The number of hate crimes reported to Horizons Community Services increased by five percent from 1999 to 2000, and officials credited the rise to ever-improving awareness and reporting efforts.
One aspect of those efforts that advocates were most satisfied with was the strong relationship being built with the Chicago police department, reflected in victims being more willing to report incidents to police-;including when officers are involved.
"Horizons has really done some groundbreaking efforts in the area of training the police department," said Ofc. Lori Cooper, police department liaison to the GLBT community. "We need organizations to tell us what's broken and tell us how to fix it."
Of the 61 incidents reported to Horizons last year, 34 were also reported to police, up from six of 58 reported in 1999. There were also 21 incidents of police misconduct reported to Horizons in 2000, up from 11 in 1999.
Police misconduct included 17 cases in which the victim felt the police were indifferent, one case of verbal abuse with anti-gay slurs, and three cases of verbal abuse without slurs, said Lisa Tonna, director of information and referral for Horizons.
There were 61 victims in the 61 incidents in 2000, down from 67 victims in 1999. Within the 61 victims, 11 were female, 42 were male, three were male-to-female transgender and five victims were institutions. Of the victims whose race/ethnicity was known, 40 were white, compared with 38 in 1999; nine were African-American ( 8 in 1999 ) , five were Latino ( two in 1999 ) and two were Native American ( 0 in 1999 ) .
Most of the incidents involved more than one offense, putting the total number of offenses last year at 115. Of those, 28 involved harassment, 31 involved intimidation, 20 were assaults, one was a robbery or burglary and 35 fell into the "other" category. "Other" covers vandalism, damage to property and Internet harassment, Tonna said.
The majority of the offenders were white ( 21 or 64% ) , eight ( 24% ) were African-American and four ( 12% ) were Latino. The number of male offenders decreased from 54 in 1999 to 42 in 2000; and the number of females fell 89%, from 18 to 2. Nine of the offenders were between 18 and 22 and seven were between 30-44.
"What is most striking and most horrific about hate crimes is how it affects the whole community," Tonna said at the April 12 Count and Counter press conference, where Horizons released the figures.
Statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs ( NCAVP ) were also released, with figures from the coalition's 26 groups around the country. The increase in incidents in Chicago mirrored trends in big cities nationwide, with Los Angeles reporting a 3% rise, New York's numbers rising 5% and San Francisco's rising 7%. Four NCAVP members reported decreases in the number of incidents: Columbus, Ohio, 4% decline; Houston, -13%; Massachusetts, -13% and Providence, Rhode Island, -22%.
The number of incidents reported to NCAVP agencies rose 8% nationally from 1999 to 2000, from 1,992 to 2,151. The largest increase occurred in discrimination, up 96%, while the sharpest decline was in extortion/blackmail, which fell by 75%.
The number of victims rose 10%, from 2,249 to 2,475; and the number of offenders rose 3%, from 3,262 to 3,344.
The number of incidents reported to police, however, fell by 1%, and NCAVP reported an overall deterioration in police responsiveness. Police refused complaints in 49% more incidents in 2000, and incidents involving the arrest of the victim rose 76%. Verbal harassment and physical abuse by police also rose nationally, by 53% and 24% respectively.
Aside from Tonna and Cooper, speakers at the press conference included Horizons board Chair David Helverson and Mary Morten, director of the city's Office of Violence Prevention and a member of Horizons' board.
For more information, visit avp.org .
Lakeside Pride to host national meeting
Lakeside Pride will play host to the national board of the Lesbian and Gay Bands of America as it holds its annual meeting this weekend, April 20-22.
Broadway United Methodist Church is donating meeting space for the gathering.
The annual meeting is being held to coincide with Lakeside Pride's spring concert, Beyond the Stars, on Sunday. Visiting LGBA members are scheduled to play with Lakeside Pride for the concert's last piece, and LGBA board member Alfredo Gomez will also guest-conduct a piece.
Beyond the Stars is at 7 pm at the Preston Bradley Center, 941 W. Lawrence.