Unfinished Lives

Remembering LGBT Hate Crime Victims

Student at Georgetown U Attacked Because of Sexual Orientation

georgetownWashington, D.C. – The Washington Post reports that a female student was assaulted and robbed allegedly because of her sexual orientation on Tuesday, October 27 while she was walking near the entrance to Georgetown University on Canal Road.  Her assailants yelled anti-gay slurs as they beat her, knocked her down, and robbed her of her book bag.  At the time of the attack, she was wearing a T-shirt bearing a gay rights slogan.  Reaction at GU was swift.  By Friday, 50 students protested the assault, showing their support for the woman who was targeted because of her perceived sexual orientation.  JM Alatis, a freshman who serves as historian and secretary of GU Pride, the campus LGBT rights organization, condemned the violence, “We should not have to fear for our lives when we walk down the street.”  The rally had been set in motion by Facebook and Twitter contacts in less than 24 hours, demonstrating the speed with which the linked-in community can respond to anti-LGBT violence.  Students say that intimidation and attacks like this are common in the GU neighborhood, on and off campus.  Speaking to WaPo reporters, sophomore Marcus Brazill said, “This stuff happens all the time, but a lot of us are afraid of reporting it.”  A Georgetown Med student was intimidated by homophobes with a broken glass bottle last fall, and in September 2007, a sophomore student was arrested in an incident that was considered a possible anti-LGBT hate crime.  The case was subsequently dropped according the WaPo, but the controversy led to the establishment of the first LGBTQ Resource Center on the campus of a Roman Catholic/Jesuit university in the nation.  Rev. Kelly O’Brien, S.J., Executive Director of Campus Ministry, commenting on the significance of the LGBTQ Center, said, “Campus Ministry is pleased to collaborate with the LGBTQ Resource Center to learn from and support Georgetown’s LGBTQ community. The Center helps us understand the issues, struggles, concerns, and hopes of the LGBTQ community so that we can better minister to those seeking our care.”  As of Friday, the assailants in this latest anti-LGBT attack were still at large.

October 31, 2009 - Posted by | Beatings and battery, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Law and Order, Lesbian women, Mistaken as LGBT, Perpetrators of Hate Crime, Protests and Demonstrations, Slurs and epithets, Social Justice Advocacy, Washington, D.C., women

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