton-Cranford, president of
the LGBT advocacy group Star City Pride, took the microphone at Sunday
night’s vigil to urge those gathered to act with respect and to refrain
from seeking revenge,
reported the
Lincoln Star-Journal.
“Don’t go out and act on your own,” she said. “Don’t give them the power to control your actions.”
Police
have not yet ruled the attack a hate crime, and Lincoln’s Police Chief
Jim Peschong, refused to comment, citing an ongoing criminal
investigation.
Officials told
LGBTQ Nation late Sunday evening that no arrests had been made. The victim has been treated for her wounds and is staying with friends.
Nebraska
has a hate crimes statute that covers crimes motivated by a victim’s
sexual orientation. Federal authorities also may have jurisdiction over
the crime as a result of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act.
Update, 7/23/12:
Lincoln police have now classified the attack as a hate crime due to the victim’s sexual orientation.
“I
don’t want to minimize this and make it a political issue, because it
was a horrible thing that happened in our community, and it saddens me
that this happened,” City Councilmen Carl Eskridge told
LGBTQ Nation on Monday. “It is because of events like this we need to pass the fairness ordinance, and that is why I introduced it.”
“It’s critically important that we find a common voice, for all of us to come together to improve the community,” he said.
Fred
Sainz, Vice President of Communications for the Human Rights Campaign,
called the attack “a jarring reminder that we have much work to do in
creating environments where all members of our community feel safe
living honestly and openly, and where crimes motivated by one’s sexual
orientation or gender identity are never tolerated.”