Article from Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081223/ap_on_re_us/lesbian_rape

SAN FRANCISCO – A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.

Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.

“It just pushes it beyond fathomable,” he said. “The level of trauma — physical and emotional — this victim has suffered is extreme.”

Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.

The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her with the help of the other men.

When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.

The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname “Blue” and another was called “Pato,” according to authorities.

Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.
Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.

Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.

“Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault,” he said. “Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience.”

Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.
“Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks,” he said. “People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice.”

If you’re interested in joining me on my latest LGBT activism: I’ll be attending the first Equality Camp on January 3rd in SF: http://equalitycamp.com/

If you’re a techie and you’re dedicated to making change in the LGBTQ community, this event’s a mesh of Web 2.0 activists that will plan and discuss ways to incorporate and utilize our techie knowledge as another medium for the social movement.

There’s something happening on November 4th that means a LOT to me, and I need ALL of your help. Never before have I felt so passionate about this, and I KNOW it can’t happen unless YOU help me with this battle I’m fighting.

On November 4, there will be a measure on the ballot that, if passed, would again ban same-sex marriage in California. If passed, it would amend the recent CA Supreme Court ruling that declared that it is unconstitutional to limit marriage “between a man and a woman.”

There’s a reason why the CA Supreme Court made its ruling: denying the 1000+ federal/state rights that come with marriage to people who are just as committed, just as in love, just as human as our heterosexual family and friends is simply unfair. Seriously, we’re in the 21st century. Can’t we just LEARN to accept that there are DIFFERENT peoples in our world? Point is… we’re all PEOPLE and we ALL still deserve the legal protection and rights.

I’m urging you to PLEASE help me fight against the November 4 initiative that would ban same-sex marriage AGAIN.

Above anything else, please VOTE NO against the ban on same-sex marriage. If there’s ANYTHING I could ask of you this year, THIS is it. If you’re not registered to vote, click here to do so ASAP so you won’t forget to do so later! In order to vote on November 4, you MUST register by October 20, 2008. Do it NOW so you won’t forget and miss the deadline!

Secondly, please know that the people that initiated this proposition are very well-financed. We need all the support we can get to fight this battle! If you can, I urge you to contribute to the campaign to fight back! Since we’re all very busy people, this is the EASIEST way to contribute your time to the cause. http://www.equalityforall.com/

Third, spread the word. Remember in the Transformers movie (the OG 80′s one) where Megatron said “Constructicons, merrggee for the killll!” and Springer says, “Come on, Arcee! Megatron’s making his big push and… we’ve got… to push…. back!” We need all the help, all the friends and families, all the ALLIES we can get to push the bad guys BACK. Please inform and teach people who are not as educated about why this issue is unfair and discriminatory.

If you’ve always wanted to MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THIS WORLD, if you’ve always wanted to make CHANGE to our society, stop sitting on your ass. Get the fuck up and DO IT. I just gave you three ways you CAN make a difference. It’s important to know that in a battle like this, every person, every cent, every minute, every VOICE counts. So please, Eugenia, Norvelle, Veronica, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Greg, Brent, Jeremiah, Nancy, Batz, Henry, Christine, Darren, Debby, Mauricio, Jackie, Conrad, Ivan, and EVERYONE that READS my blog, PLEASE help me in this battle I’ve been fighting for the last 10 years of my life! Make it HAPPEN!