BLOOMINGTON HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

Second Fact-Finding Hearing on Gay, Lesbian and Bi-sexual Bashing

PURPOSE OF HEARING

The Bloomington Human Rights Commission held a second gay bashing hearing on April 20, 1993. This hearing had two purposes: to monitor progress on the implementation of our recommendations made in our first report and to hear from a broad segment of the community on their reactions to the report and the problem of gay bashing. A copy of the minutes of the second hearing is attached.

BACKGROUND

On October 20, 1992, we held our first hearing on gay bashing. We were motivated to hold the hearing as a result of the Lake Griffy incident, in which several young men beat and nearly drowned a man, apparently because they perceived him to be gay.

We heard testimony from a number of community members who interact with gays, lesbians and bisexuals, and issued the following recommendations:

(1) We urged that efforts be made to educate all students about homophobia and gay bashing. We said that such education could include talks by gays and lesbians, so that students will learn that victims are real people with faces and feelings.

(2) We urged that police departments appoint one officer to act as the liaison with the gay/lesbian/bisexual community.

(3) We urged that whenever possible, the justice system attempt mediation between the offender and the victim.

(4) We urged victims to at least make anonymous reports of harassment or violence to us.

(5) We urged the Indiana legislature to adopt laws prohibiting hate crimes and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, housing, public accommodations and education.

On February 17, 1993, Commissioner Steve Sanders presented our report to the Bloomington Common Council. Approximately 100 citizens attended this council meeting to voice their objections to our education recommendation. This strong response to our recommendation motivated us to hold the second hearing. SUMMARY OF TESTIMONY

Implementation of Recommendations

Education: We learned that the MCCSC is studying the issue of adding homophobia to the curriculum, and the CSC's Man to Man Project already includes such information.

Police activity: We learned that the city, the county and the IU police departments have all appointed liaisons with the gay/lesbian/bisexual community.

Reporting: We learned that many gays, lesbians and bisexuals are committed to improving the reporting of gay bashing incidents.

Legislation: We learned that the Indiana legislature did nothing in the 1993 session to protect people from gay bashing or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Public Testimony

We heard testimony from four religious leaders, four agency directors, the president of the city council and 23 members of the public. The testimony was unanimously opposed to bashing of any kind. We heard testimony describing in detail the pain that homosexuals, and friends of homosexuals, endure from gay bashing. We heard from Christian students who said they had been bashed at school because of their religious beliefs. We heard from parents who do not want the "homosexual lifestyle" taught to their children in schools.

CONCLUSION

We want to clarify the intentions behind the educational recommendation of our first report. Nothing in our report called for schools to teach children that homosexuality was a preferred lifestyle. All we were saying is that currently, students often see homosexuals as objects of ridicule in movies and on television. They may know that employers and landlords may discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation without fear of legal penalty. They may hear ministers declare homosexuality to be a sin and compare homosexual practices to bestiality and child molesting. We recommended that schools and other groups which work with students incorporate information about homophobia and gay bashing in their curriculum. Our recommendation that students be given some chance to see real, live, "normal" homosexuals, to counter the prevailing cultural bias, was only one possible way to achieve that goal. We want to emphasize that our report also called for parents and families to talk about such issues with their children. We stand by these recommendations.

We were gratified to learn that our community seems to be unanimous in its opposition to bashing, whether it be on the basis of religion, race, sexual orientation, disability, or indeed without any basis at all. We hope that this unanimity of opinion can be a springboard to community action, perhaps through the newly-founded Community Relations Committee. We know that as long as it was legal to refuse to hire or rent to African Americans because of their race and to have separate schools and drinking fountains for whites and "coloreds," violence against African Americans was common. Lynching was frequent. With the passage of civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, the violence was reduced, and lynching is now thankfully rare. We believe that passage of civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation will help reduce violence against gays, lesbians and bisexuals. That is why, on June 1, 1993, the BHRC unanimously approved an amendment to the Bloomington Human Rights Ordinance which we hope will help discourage institutional discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, thereby helping to insure that gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

We want to thank all the participants in both hearings, and the many people who have written or called, for their thoughtful input on this controversial topic.