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CWEALF In The News
Vigil Marks Outrage Over Hate Crimes In City
November 21, 2005
By JESSE HAMILTON, Courant Staff Writer
Within shouting distance of the scene of a
recent attack on a lesbian couple in Hartford, people raised
their voices at a rally Sunday against the silence they believe
encourages hate crimes.
The Barry Square rally was the first of back-to-back
events in the city condemning assaults on people because of
their sexual orientation or lifestyles.
A group brought together by the Task Force on
Race, Class and Social Justice gathered in the park with demands
that city officials catch and prosecute the couple's assailants
and encourage more sensitivity in police response to hate
crimes.
More than 50 people stood on a carpet of brittle
leaves to hear those demands and cheer the message of tolerance
from the speakers.
The couple had just left a nearby club on Oct.
30 when they were attacked on Campfield Avenue by several
men. The women, 24 and 22, suffered broken bones and were
frustrated by the police response.
The women did not call police right away, nor
did officers respond to the scene. And when the women met
with investigators the following day they felt the police
attitude was unsympathetic, one of the women said.
Attending the rally, Jerimarie Liesegang, director
of the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, a group fighting
for the rights of transgender people, called that police response
"confused and insensitive."
Mayor Eddie Perez, who appeared with the deputy
police chief for the southern part of the city, told the group
that the police "didn't respond the way they should have responded,"
but said it was based on a mix-up, not prejudice.
Deputy Chief Jose Lopez said police were dispatched
that night, but were confused by a simultaneous incident around
the corner from the site of the beating and were not aware
of the attack. He added that hate crime response and sensitivity
are part of an officer's education, and those who do not embrace
it are not welcome.
"In the city of Hartford, there is no room for
hate, for bigotry or for violence," Perez said. When it occurs,
he said, people must stand up against it.
Like Perez and the other speakers Sunday, Liesegang
decried silence. "Hate and violence feed on silence. We must
never be silent."
The rally attracted several different advocacy
groups, preaching on the same theme.
"I'm here today because I know how it feels
to be different," said the Rev. Cornell Lewis, founder of
the Men of Color Initiative. Magdelena Luz of Latinos Contra
La Guerra said the people here came together as "witnesses
again of a horrible hate crime in our neighborhood."
Any person, they reminded listeners again and
again, could be the target of hate.
According to FBI statistics, there were 116
hate crimes reported in Connecticut last year. The national
number was 7,649. Among those thousands were the killings
of 13 transgender people.
Their violent deaths were the focus of Sunday's
second event.
Through the cold night, through the same neighborhood
in which the lesbian couple was attacked, demonstrators walked
with candles in hand to the fourth Transgender Day of Remembrance
at the Metropolitan Community Church of Hartford.
Residents emerged onto porches, wondering who
the quiet marchers were and showing little surprise when told
of the violence that had stirred them.
At the memorial vigil inside the church, those
attending lit 13 candles - one for each transgender person
killed - and read biographical information about each aloud,
just as similar groups were doing across the country.
Pastor George Chien championed love over hate.
"In our differences, we are one," he said.
Donna Shubrooks, a nurse and the mother of a
transgender son, said, "Hatred has to be taught; therefore,
it can be untaught." She said she refuses to live in fear,
even though her son could be attacked "just for being himself."
Strangers though the 13 were to those in the
church, some of the people wept.
"It cuts so close to home," said Liesegang,
who was born a man but lives as a woman. She recalled organizing
the first of these annual remembrances in 2002, and looks
forward to the year such a memorial won't be needed.
"Unfortunately," she said, "that day has not
arrived."
CWEALF joined with numerous community members, leaders
and the Task Force for Race, Class and Social Justice to plan
a vigil in response to the hate crime committed against a
lesbian couple in October. Colleen Mullan (see picture), CWEALF
Legal Educator and Advocate, attended the vigil to protest
the continued lack of awareness and action surrounding hate
crimes in Connecticut. Last year, CWEALF facilitated a Hate
Crime coalition and successfully worked to include gender
identity or expression and disabilities in Connecticut's hate
crime laws. This rally was convened to highlight the importance
of not only having hate crime laws, but to include important
preventative work such as education and prevention. Please
see complete article.
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