Threefold Rise in Gay Bashings in Santa Clara County
A surge in anti-gay hate crimes has been reported in Santa Clara County for 2008, representing a three-fold increase over 2007. Both LGBT activists and the Assistant District Attorney for the county attribute the rise to the ubiquity of gay marriage news, and warring propaganda on both sides of the Prop 8 debate which occupied lawns, lampposts and headlines throughout the year.
As reported in the San Jose Mercury News, 56% of total hate crimes reported in the county were LGBT-related in 2008, up from only 15% in 2007--14 out of 25 total cases, up from 3 out of 20.
Says Asst. DA Jay Boyarsky, "My belief from having done this work for many years is that surges in types of hate incidents are linked to the headlines and controversies of the day." Boyarksy also notes that there were some reports of anti-Christian hate crimes as well, which was the obvious spin that Prop 8 supporters wanted to put on this new statistic.
"It seems like visibility makes people come out of the woodwork," says Leslie Bulbuk, president of local LGBT group BAYMEC.
"I certainly hope Proposition 8 did not result in more crime,'' says Frank Schubert, member of the anti-gay-marriage group Protect Marriage. "But if it did, it did so on both sides.'' Schubert claims that the statistics do not reflect numerous incidents of Prop 8 opponents harassing supporters of the ban.
Given that our sister county to the south is arguably home to the densest conservative segment of the greater Bay Area's population, these new figures may not be too surprising, however sad. But should the Mercury News really be conflating verbal harassment by opposing political factions with hate crimes? If Prop 8 opponents taunted and swore at Prop 8 supporters across an intersection, or even up in their faces, we wouldn't call that a hate crime. That's just lively campaigning.
As our gay friends at The Sword (semi-NSFW) say to Mr. Schubert, "Whatever Frank. When we threw that shoe at you out of our moving vehicle it was *totes* out of love."