Attendees of the Eckington ‘safety walk’ march listen as speakers call for an end to anti-gay violence. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier, a contingent of police officials, two members of the City Council, and civic activists from the city’s Bloomingdale and Eckington neighborhoods participated in a rally and walk Thursday night against anti-LGBT violence.
Chanting “From Ward 1 to Ward 8, stop the violence, stop the hate,” about 100 people gathered outside the Big Bear restaurant in Bloomingdale at First and R Street, N.W., where organizers staged a rally.
A smaller contingent of about 60 people then walked several blocks to Third Street and Lincoln Road, N.E., in Eckington near where a gay male couple was attacked and beaten on July 22.
“We are here in response and defense against what happened on the 22nd and the prevailing rise of violence in the District of Columbia in general,” said gay activist Nick McCoy, the lead organizer of the event.
“We’re here today to showcase the broad support of our community that represents black, white, LGBT, artistic, business, and heterosexual,” McCoy said. “Tonight, instead of silence, we’re raising our voices together.”
Police said yoga instructor Michael Hall, 29, and his partner Michael Roike, 28, were attacked by three unidentified youths who shouted anti-gay names before punching and kicking the two men. Hall suffered a fractured jaw and broken face bone and underwent surgery at Howard University Hospital as a result of his injuries.
No arrests have been made in the incident. Lanier said an active investigation continues and police are appealing to the community for witnesses to help identify the attackers.
Hall and Roike didn’t attend the rally and walk. McCoy said the two were invited but declined, saying they were not ready to participate in such an event.
A.J. Singletary, chair of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) told the rally that D.C. has the highest rate of anti-LGBT violence in the nation and that between 2005 and 2011 anti-gay crime increased 86 percent.
He said police statics show 21 hate crimes based on the victim’s sexual orientation have been reported so far this year, compared to 15 reported as of August 2011.
“This is absolutely unacceptable,” Singletary said. “The only way we can change this is to work together as one community.”
Lanier joined the walk at the site near where the attack against the gay couple took place. She praised organizers and participants for rallying the community against crime.
“I wish we could do this more often because it sends a message that communities were formed for the protection of the community,” she said. “Sometimes we forget that. So I think that when anybody in the neighborhood is victimized we should stand up and come together and say, no, this is not tolerable. This is not going to happen in our community.”
Others who spoke at the rally or during the walk were Commander Andy Soleberg of the Fifth Police District, which has jurisdiction over Bloomingdale and Eckington; and D.C. Council members Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) and Vincent Orange (D-At-Large).
Other speakers included Jeffrey Richardson, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs; and Lateefah Williams, president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group.
Captain Edward Delgado, director of the police Special Liaison Division, which oversees the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit; Sgt. Carlos Mejia, supervisor of the GLLU; and several GLLU members participated in the walk and rally.
McCoy said he was especially pleased that Bloomingdale and Eckington residents, LGBT and straight, turned out for the event and expressed strong support for the neighborhoods’ LGBT residents.
E. Gail Anderson Holness, a Bloomingdale civic activist and minister, led the crowd in the chant, “Fired up, we won’t take no more.”
“When injustice happens to one of us, injustice happens to all of us,” she said. “Let’s walk together and stand together and tell this community and all communities in Washington D.C. that we’re all standing together – lesbian and gay, bisexual, tri-sexual, any sexual, no sexual. We’re all standing together and we’re not going to tolerate crime of any sort in our community.”
Chief Lanier shows up for the cameras. In reality she does very little to combat violence like this from happening again. Department seems clueless to hate crimes. They struggle with every case and every opportunit to callnitvwhat it is.
And you are the reason things will never get better. The District has problems in ALL areas. Bitterness never solved anything, she does more than you probably do. She didn’t have to show up at all.
Gay or not, people need gun to protect themselves,
I understand your opinion and frustration, Keith.
But every day is a brand new opportunity for our city’s leaders to stand up against hate crimes violence. We asked for the broad participation of our city’s police in this short-notice event, and we got it. So while we must continue to insist that they do more to combat the rising tide of anti-LGBT hate crimes in DC, every damn day, let’s give them credit where it is due, too.
Chief Cathy Lanier, 5D Commander Andy Solberg and the entire SLD/ GLLU (Delgado, Mejia, Mahl and GLLU officers) team deserve our thanks and appreciation for their attendance Thursday evening. Their presence sent a powerful message to the perpetrators of that anti-gay hate crime in Eckington, as well as to our city’s would-be hate crimes copycats.
Also, Keith, it’s important to understand the distinction between INDIVIDUAL bias and INSTITUTIONAL bias. Chief Lanier is no homophobe. Chief Lanier is certainly no bigot, nor is she personally biased. As chief of police, she obviously tries hard every day not to be any of those things. Many of us also sense Chief Lanier learned of that very human struggle we all face, long before she even became a cop.
But MPD, like any major organization can (and has on occasion, IMO) slipped into forms of the far more subtle and hard-to-recognize INSTITUTIONAL bias that results in discriminatory incidents and/or policing. INSTITUTIONAL bias/ discrimination can and does occur in organizations whose managers are, by all accounts, wholly free of personal bias and/or personal animus.
There is nothing unique to DC’s PD in that problem. That’s an ongoing threat every big city police chief has to be on guard against within their police department.
Also, whether it’s a police chief or a cop on the beat, it should not matter that either one has only recently come to a better understanding of the role bullying and violence has had in LGBT history, culture– even personal development of LGBT people. Let’s just thank them for that extra policing effort to try to understand. It will always better serve and inform their policing practices– and much to the benefit of our LGBT public safety.