Lesbian's Gang Rape Shocks San Francisco Bay Area

When I hear about a horrific event, such as this one, that effects the lesbian community, I sometimes wonder if it is appropriate for me to post the details on my blog. However, I feel that it is essential we are made aware of what is going on in our community, and perhaps by having this knowledge, we may be able to prevent such an attack in the future.

AP News writer, Lisa Leff, reported yesterday that a woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building.

The 28-year-old victim was attacked on Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.

"It just pushes it beyond fathomable," he said. "The level of trauma _ physical and emotional _ this victim has suffered is extreme."

Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her on the spot with the help of the other men.

When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.

The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname "Blue" and another was called "Pato," according to authorities.

Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.

Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.

Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.

"Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault," he said. "Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience."

Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.

"Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks," he said. "People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice."

Gay Hate Crime in Denver Ignored

Gay attack swept under the shrug
By Susan Greene, Denver Post Columnist

It was his tight, white jeans, snakeskin shoes and the fairy that Nima Daivari wore on a chain around his neck that prompted a stranger to call him a faggot and attack him.

And it was Daivari's boxing training that led him to pound back at his assailant, headlocking him until police arrived at the scene on the 16th Street Mall.

What happened next is tougher to explain.

A Denver cop not only refused to press charges, but he wouldn't investigate the hate crime or even bother to take the attacker's name.

In the end, the bad guy slipped away, the officer was slapped on the wrist and now Daivari has lost his civil-rights case because the city says Daivari, as a gay man, has no constitutional right to require an arrest.

Something is wrong with this story.

"So basically anyone can walk up, assault a gay man on a crowded street and Denver essentially ignores it. That's messed up, and people there should know it," says Daivari, 26, a recent law school graduate in New York City.

On St. Patrick's Day 2007, he was on his first and only visit to Denver when he, his cousin and her boyfriend were walking home from dinner at a 16th Street eatery.

"What may be the most embarrassing thing is that I have to admit to everyone that I actually ate at the Cheesecake Factory," Daivari quips.

Suddenly, a pedestrian passed by and yelled, "Keep that faggot away from me." "Excuse me?" asked Daivari, who then was punched in the head by the assailant.

Daivari reacted with a few jabs of his own and held his attacker until police broke up the fight.
Officer Richard Boehnlein refused Daivari's repeated demands to press charges, telling him, "No, go home."

Daivari's complaint resulted in a finding that the officer should have at least documented the case and probably arrested his attacker. Boehnlein was reprimanded merely with "a fine of one regular day off."

The city refused Daivari's settlement request that Boehnlein undergo sensitivity training.

Assistant City Attorney John Eckhardt touts Denver's support for gay and lesbian rights, saying, "The training the city provides its police officers is exemplary in these areas."

So exemplary, in fact, that Eckhardt asserted it was "not evident" to police "that Mr. Daivari is a homosexual," even after he told them his story.

"Come on, I look like a raging homo," Daivari says proudly.

"Officers must use discretion in deciding when and where (to take reports)," Eckhardt argued in denying Daivari's claim that police inaction was a result of Daivari's "outwardly homosexual appearance, his failure to conform to male gender stereotypes."

U.S. District Judge Zita Weinshienk dismissed the case Thursday, holding that no rights were violated. Gay men are not a protected class under the Constitution.

Says Daivari's lawyer, Jessica West: "The city of Denver essentially claimed that gays and lesbians in Denver live without any right to police protection. I certainly hope that they are wrong."

So should we all.

Justice has failed Nima Daivari, who vows never to return to Denver.

"I would much rather they arrested the guy who attacked me so there would be a mug shot out there of him with his face f---ed up by a homo," he says. "But the city deprived me that right and seems perfectly comfortable with its cops letting hate criminals beat people up and walk free."