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Volume III, Number 8

 

 

 
  
 
 

On November 27, 1978, San Francisco
Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk,
a gay activist and city Supervisor, were shot
and killed by Dan White, another city
Supervisor who was angered by the grow-
ing political strength of the gay commu-
nity. The murders of Milk and Moscone are
just two examples of the alarming rise in
reports of violence against lesbian and gay
people during the past decade.

In a 1984 study of nearly 2,100 gay
people surveyed in eight U.S. cities, nearly
one in four gay men (24% and nearly one in
ten lesbians (9%) reported having been
punched, hit, kicked or beaten at least once
in their lives because of their sexual orien-
tation. Forty-two percent were threatened
with physical violence and 93% had expe-
rienced some type of victimization for the
same reason.

Episodes of harassment and violence
reported by local groups to the NGLTF
have risen dramatically in recent years. In

1987, 7008 incidents--ranging from har-
assment to homicide--were reported to
NGLTF by local groups, as compared to
4946 incidents in 1986 and 2042 in 1985.
These figures reflect only a small fraction
of the actual number of incidents that oc-
curred in the U.S. during these years.

According to a 1987 study sponsored
by the U.S. Department of Justice of the
“fSD0nse of the criminal justice system to
bias crime, “The most frequent victims of
hate violence today are black-s, Hispanics,
Southeast Asians, Jews and gays and lesbi-
ans. Homosexuals are probably the most
frequent victims.” Anti-gay violence has
also been acknowledged to be a serious
Pr 0b_16m by an ever greater number of lead-

°_TS In law enforcement, religion, civil
“ms, and government.

As AIDS has spread, so has the fear

(Continued on page 5)

1*

SomeFactsAbout Anti-Gay Violence

REPORTED ANTI-GAY INCIDENTS: 1985, 1986 & 1987

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fit Also -n I955 there were 2-19 unclass-lieu ems