JEFFREY DARLING and his friends—some of whom were dressed in elaborate drag—found their path blocked by a group of five guys as they left a downtown bar in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 30. The group began hurling gay slurs, and when one of the drag queens shouted back, they started throwing punches. By the time police officers intervened, Darling and one of his friends were on the sidewalk, unconscious.
Despite the obvious wrongdoing, Darling was not sure he wanted to file a police report. Dealing with the paperwork and investigators would be more trouble than just letting the incident blow over and, besides, he wasn’t sure it would do any good. But he and his friends eventually decided to file a report. Their public acknowledgement of the bashing sparked a community forum last week, with over 100 Portlanders packing the Q Center on N Mississippi to hear Portland Police Chief Mike Reese, Mayor Sam Adams, and Deputy District Attorney Rod Underhill address what members of the LGBT community say is a common crime.
Statistics from the police bureau show reports of “bias crime assaults” like the one Darling endured have dropped in Portland from 26 reported in 2007 to 15 in 2009. But much of the public comment at the Q Center forum focused on why Portland’s queer community thinks reporting gay bashings is a lost cause.
Underhill compared the situation of reporting Portland’s gay bashings to reports of domestic abuse. “A woman gets abused, on average, seven times before she makes a report. There’s a sense that if they call the police, the right thing isn’t going to happen.”
That sense of futility is supported by failure of the officials to follow through on several recent high-profile gay bashings—including the case of Airick H., an openly gay Portlander who does not want to use his last name for fear of retaliation. Airick pressed charges in April 2009 against a man he says gay bashed him outside queer dance party Blow Pony. The case, the DA’s office confirms, was derailed due to a clerical error.
According to Airick, a man named Blake McCune was hanging around outside Casey’s bar in Old Town during Blow Pony in April 2009, shouting that the partygoers were “AIDS-infested faggots.” While Airick called the police, he says McCune punched him in the face, calling him a “faggot bitch.”
Airick filed a police report and the DA charged McCune with harassment, intimidation, and disorderly conduct. Airick persistently checked in on the case, calling the DA’s office a half-dozen times over six months, to make sure he could be present and able to speak at McCune’s arraignment. But when Airick called to check in on the case in February 2010, the DA’s office told him it had been closed.
Thanks to a clerical error, the DA’s office mistakenly recorded that Airick had moved to Minnesota. The alleged victim never received a subpoena for the arraignment, no witnesses showed up to testify about the incident, and all three charges against McCune were dropped.
“A whole year I went through this anxiety and this guy got away scot-free,” says Airick. He brought his case to center stage at the public forum last week. “I find [the case] disgusting. Saddening. I wanted to speak at his arraignment, but the subpoenas stopped coming,” Airick told the crowd.
As Portland enters its annual Pride Week this month, officials at the Q Center forum encouraged people who are gay bashed to report the crime, despite setbacks. The DA’s office says it will re-review Airick’s case.
“You have a right to not only feel safe in this city, but be safe,” said Mayor Adams.
“This is bigger than people getting beaten up in the street,” said Kendall Clawson, director of the Q Center. “This is people who have broken the law in a serious way.”
A lawyer needs to get into contact with Airick and sue the DA’s office. They are happily prosecuting (cough, bargaining ) the 100’s of DUI and minor possession charges they get each month, they don’t even know how to deal with a plurality of different types of cases anymore. All they care is about is ease of conviction and if the city looks bad for tourists if they bring a case to trial. Who wants to bet this “clerical error” was to save the face of Sam Adams running a town increasingly dealing with homophobic idiots moving in from the stix?
Rarian,
I didn’t mention it in the article, but Airick does have a lawyer to help him out. Attorney Lake Perriguey met Airick at the public forum and is on his case.
While it’s true the Police could do more, they can’t do anything if you don’t report the attack, period.
Never, ever ask the fucking pigs for help..just bash the homophobes back!
I have a story that happened to me, A renter that lived one door down the street, would yell out fucking fagot 8 to 10 times a day , any time this renter saw the guy outside, the renter even would sometimes yell out, just in driving by. So I called the Portland Police, What a waste of time. The officer showed up at my house only to tell me “guys call each other fagots all the time” . ….. I did manage to make the landlord take action, but had to threaten to sue her first. I have other first hand stories of homophobia with in the Portland Police. We are kidding each other if we think some members of the police are not homophobic.
Thank your representative government there are anti-discriminatory laws on the books in Oregon then.
Go up the ladder until you get results. Or, as someone mentioned, learn to defend yourself. The police are almost always RE active agents. They arrive long after the (potentially fatal) crime has been committed. It’s sad that we have to do this but…you cannot expect the police to save you when thugs intend to harm you (or evthat they’ll just wait around for the police afterwards). And don’t rely on the friendly strangers milling about after the club closed down to intervene on your behalf. Learn to (legally) protect yourself and then when the police show up you can claim your anti-discrimination stuff.
“While it’s true the Police could do more, they can’t do anything if you don’t report the attack, period.”
The FACT is, the cops don’t really do shit even when you do report crimes to them! Cops & ACTUAL criminals are practically in collusion with one another, & every day citizens are caught in the fucking middle!
Fuck the police b/c they can’t help nor WILL they! Cops are major homophobes, themselves. The GLBTQ community must handle this THEMSELVES!
You know what sucks,no pun intended,what sucks is how we all seem to think that freedom of speach meens we can say anything we want.Its hypocrisy that we can say in public and in print words like fuck the cops,fuck the government,but fucking fags is not okI’ve used some real nasty language in my comments to see more or less if anyone would report me……well I’m through.I’m going to be the odd-ball and use common courtesy from now on.No more foul mouthed crap for me.Wait….I just said CRAP…geez.%*^@ haters and nasty mouthed fools!!!
@ “mandingo”
YOU’RE fucking one to talk about common courtesy & language, when your screen name is clearly racist!
Damosa,my screen name has nothing to do with that slavery movie.But since your so quick to judge…….I say to you,what is worse,a homo or a homophob?Seems were all guilty of something my mother taught me…Two wrongs only prolong,two wrongs dont make it right.Fucking chicken!Fucking pussy!Know what I mean?It seems to me that what the world needs now more than ever isnt just love sweet love but just a strong jolt of haman decentsy[?]and not so must anger and hatred and holier than thow attitudes.I can be very humble.I will admit I do sometimes give a knee-jerk response.I’m working on that.I have friends of multi races and gay and lesbian too.Maybe just call me MandingleBERRY.Peace.Work on your courtesy,language and profiling and I’ll work on DEEZ NUTS!!!! THE WORLD IS GOING TO SHIT WITH ANGER AS IF ITS A COOOOOOL TREND!!!!!
No witnesses coming forward?There you go.Seems nobody at all had your back.You did all the right things but I got to tell you that witnesses often make the case.I got in a fight once defending another who was being bullied.I wooped him after he first dragged me down to the ground by my hair.I took my licks in the brawl but in self defense busted open his eyebrow requiring stitches.When he saw his wound HE had the nerve to call the cops on me.When I saw the cops coming I asked several strangers who saw it all and only one came forward and claimed it self defense.Everyone else just sort of split on the scene.The police told the bully he’d lose in court and it was squashed.Witnesses are often crucial.Peace and justice.
The alleged attackers in the June 10 attack were just arrested. http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?ar…
This letter is in regard to the coverage of the gay-bashing attacks. As a disciple of Jesus Christ I deplore these hateful verbal and physical attacks, regardless of their motivation or the sexual proclivities of the victims. I call on every man with an ounce of compassion left in this dark world: refuse to shut your eyes to this. Refuse to look the other way when your neighbor is in need. And to all the Christian readers of this paper, I’d add this: THE TWO OF YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED. HOW CAN YOU READ THIS HEDONISTIC CLAPTRAP CLEARLY GATHERED DIRECTLY FROM ASMODEUS’ EVERSPATTERING DIARHEAPIPE? REPENT YOU LECHEROUS WASTE OF SPERM AND EGG! AND DON’T EVEN TRY TELLING THE PASTOR THAT I CAME HERE TO DEFEND “THE TINKY-WINKIES”, OR I’LL COPY YOUR CRAIGSLIST “EXPLORATIONS” INTO THE CHURCH BULLETIN.
I feel for all of you, I have never been gay bashed but I know it can happen (probably will). When it does tho I’m gonna bash right back. Start carrying weapons, I know violence shouldn’t be the answer but if the cops aren’t going to help, we have to protect ourselves.
i agree that violent, bizarro homophobes who break the ice – so to speak – by attacking innocent victims deserve a taste of their own medicine…we need to hit back, and break something of theirs if that’s what it takes to chill their Neanderthal impulses.