New York –
After an unprecedented series of arsons targeting a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-friendly church in Middlebrook, Virginia, gay bars in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Brownsville, Texas, and the torching of the home of two gay men outside Orlando, Florida, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has asked the FBI to investigate all of the arsons collectively.
In a letter sent yesterday to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, NCAVP requested that the agency look into the arsons, and investigate any connections to a possible heightened and/or coordinated activity by hate groups.
"We know that the FBI is looking into any connections between organized hate groups and the recent church burning in Virginia,” said Clarence Patton, who heads NCAVP and is the Acting Executive Director of the New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.
“And while there is no evidence that we're aware of at this time indicating that all the cases of arson in the Southeast and Texas are connected, or that the same individual or group is responsible for them, it is increasingly clear that there is a problem that warrants some coordinated response," continued Patton.
"At the very least, there are a number of questions that we in the nation's LGBT community have including 'are the local law enforcement agencies working on these cases in communication with each other; have there been other instances of arson targeting gay, gay-friendly and gay-associated sites that haven't yet been identified as such; and finally, what should the role of the nation's premiere law enforcement agency be in addressing what is so obviously a crisis for a community already under cultural, political and physical siege?'"
According to NCAVP, anti-LGBT hate incidents reported to its members across the country have risen dramatically in the last two years - 8% in 2003 and another 4% in 2004, and show no signs of decreasing. The ongoing rise is discussed in NCAVP's annual reports on anti-LGBT hate violence.
"This has been an absolutely terrifying summer for LGBT people," Patton continued. "Those that hate LGBT people feel increasingly emboldened to act violently and destructively on that hatred from New York to Arkansas, from Texas to Florida and in just about every corner of the country; it is past time for those charged with protecting all Americans to pay attention to these horrors," concluded Patton.
PDFs of all of NCAVP’s Reports on domestic violence and hate violence can be found in the Publications section of this website.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) addresses the pervasive problem of violence committed against and within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive communities. NCAVP is a coalition of programs that document and advocate for victims of anti-LGBT and anti-HIV/AIDS violence/harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault, police misconduct and other forms of victimization. NCAVP is dedicated to creating a national response to the violence plaguing these communities. Further, NCAVP supports existing anti-violence organizations and emerging local programs in their efforts to document and prevent such violence.
