More gay-bashing in Alberta

40 posts / 0 new

Thu, 2010-04-22 11:55

Yiwah

Ah, Alberta. Gay bashing capital of Canada.

I shouldn't read [url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/04/21/edmonton-lesbian-hate... articles[/url], especially when I know the people involved. It's really rather sick how the comments section has turned into a 'blame the victim for being drunk' and 'hate crime is silly' and 'they must have done something to deserve it' fest.

"Barry, 31, is recovering in hospital after surgery to implant two plates in her face. She suffered a broken jaw, a crushed left eye socket and facial nerve damage when she was kicked in the face by a man who hurled sexual epithets at her before the attack...

The women called 911, and an ambulance arrived right away. However, it took 30 minutes for a police officer to arrive.

The women, who admit they were heavily intoxicated, told CBC the officer took their names but very little other information. They had to ask him for his business card, Gouchie said.

When Barry phoned police on Tuesday to ask about progress on her case, she learned there was no record of the incident, and the officer involved was off for four days.

CBC News has learned the investigating officer did not file a report. He also did not call in the dog team or Air 1, the police helicopter, in an attempt to track the four young men.

That is standard procedure for such a serious crime, according to one veteran of the Edmonton force, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He also said department policy requires officers to file reports on the same day, especially in a case involving a serious incident, such as an aggravated assault and potential hate crime."

Thu, 2010-04-22 18:31

Yiwah

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2010/04/22/edmonton-police-hate-... on the story[/url]. Community response to this has been so overwhelming that it's put the pressure on officials to investigate. Friends of the victim have started a Community Response Page on [url=http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=615566846#!/group.php?gid=1160761....

It's scary to think that if Shannon herself hadn't agitated, and if she didn't have community support, that this crime would have gone unreported and completely unnoted. Which makes you think about other marginalised people who have no voice at all. Chilling.

Sun, 2010-05-23 13:16

bagkitty

Interesting developments from a notorious gay-bashing in Thunder Bay. The victim has found himself in the position of pleading guilty to assault charges - essentially because he felt he couldn't afford the costs of going to trial - speaks volumes about how the Crown operates, doesn't it? As is typical in incidencts like this, the Crown has opted not to lay hate crime charges against the thugs who initiated the assault.

Wed, 2010-05-26 01:12

bagkitty

Meanwhile, in Windsor...

Wed, 2010-05-26 01:13

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

:) @ bagkitty, this thread title was never good.

Wed, 2010-05-26 01:20

bagkitty

Yeah, I thought so too, but rather than go off on a rant about it, thought I would post a little information challenging that particular misconception. Of course, in support of Yiwah's very first sentence, I would be quite willing to believe that the likelihood of a bashing in Alberta being reported to and/or acted on by the local constabulary might be lower. My basic point is that people should definitely get past thinking that bashings only happen "elsewhere".

Wed, 2010-05-26 01:34

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

True enough bagkitty, some pretty good bashing going on here in the centre of the universe lately. QAIA excuse...

Wed, 2010-05-26 11:02

jtleroy

I am new to this Board but not new to this subject. Given that the LGBTQ community are the most targeted for hate crimes I wonder if we should not be speaking out more clearly in support of anti-hate regulations?

Thu, 2010-05-27 20:39

KeyStone

Clearly, this is a much less serious issue than anti-semitism, which is why we have the Canadian Parliamentary Coaltion to Combat Anti-Semitism. If homophobia were really a problem, these parties would all band together, to form a similiar committee to specifically combat homophobia.

Tue, 2010-06-15 14:35

#10

bagkitty

Meanwhile, in Vancouver...

Sat, 2010-07-03 12:14

#11

bagkitty

Yet again, in Vancouver...

Mon, 2010-07-12 14:08

#12

bagkitty

...and a ferry ride away in the provincial capital

Xtra is keeping a tally, that makes three attacks in British Columbia in three weeks.

Sat, 2010-07-31 13:56

#13

bagkitty

Interesting article on Canada's gay-bashing capital...

Thu, 2010-09-09 13:02

#14

bagkitty

Back to Victoria again...

Wed, 2010-10-13 00:04

#15

bagkitty

Vancouver, again (Oct 8) - interesting take on how the police respond.

Tue, 2010-10-26 00:07

#16

bagkitty

Of course not everyone gets bashed, some have their house set on fire while they are still in it. dateline PEI

Sat, 2010-10-30 10:12

#17

E.Tamaran

How come Yiwah is described as a "douchebag"? Post #1, under her name. Moderator notified.

Sat, 2010-10-30 10:23

#18

oldgoat

I tried to fix that quite a while ago, but it seems to be beyond my powers. Perhaps a mod more clever than I will know how to do it. Also, doesn't look like Yiwah has posted in a long time.

Sat, 2010-10-30 11:42

#19

bagkitty

And in Regina...

Thu, 2010-11-04 13:07

#20

bagkitty

Update to the the incident referred to in post #14 to be found here. (If anyone is keeping track, that was still Vancouver)

Tue, 2010-11-16 14:29

#21

KeyStone

Perhaps we should set up a hotline to report all homophobic incidents.
Actual assault is only one component. Gay slurs on the internet and at school would certainly count as incidents.

Perhaps then, our elected officials would recognize the seriousness of the issue and set up a committee to combat homophobia.

Mon, 2011-01-24 14:40

#22

bagkitty

I've been neglecting this haven't I?

Center of the Universe

Tue, 2011-01-25 21:44

#23

bagkitty

And not to be outdone, we return to British Columbia, at a resort just outside of Nakusp (although to be fair, the assailaint was overheard to say he was from Alberta).

Mon, 2011-01-31 21:37

#24

Maysie

Quote:
Toronto Police are calling a recent late-night assault in the Gay Village a hate crime, stoking concerns the neighbourhood is no longer safe.

Ryan Lester, 30, was kicked in the face and called “faggot” while getting a post-bar snack at Mehran Restaurant on Church St. early Saturday Jan. 22. His 24-year-old brother, Ben, suffered has deep bruises on his back and had to go to the dentist to repair a broken molar.

The beating comes on the heels of allegations that local students have been hurling slushies, ice and homophobic slurs at residents in the Gay Village.

Quote:
“There were homophobic slurs and other derogatory comments being made. The victims did not provoke them in any way and all of a sudden they were assaulted,” Chang said, adding that in his year and a half at 51 Division, it’s the first time he has categorized a case as a hate crime.

Toronto Police recorded 174 hate crimes in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Twenty six of them were related to sexual orientation.

Full story here.

Thanks bagkitty.

Tue, 2011-02-01 09:05

#25

Sineed

Discouraging to see in this country in this century. In the 1980s, I lived with a lesbian roommate, who told me about the people coming to Toronto's gay village specifically to yell slurs and sometimes throw things from the safety of their vehicles.

Question: is there is a psychological profile associated with perpetrators of homophobic attacks? Are they religious, or brought up in a religious home? They seem to be largely disaffected young men, the kind of guys that commit most crimes in general, but are there specific factors that seem to contribute to a higher risk of someone attacking gay people?

Tue, 2011-02-01 14:27

#26

bagkitty

Alcohol and testosterone. There may also be some relationship to professional sports... during the brief period I resided in Toronto, it was an article of faith that the vicinity of Maple Leaf Gardens was an unsafe place to be game nights (obviously this was prior to the move).

Thu, 2011-02-17 15:46

#27

bagkitty

Sentencing in Edmonton (and yes, Edmonton is actually in Alberta).

Fri, 2011-02-25 13:15

#28

bagkitty

Verdict delivered in Oshawa - sentencing expected March 14.

Wed, 2011-09-07 13:28

#29

bagkitty

UPDATE TO THE STORY THAT PROMPTED THE THREAD:

Sentencing, if you can call it that. This is the kind of thing that gives you a teensy bit of sympathy for the Cons law and order routine.

Sat, 2011-09-24 00:50

#30

Red Tory Tea Girl

I have no sympathy for the idea that excessive sentencing reduces crime... they do fill our vicarious need for revenge (which is why some people push mandatory sentencing for one sort of crime but not another...)

Tue, 2012-04-17 17:34

#31

bagkitty

Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Quote:

A man is facing a charge of second-degree murder after a prominent gay activist in Halifax was beaten to death early Tuesday morning outside a gay club on Gottingen Street.

Wed, 2012-04-18 14:28

#32

bagkitty

Jian Gomeshi's opening monologue on today's Q focused on Taavel's killing. I thought it was very well done, unfortunately they purged it from the podcast.

Wed, 2012-04-18 14:43

#33

Ghislaine

The accused has a history of violence and was let out on a day pass from a secure psychiatric facility. Just last summer he was involved in a [url=http://thechronicleherald.ca/metro/87682-slaying-suspect-has-history-of-... seven-hour standoff [/url] with police, where he confined a woman and sexually assaulted her.

Why was he let out?

Wed, 2012-04-18 15:46

#34

6079_Smith_W

bagkitty wrote:

Jian Gomeshi's opening monologue on today's Q focused on Taavel's killing. I thought it was very well done, unfortunately they purged it from the podcast.

THat is a complete stunner, considering it was the lead story on The National last night.

Thu, 2012-04-19 03:28

#35

bagkitty

6079... this was the first time I have ever downloaded the Q podcast, I have no idea if it is customary for them to include the opening monologue or not so perhaps my use of the term "purged" may have been a bit strong. Whatever the case, it is most unfortunate that they did so, I was trying to link to it.

Fri, 2012-04-20 21:02

#36

RevolutionPlease RevolutionPlease's picture

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1165265--will-the-gay-village-be-a-v...

Quote:

The Fetish Fair is dead. In January, the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (BIA), the main financial backer for the event, decided to pull the Fetish Fair’s funding after a failed attempt last year to sell it as a “village fair.”

“We were looking for ways to become a more neighbourhood-friendly event,” says Liz Devine, BIA co-chair and president of Church St.’s Thomas Cook Rainbow Travel, adding that the fair was not benefitting local businesses.

So, if you don't benefit local business, sucks to be you.

Quote:

The Gay Village, however, still has a “powerful symbolic role” for Rayside.

“It’s a place that stands for a kind of visibility and assertiveness that remains unique in the city,” he says, including for gay “refugees” from hostile families, towns, and countries.

“There’s still lots of prejudice out there — much more than people realize.”

Pearce says that HOTF will again host Toronto Leather Pride weekend in August.

“I do appreciate all sides of this. I do. Times are a-changing. But they always have been.”

It's a long struggle and we need to keep our heads up. Some of the article tried to lap up how far we have come...I don't think we should pull a muscle tapping ourselves on the back.

Sun, 2012-04-22 18:13

#37

Red Tory Tea Girl

"So, if you don't benefit local business, sucks to be you."

And the Buy-Local movement wept.

Sun, 2012-04-22 18:34

#38

kropotkin1951

Quote:

The Fetish Fair is dead. In January, the Church-Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area (BIA), the main financial backer for the event, decided to pull the Fetish Fair’s funding after a failed attempt last year to sell it as a “village fair.”

He who pays the piper calls the tune. The business people only want to fund things that make them money. How surprising.

Sun, 2012-04-22 19:13

#39

6079_Smith_W

Obviously I'm not too familiar with the Toronto event, but I have a couple of questions and observations.

Is it really true that the event didn't benefit local businesses, or is that just the opinion of the main sponsor?

How is it that the event let itself be entirely dependent on the whim of one supporter, and what does that say about the organizers' planning, and where to lay blame?

We had a similar situation with the fringe here in Saskatoon. Guess what? the organizers talked with businesses, and for a number of reasons cancelled their own beer gardens so the fringe patrons would go to local businesses.

Finally, it is not true at all that one bad example means that business people only fund things that give them a return. Sure in many cases there is a quid pro quo, but it is not true that we just make decisions based on our own profit.

/drift

Sun, 2012-04-22 21:29

#40

kropotkin1951

Finally it is not true that anyone said that one bad example means that business people only fund things that make them a return. I actually said, "The business people ...". If I had wanted to include other businesses not just the the ones in this story I would have said, "Business people only want to fund ... ". Sorry for the subtle context in the written word but try to keep up.

Now if you want to debate whether or not most business people would only fund things that make them a return like my little joke implied then have at it. I grant you some business people are the exceptions to the norm. You seem to be one of the exceptions to the norm but people like you rarely make up the majority on an executive of something like a Business Improvement group.