Washington D.C.
Following three separate attacks against the LGBT community in
Washington D.C. earlier this month, nearly 700 people gathered to
demand justice in a march Tuesday, the Washington Blade is reporting.
The outpour of support included city officials Police Chief Cathy
Lanier and four member of the Washington D.C. City Council.
The rally, which was organized on Facebook, comes in wake of a Mar. 12
attack of a 29-year-old gay man who was robbed and beaten near Georgia
Avenue and Irving Street NW. His assailants called him anti-gay slurs
and fled the scene according to Patrick Pressman, an organizer of the
rally.
"It was a Facebook event and I expected maybe 15 to 50 people to show
up," said Pressman. "And then from there it just exploded," he said.
"It got to where it was today, when it was estimated that about 700
people were going to attend."
The rally also supported another attack labeled as a hate crime that
occurred on Mar. 11 as a non-life threatening shooting was reported at
a nearby IHOP restaurant. Police say a 31-year-old gay man got into an
altercation with two men who called him anti-gay names. Police Chief
Lanier said she expects an arrest in the shooting as she spoke to
marchers who were gathered outside the restaurant.
"We have everybody working on this and I think everybody's committed,"
she said. "We kind of take it personally when people in our community
are targeted."
On the same night of the IHOP shooting, another attack against a
transgender woman occurred just hours later at the nearby intersection
of West Virginia Avenue and Mt. Olivet Road NE. Due to insufficient
evidence, however, the attack against the transgender woman has not
been classified a hate crime.
"I want to say that this walk should never have to happen again in our
city," said D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown (D-At-Large). "We have to
do more. We must do more," he said. "And for those who know about this
horrific situation that took place, I'm begging you to come forth.
Give us information … to bring these folks to justice."
Other rally attendees included gay D.C. city council member Jim Graham
(D-Ward 1), Michael Brown (D-At-large), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4),
Jeffrey Richardson, director of Mayor Vincent Gray's Office of LGBT
Affairs, Gustavo Velasquez, director of the D.C. Office of Human
Rights, and A.J. Singletary, president of the D.C. group Gays and
Lesbian Opposing Violence (GLOV), including many other LGBT activists
and allies.
More:
http://lgbtweekly.com/2012/03/21/lgbt-activists-take-a-stand-against-violence-in-washington-d-c/
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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