Panel Urges Lesbians to Report Hate Crimes

In an effort to encourage lesbians to report hate crimes, the Orange County Human Relations Commission launched an awareness campaign Thursday.

The campaign, approved on a 7-0 commission vote, aims to offer help to gay women who have become victims of hate crimes, said Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the commission.

“We examined hate crime statistics for 1996 and found that not one hate crime against lesbians was reported,” he said.

Kennedy said the commission suspects that hate crimes are being committed against lesbians but that the victims are not reporting them.

“Two weeks ago, we got together a focus group of lesbians and asked if the reason there are no hate crimes reported was because there are none being perpetrated,” he said.

The answer, the commission learned, was that lesbians are being victimized in hate crimes.

Several factors contribute to the silence, Kennedy said.

“There is a fear that disclosing one’s sexual orientation would become public information and jeopardize family, friend or business relations,” he said. “There is a greater degree of distrust of law enforcement officers in the lesbian community and a significant degree of fear that reporting such a crime would bring one under ridicule, put one at the mercy of a man.”

As part of the campaign, the Human Relations Commission will develop strategies to combat those fears. It also will offer anonymity to those who report the crimes to the commission.

Other help will come in the form of counseling and legal services and provision of surveillance equipment to those who fear they are being stalked, Kennedy said.