VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS, GAY MEN, AND l$EX!J_A|-$
Volume V, Number 5

Hate Crime in Burlington

Following a late-night attack on a
Burlington man on Wednesday, August 15,
Vennont's new Hate Crimes law may have
its first test in court since it was enacted by
the state legislature on April 26.

Two brothers, Dominic (28) and Rich-
ard (16) LaDue, have been charged with
assault and attempted robbery on a25-year-
old Burlington man. Should the court find
the Hate Crimes law relevant to the case,
the two could face the maximum sentences
possible for those crimes.

According to the victim, the LaDue
brothers accosted him a short time after he
had come out of Pearls, Burlington's gay
bar. As they walked together down Cherry
Street, the two men introduced themselves
to the victim, then began asking him about
his sexuality. "So are you a faggot or
what?" the younger brother is reported to
have asked. His older brother followed this
and other harrassing remarks with "You
better not be the one who raped my friend's
brother."

Out in the Mountains

Just after they entered Battery Park,
thebrothers assaulted the victim, punching,
kicking, and choking him in the bushes. At
one point Dominic LaDue demanded the
victim's wallet, threatening to kill him if he
didn't hand it over.

Even as the victim explained that he
had no wallet, the LaDue brothers contin-
ued to beat him, then fled the scene.

Bloodied from the incident, the victim
was later sighted by Burlington Patrolman
Jim Hanover, who offered assistance and
escorted him to the Vermont Medical
Center. The victim was given five stitches
for cuts near the eye and on the jaw and was
later released. It was also possible that he
had sustained a fractured nose and jaw.

Police were able to identify one of the
assailants, Dominic, based on a description
offered by the victim that included the
detail of a cobra tattoo on the chest. Dom-
inic LaDue, who has previously been
charged thirty times on a number of of-
fenses, was known to have such a tattoo. He

OITM Receives Grant

Out in the Mountains recently re-
ceived a grant for $8,000 from the Green
Mountain Fund for Popular Struggle, a new
group which has targetted support to a
number of human rights areas including
gay and lesbian concerns. The grant will be
used to provide desktop publishing equip-
ment desperately needed by the paper, as
well as to assist the publication in expand-
ing its distribution around the state.

The newspaper has been working dili-
gently over the past months to restructure
its staffing needs and strategies, to develop
a set of effective by-laws for the group, and
to_ strengthen its commitment to the state-
wide concerns of lesbians, gay men, and bi-
sexuals.

As our readers have most likely al-
ready noticed, there have been some sig-
mficant changes in the magazine since it
was re-instituted at the beginning of the
year. For example, we are now listing per-

sonal-type advertisements under the head-
ing "Networking" in our Classifieds col-
umn in order to assist the members of
Vermont's gay, lesbian, and bisexual com-
munity in the task of meeting others within
that community - not always an easy thing
to do in a rural state. We also hope to focus
more attention on Vermont state news
rather than national news in order to make
our newspaper more than the Reader's
Digest version of 0utWeek or Gay Commu-
nity News. In order to accomplish this goal,

' we encourage all of our readers to submit

articles, commentaries, letters, reviews,
and other stories which you feel would be
of interest to our readership.

We had hoped to initiate theme-based
issues, but now realize that such a goal
sometimes runs counter to the events of the
month. This should not be the case with our

(continued on p. 8)

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Richard LaDue was hires next

day and was also charged with the same
offenses. Due to the nature of the attack, he
will be tried as an adult in court.

State's Attorney William Sorrel said,
"The fact that (this) was a hate crime would
be potentially an aggravating factor which
the court may take into account in sentenc-
ing." Sorrell also explained that the motiva-
tion of the defendant could be deemed a
factor in the sentencing of the two brothers
if they are convicted.

As their defense, the suspects have
resorted to one of the most common tactics
used against gay victims in crimes, claim-
ing that the victim attempted to make a
sexual pass at one of the assailants. Richard
LaDue claimed that he was defending
himself from such a sexual pass, and that
this led to the injuries sustained by the
victim. Dominic LaDue further told police
that he had to pull his brother free from the
victim in Battery Park. Neither Richard nor
Dominic were injured in the incident.

In a recent interview, the victim re-
sponded to those claims and shed further
light on the nature of hate crimes, explain-
ing that "not only did I have to go through
the physical assault, but now I'm being
forced to go through the character assault
resulting from these allegations."

Robert Zeuner, of the law firm Bauer,
Gravel, and Watson, has said that the Hate
Crimes law will increase the challenge
faced in court for the defense, and added
that "it requires a much more vigorous
defense because the punishments are much
more severe than they used to be."

The Hate Crimes law was passed fol-
lowing an increase in support attributed to
the April beating of Roger Macomber,
which also occurred in Burlington. Kevin
Murray, who is now awaiting trial in the
Chittenden Community Correctional Cen-
ter, admitted to going to Pearls on Easter

(continued on page 12)