Another side to Homophobic Attacks

Almost a year ago the photographed injuries were inflicted on a bisexual woman who resided in an inner city community after she was seen by another woman who lives in her area at a lesbian get together. Funny, as the woman apparently was not afraid to expose the injured victim in her community forcing her to be embarrassed and having to leave her home.

She tried to report the incident of abuse to the nearby police station but was advised by the curious officers to just leave the area and avoid any more trouble. The police in this scenario did not want to be seen as if they were taking up for a "Lesbian?"

She suffered three stab wounds to her right upper arm which have healed with keloid skin and several bruises which are somewhat visible to her back and legs as five men tried to beat her. She is a strong woman physically so they had a hard time restraining her or else the results may have been worse she told us yesterday our office - 02.03.09. She finally got the nerve to speak about the incident at the insistence of a male friend as she is still in fear since she has to do business in downtown Kingston. She fears she will be seen and pointed out again.

The point of it all is, where are we safe as gays? this woman who allegedly informed that the victim was a lesbian, what was she doing at a lesbian event in the first place?

Most LGBT events are carefully planned and invitations are usually sent out based on a "I know you" basis, this same "informant" we might add was seen dancing erotically with other women during the party and clearly having a good time which raise several questions:

1. Could it be she was afraid of being exposed by the victim so she made the first move by exposing her?


2. Was she straight and merely pretending to enjoy herself so as to observe the other woman's actions?


3. Is it that she innocently told someone who in turn told someone else hence the grapevine phenom which led to the homohobic attack by 5 men in the area?


4. Was it jealousy as we have seen in another case where a woman called a mob on another woman in a bid to "Teach her a lesson?" as the victim was dating an ex of hers.
   

Hard questions to answer by our visitor who pondered when quizzed.

The use of homophobic strategies to solve issues between LGBT persons is not that common here but there have been reports before hence our detailed questioning session(s) with clients or visitors who access our services so as to ascertain the origins of such attacks. There are instances of these scenarios getting very ugly as genuinely homophobic persons get enraged and are incited to harm persons by mere allegations that they are gay.

A Volunteer