Journal Study Shows Gays, Lesbians More Likely
To Be Attacked by Groups or Gangs
MIAMI, Fla. (Sept. 25, 2002) – Last Sunday, millions
of Americans watched as NBC’s The Matthew Shepard Story
and HBO’s The Laramie Project – both TV movies detailing
the brutal hate-crime murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard
– were nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning one (Stockard
Channing for Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie, The Matthew
Shepard Story).
But Emmy nominators weren’t the only ones moved to action
by a horrible hate crime. American Behavioral Scientist, a leading
academic journal, has devoted its entire September issue to hate
crimes, including three chapters on exactly the kind of attack
that killed Shepard.
“Nearly one-fifth of all gays and lesbians in the United
States are believed to have been assaulted because of their sexual
orientation,” said Suzanna M. Rose, Ph.D., a psychology
professor and director of the Women’s Studies Center at
Florida International University and co-author, with Cal State-Fullerton’s
Mindy B. Mechanic, on a chapter focused on homophobic bias incidents.
“Not only do these incidents scar their victims, we’ve
found they often result in post-traumatic stress that can take
years to overcome.
“So, examining these kind of crimes is as important to understanding
why they occur as it is to providing help to victims.”
Perhaps most disturbingly, Rose and Mechanic found that a disproportionate
share of homophobic crime incidents – sexual assault, physical
assault, threats or other bias – involved multiple perpetrators.
That means victims of anti-gay hate crimes are much more likely
to be attacked by groups or gangs than victims of other crimes.
“[In] nonbias incidents … multiple perpetrator events
tend to be the exception, not the rule,” they wrote. Hate
crimes “take on a more menacing quality when the victim
is confronted by a group of assailants.”
Other chapters include:
_ “The Ripple Effect of the Matthew Shepard Murder,”
by Monique Noelle of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
The article examined the vicarious trauma experienced by gays
and lesbians in the wake of the Shepard murder. It is believed
to be the first work to quantify what many have long believed
– that hate crimes traumatize not just their victims, but
entire communities.
_ “Attributions of Hate: The Media’s Casual Attributions
of a Hate-Crime Murder,” by Ryan M. Quist of the Western
University of Health Sciences and Douglas M. Wiegand of the UCLA
Health Services Research Center. The piece examines politically
“conservative” and “liberal” media reports
on homophobic hate crimes, showing that conservative stories were
more likely to paint homosexuality as a changeable, controllable
choice, while liberal articles tend to emphasize the situational
factors that led to the assault.
Journal co-editor Jeanine C. Cogan argues forcefully in the issue’s
final chapter that hate crimes, the recognition of which has been
controversial in some political circles, are worthy of public
policy attention. “The concentration of activity on hate
crimes over the past 15 years attests to the growing concern with
the terroristic nature of violence motivated by hate or bigotry,”
she writes. “Hate crimes are a direct threat to some of
the basic principles that are the foundation of American life.”
For more information on the September issue of American Behavioral
Scientist, visit publisher SAGE Publications online at www.sagepub.com.
To contact Editor Jeanine C. Cogan, write to JCogan5573@aol.com.
Opened in 1972, Florida International University is now one
of the nation’s leading public research universities It
serves a diverse student body of 34,000 on two Miami-Dade County
campuses and one in Broward County.
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