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NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE

PRESS RELEASE

Contact:

Tracey Conaty, Communications Director

202-332-6483 ext. 3303

800-757-6476 pager

tconaty@ngltf.org

http://www.ngltf.org

2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

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TASK FORCE CONDEMNS SAVAGE BASHING; CHARGES RIGHT WING WITH INCREASE IN ANTI-GAY RHETORIC

WASHINGTON, DC---October 9, 1998--- The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force condemned Tuesday¹s gay bashing in Laramie, Wyoming where a student was severely burned, beaten, and left to die. The Task Force linked the violence to an increased climate of anti-gay hostility and political attacks in nearby Fort Collins, the Wyoming legislature, and in the US Congress.

"Anti-gay rhetoric and anti-gay violence go hand-in-hand," said Tracey Conaty, NGLTF communications director. "The right wing is creating the most hostile atmospheres for GLBT people in recent memory. Hate violence is a logical extension of these rhetorical, legislative, and electoral attacks, " she added.

Matthew Shepard, a 22-year-old political science student at the University of Wyoming, was found tied to a fence the day after having been left to die by his assailants. He had burns on his entire body and had been beaten so severely with a blunt object that his skull was crushed. He is on a respirator at a nearby hospital in Fort Collins, CO. Shepard had been beaten recently and attributed the attack to his sexual orientation. In that attack, he suffered a broken jaw.

The Task Force charges that right wing groups have fostered a climate conducive to such violence. This week in Fort Collins, Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, a right-wing opposition group ran a series of ads denouncing the measures and urging voters not to support "special rights" for homosexuals. A similar organization sponsored a forum with an "ex-gay" spokesperson, which claimed sexual orientation can be changed, and therefore does not deserve inclusion in Fort Collins¹ Human Rights Ordinance.

Right wing forces in Wyoming have stymied passage of a hate crimes bill claiming it would give "special rights" to GLBT people. Nationally, right-wing organizations have hypocritically portrayed their anti-gay efforts as "compassionate and loving." In June, Senate majority leader Trent Lott compared homosexuality to kleptomania and sex addiction. Recent anti-gay measures in Congress were introduced while right-wing groups launched a major advertising campaign to "change" GLBT people. Just yesterday, these groups announced a series of TV ads seeking to "reject homosexuality and go on to live healthy normal lives."

The Task Force has documented a link between increases in anti-gay violence and the escalation of anti-gay rhetoric during ballot initiative campaigns. Immediately before Colorado¹s Amendment 2 passed in 1992, Colorado activists documented a 129 percent increase in anti-gay assaults. In the two months following the vote, nearly 40 percent of the annual total was reported. Hattie Mae Cohen, a lesbian, and Brian Mock, a gay man, were killed when their home in Oregon was firebombed during that state¹s 1992 ballot battle. In Maine in 1995, incidents of anti-gay violence jumped to 10 during the six months of an anti-gay initiative campaign in 1995, compared to four incidents for the entire previous year.

"When anti-gay rhetoric escalates, so does anti-gay violence. Hate crimes are a result of that intolerance," continued Conaty. "No one should condone violence against any group of people, nor should they contribute to an atmosphere that fosters such intolerance and violence."

A bill languishing in Congress, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, would make hate violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and other minorities a federal crime. The Task Force urges Congress to swiftly pass this measure.