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2008-12-23 05:07:17
SAN FRANCISCO A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men,
taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an
abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.
Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of
her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their
late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual
orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.
"It just pushes it beyond fathomable," he said. "The level of trauma physical
and emotional this victim has suffered is extreme."
Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to
reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual
orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female
partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.
The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she
crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and
sexually assaulted her with the help of the other men.
When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into
her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped
again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove
off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.
The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a
hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives
hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname
"Blue" and another was called "Pato," according to authorities.
Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the
arrest of the attackers.
Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have
increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460
in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the
FBI.
Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims
may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.
"Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault,"
he said. "Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent
forms of hate violence that our communities experience."
Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether
fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots
this year in California, Arizona and Florida.
"Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the
numbers and the severity of attacks," he said. "People feel this extra
entitlement to act out their prejudice."