Seattle Forum Focuses Concern on Anti-LGBT Hate Crimes in Key Neighborhood
Shaken by a year-long spike in LGBT-bashing crimes in their predominantly gay neighborhood, community leaders from Seattleâs Capitol Hill area organized a public forum this week that drew several hundred participants, as well as the cityâs mayor.
Ranging from packed into a bar on New Yearâs Eve to motivated by anti-LGBT animus, the spike in hate crimes on Capitol Hill appears to be a violent backlash against recent gains in LGBT rights in Washington state, including the approval given to same-sex marriage by .
âI used to live on Capitol Hill, but I donât anymore,â said Debbie Carlsen of LGBTQ Allyship, a local rights organization, to the crowd on Tuesday, echoing a number of other speakers. âAnd when I go to the Hill, I donât feel culturally safe. Itâs not a place that I feel safe anymore.â
A number of residents described to the crowd the kinds of assaults that they have endured in the past year, including verbal harassment escalating to physical assaults as they walked through the neighborhood, as well as one alleged assault by a police officer. One man stood up and removed his hat, revealing a large healing wound on his forehead, saying he had been attacked only a week before and had been unable to identify his assailants, âbut they were all calling me names.â
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Most of those who testified agreed that the worst, most violent attacks seemed to be directed at transsexual people of color.
The meeting, organized by Seattle city council member Kshama Sawant, featured a number of speakers offering a range of solutions. Some proposed more citizen patrols, while others opposed that step as potentially dangerous. Some argued for greater police involvement, while others blamed the police as part of the problem. Sawant spoke at length about how economic disparities often fuel the conditions that make the crimes possible.
Seattleâs openly gay Mayor Ed Murray, who attended the gathering with his husband, said he will help take the lead on this issue. âI think if people donât feel safe, if they perceive theyâre not safe, then we have a problem,â he said. âAnd we as a city and we as a community have to respond.â
Murray that he believes the problem is real and substantial. âI think there is an increase,â he said. âI mean, weâve been here before, weâve seen this right on this very street before, back in the late â80s and early â90s, when I was a young person. And weâre seeing it again.â
Shaun Knittel, the founder of Social Outreach Seattle, and one of the people who helped douse the attempted arson at Neighbours Bar on New Yearâs Eve 2014, an act that eventually for the perpetrator, told the crowd that it needed to resolve some of its internal differences if the community is going to form an effective response to the challenge.
âWe have a perfect storm here on the Hill,â said Knittel, noting the split between people who support the police and those who blame the police. âWhat kind of message does that send to people who want to do harm to us?â
âWe also have a nightlife culture here where everyone thatâs opening a business here seems to think they need to be either a bar or a nightclub. How many do you need in one neighborhood?â
Knittel urged victims of bias crimes to resist the temptation to not report the matter to police at all, noting that doing so just encourages repeat offenses and escalation.
âWe need to understand better about reporting, and we need to talk about what that looks like,â he said. âIf you fear going to the police to report, we understand that. But please, reach out and find and advocate and let people help you report whatâs happened. Because I can guarantee you that youâre not their first victim.â
Most of all, he noted, the community needs to make it clear that âbashing queersâ is not a free sport for haters anymore.
âWe need to lean into this notion that you can come up here and mess with us and we wonât do anything back,â he said. âThose days are over.â