Rally Protests Hate Crimes Against Gays

The threatening phone calls began in late April, just weeks before a semi-formal dance planned by UC San Diego’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Assn.

“Burn in hell,” one caller told the student group’s answering machine.

“I think you . . . deserve to be shot. Fags, all of you,” said another caller.

Then came the death threat, in which an unidentified caller demanded that the dance--advertised on posters around campus as “The Prom You Never Had”--be called off.

“I highly recommend the dance on May 11 be canceled or I’m going to bomb it,” the male caller whispered. “My friend and I know where to place bombs, and everything’s all set. If the dance is not canceled, everybody will die.”

On Wednesday, these and other anonymous tape-recorded messages were replayed at top volume in front of the UCSD gymnasium--a disquieting soundtrack of hatred that punctuated a two-hour rally against hate crimes. Condemning violence, both actual and threatened, was the order of the day, and dozens of professors and students rose one by one to share their outrage and their fears.

“Death threats against UCSD students--these are such reprehensible acts as to almost be unthinkable,” Stephanie Jed, a literature professor, told the more than 250 people who gathered on the grassy hill across from the gym. “But is sexuality the only issue here? Aren’t all faculty and students, gay and straight, equally threatened? . . . Next time the threats might be against me--for who I am, what I think.”

The callers who left the profane and ominous messages were not the only targets of criticism. The UCSD administration also came under fire for failing, students said, to respond quickly and definitively to the threats.

“These homo-hating phone calls are nothing new. But, instead of getting better, things are getting worse,” said Ian Barnard, a graduate student who was among many who criticized UCSD administrators for not setting a more tolerant tone on campus. “This university is absolutely complicitous in this bigotry.”

In fairness, LGBA members say, the campus police responded professionally to the bomb threat--checking the dance hall for explosives and keeping a watchful eye out for trouble throughout the party, which was held without incident. And Wednesday, after two LGBA members met with him, Vice Chancellor of Undergraduate Affairs Joseph W. Watson composed a statement that was read at the rally.

“Every student at UCSD has the right to be a full and equal member of the campus community in an atmosphere that is not only free of threat and danger but, most importantly, respects their individuality and supports their intellectual development and personal well-being,” said the statement, which also condemned the threats and called for the perpetrators to be punished.

But some students said that Watson’s statement, coming as it did nearly two weeks after the bomb threat was reported to campus police, was too little too late.

“You can say things, but it’s a matter of whether things get acted upon,” said Maggie Sale, a graduate student who attended the rally.

This week, in a letter distributed to all faculty members, staff members and campus organizations, the LGBA called for the establishment of an advisory committee to address the concerns of lesbians, gays and bisexuals at UCSD. They also asked for Chancellor Richard Atkinson to publicly recognize and respond to recent events.

Jennifer Robertson, an assistant professor of anthropology, says some of her colleagues told her that to condemn the threatening messages would be to limit students’ freedom of expression--”unconvincing rationalizations” that left her so outraged that she wrote to Atkinson.

“The issue here is not whether the administration as a whole should come out in support of multiple sexualities or should issue a sweeping statement curbing students’ freedom of speech,” she wrote. “The issue here is the threat of murder, homicide.”

David Zingarelli, a junior and LGBA member, agreed.

“We’re talking about student safety,” he said.

Even before the bomb threat, gay and lesbian students had noticed that posters advertising the LGBA prom were defaced or ripped down as soon as they were put up. LGBA leaders said they think they know the reason why.

In the past, they explained, LGBA dances were advertised with words-only posters, usually ones with this vague description: “Nonsexist Dance.”

This year, for the first time, LGBA leaders decided to be a little more explicit in their advertising, including images of two women or two men together and in one instance adding the slogan “Some Men Like Men.”

What’s more, this was the first dance to be held in the Price Center Ballroom, the campus’ largest formal gathering place.

“We knew it was a daring step on our part, but it was a step that needed to be taken,” said Steve Simmons, a junior and an LGBA co-chair.

And it got a response. One profanity-filled message said: “If you guys want to be sick . . . that’s one thing. But don’t be putting these (expletive) flyers all over campus. That’s ridiculous to subject the rest of us to. So think about that.”

Students who heard the messages found it difficult not to think about them. One lesbian who spoke at the rally said that, for the first time at UCSD, she felt like a walking target.

But others said the threats have strengthened their resolve to remain visible on campus.

“We’re feeding off the energy of the response,” said Cheli Mohamed, a senior and an LGBA co-chair. “It’s no longer an issue of being gay, lesbian or bisexual. It’s an issue of human rights.”