| Gay bashing does happen in Canada and it’s not going away.
That is the first thing you realize when you pick up a copy of Pink Blood: Homophobic Violence in Canada, the first book of its kind to be written on the subject. Of the 120 homicides and the 320 cases of gay bashings recorded in the past 15 years in Canada, author Douglas Janoff writes about one in particular that stands out for its savagery.
Nine years ago, David Curnick was found dead in his Vancouver apartment. He had been stabbed 146 times. He was murdered by a man who claimed Curnick victimized him sexually – the man pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter with the possibility of parole in 10 years. Despite a record of homophobic violence in the killer’s past, the Crown did not pursue or investigate the possibility that this was a hate crime, motivated by homophobic rage and hatred of gays.
In fact, not once has hate crime legislation in Canada been used to prosecute or define homophobic violence in Canada. In the author’s opinion, and with research to back him up, homophobic violence, or gay bashing, is under-reported, improperly defined as domestic assault or not addressed at all as a hate crime.
According to Janoff, an author, community activist, criminologist and policy advisor for the federal government, the will to sweep such crimes under the rug is all too common in Canada. Despite the widely held belief that we are a just and tolerant society that has evolved past the nightmare of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people being assaulted, gay-bashed or murdered, it still happens. In fact, it happens much more often than we want to believe.
"I don’t believe that people are in denial about violence against gays, but it is not being spoken about," says Janoff. "People have come up to me and thanked me for writing this book, that somebody has done this research.
"I want to get past this sense of incredulity about this matter – let’s stop pretending that we are this wonderfully tolerant society that treats everybody equally. Even though the law may be on the books that we can’t be discriminated against and that we can marry, the reality on the street is a very different thing."
To try and change this, seven years ago, under former chief Christine Silverberg, the Calgary Police Service created a position within the department for a liaison to the gay community. Cst. Doug Jones, the first officer to hold the post, recently retired and has been succeeded by Cst. Bev Voros, who volunteered to be the new liaison officer.
"We have a liaison committee that meets to act as an outreach to the community at large with representatives from the community, the GLCSA (Gay and Lesbian Community Services Association), and the city’s Crown prosecutor," she says.
Calgary is also one of very few cities to keep statistics on gay bashings and threats, but it only started in May. In the past, the liaison committee held a poster drive, spreading information about what to do and where to get more information about reporting gay-bashing, although Voros was not able to quantify the effectiveness of this information campaign. "I would hope that the community has confidence in the department – we would probably have to have a survey to find that out to be sure," she says. Voros then noted that one such survey conducted last year had only a total of 15 to 20 responses completed.
Jane Oxenbury, a chartered psychologist with Edan Counselling who has worked with issues of same-sex violence, says there is still reticence on the part of gay men and women to report such incidences of violence. "There are still a number of police officers that might be first on the scene that have not had anti-homophobia training and are still very homophobic and are still very discriminatory when it comes to gays and lesbians," she says.
Yet, despite the seeming distance between the gay community and the police department, Oxenbury believes in the effectiveness of having a liaison committee to address issues such as gay bashing. "It puts a face to officers working within the community to help and inform," she explains.
Paul Sereda, co-chair of GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Association of Students and Staff), says it is difficult to establish trust within the gay community because the community is so diverse and not everyone is willing to share information. "There are issues of whether or not people feel safe or if they are out, and there are a lot of people who grew up in a time when they did not have any support from the community at large," he says.
However, Sereda believes that is starting to change with the younger generation. "We have grown up in a different time and I feel that young people now have more confidence in reporting violence to the authorities."
Of course, simply reporting an incident of gay bashing, threats or assault doesn’t solve the problem.
According to Janoff, the root of the problem is how the authorities deal with the crime. "Liaison committees are basically public lip service with the best of intentions," he says. "It is very difficult to know how, if at all, effective are these committees.
"The problem is how these hate crimes are defined – every police department has a different definition of a hate crime against gay people and there is a lot of plea bargaining involved in persecuting the accused. The criminal justice system in Canada is failing to take the hate motivation into account."
Janoff says there is often skepticism about the extent of the problem, at least until they read his book. "People are really shocked about my findings from my research, especially straight people," he says. "We all know someone that has had something terrible happen to them and I think in some way we all internalize that."
Peter (not his real name) was gay-bashed two years ago during a vacation in Vancouver. He is an open, honest man in his 30s with many friends, and is well respected for his warmth, demeanour and intelligence. He is just an out and proud gay man. A man who, although consenting to this interview, feels that what happened to him is too personal to reveal publicly. Above all, he does not want to be known as a victim.
Peter and a friend had just left a bar in search of a bank machine, and Peter had his arm around his friend’s shoulder. "A couple of guys started following us, saying things like, ‘Fucking fags!’ – that sort of thing," he says. "I kept telling my friend to ignore it, just keep walking, and then finally I had enough and I just turned around and said, 'Why don’t you go fuck yourself!’ and they jumped us. The front of my jaw was broken and a couple of teeth were knocked out," says Peter. "My friend was hurt pretty bad, but I definitely got the brunt of it.
"We ran into a bar nearby and then into the bathroom, you know how you remember the weirdest details, so there I was backlit with the whole mirror in front of me and I saw myself for the first time and I was fucked up," says Peter. "My face, clothes were all covered and drenched in blood. They did not even rob us."
Peter left the bar, flagged down a cab, went back to his hotel room and phoned his parents. "I was freaked out and my mom really helped me, she calmed me down and told me what I had to do step by step, then I took a cab to the hospital."
Peter’s father picked him up the next morning, helped him pack up, rearranged his flight and they returned to Calgary. A week later, Peter’s friend in Vancouver reported the assault to the police. There seems to have been no results from any investigation.
"I just did not want to talk about the assault, there was no hope they would be caught," says Peter. "I think my reaction is typical of people being bashed.
"Gay people try to build up their self-esteem," he explains. "You’ve internalized the shame of being gay from day one from being a kid and you try to build over that and being bashed cuts right to the core of that. You have all those old feelings come to the surface."
Peter says he thinks it’s terrific that the Calgary Police Service has a liaison officer for this type of crime, but he questions whether that would actually prevent any gay bashings. "I know for a fact, bashings happen here in Calgary," he adds. "I had a near bashing happen last year here in Calgary."
In that incident, Peter and a friend were walking through Memorial Park downtown on 11th Avenue S.W. after a night of fun at the bar. A group of men were drinking in the dark when the two stumbled across them, unaware they were there. The group started shouting out "Fags, fucking faggots!" Peter and his friend, not wanting to get involved or even near the belligerent drunks, walked around the group, staying close to the light on the perimeter of the park, but were bombarded with empty bottles.
"The bottles were smashing all around us," says Peter. "I just thought, man, it just never ends."
He doesn’t believe the police would do anything about an incident like that. "I would be curious about the reception I would get from the police."
It is not a coincidence that a book such as Pink Blood has taken so long to be written and is the first addresssing the issues of violence against the GLBTQ community. Between the lack of confidence people such as Peter have in the police and the "good intentions" of liason commitees, it's easy to get lost in the dark. |
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