COLORADO: STILL THE HATE STATE?

This was forwarded from a friend of a recent bashing victim, whose scuffle with a homophobe occurred in Denver. I include it because we're not all as well-equipped to act and think fast to defend ourselves, and we certainly aren't all law stuents who are more aware of what can and can't be requested of the police, so maybe some pointers can come from Nima's misfortune. The bashing doesn't stop and I suspect that it's usually under-reported.

FROM RON LASKO:

My friend Nima was recently visiting Denver and was gay bashed. He works as a go-go boy around town and has appeared on cards for several of our Pop Rocks! parties (you may remember our go-go zombie pics this past Halloween). Nima is one of those people who makes us all look bad by being practically perfect -- beautiful, smart, fashionable, strong, kind (yes -- he's even off to Africa this summer to help orphaned AIDS babies!). Need I go on?

He has a flair for somewhat flamboyant, though very hip fashion that covers his compact, amazingly chiseled physique. His attacker would have never suspected that Nima is actually an amateur boxer -- so he was able to defend himself quite well. The surprising part of this story is that the Denver police refused to allow him to press charges against his attacker. "The Hate State" strikes again! But what the homophobic cop didnt know is that Nima is currently in law school. So once again, Nima was able to get the upper hand.

His story follows and I think it would be of great interest. I think we all need constant reminders that this kind of thing could happen to any of us any time. Its also helps us to know what to do and what not to do. And perhaps where not to spend our gay dollars!


From Nima:



So, Saturday night my cousin Janet, her boyfriend Evan, and myself
were walking home from dinner in downtown Denver. We passed by a couple
and the male said "Keep that faggot away from me". I said "Excuse me?"
with an incredulous tone and he stepped up to me and said "Fuck you
faggot, I will fuck you up" and punched me in the face.

I retaliated and punched him twice in the face and put him in a
headlock to keep him from hitting me again. His girlfriend then
proceeded to punch me several times in the face. I couldn't let go of him,
so I took several blows to the jaw, head and face as my cousin and
her boyfriend tried to restrain her. Officer R. Boehnlein (and his partner) of the
Denver police department arrived and physically restrained me and my two assailants.
I told him I wanted to press charges, he said "No, go home".

Three times I insisted that I wanted Officer Boehnlein and his partner
to arrest my attackers and to every request he said "No, go home". I
told him I was a second year law student and that I know I had the
right to defend myself after I was attacked. I told him that I have
the right to press charges. I told him this was a hate crime. He
didn't care. So we went home and cleaned me up. We then went
straight to the 6th precinct of the Denver police and attempted to file
a report against Officer Boehnlein. They wouldn't let me. They said I had
to wait until a sergeant arrived. My cousin Janet managed to convince
them to at least allow us to leave statements. We did and were told a
sergeant would call us.

Sergeant Marion Penn called me at 4:00am and after I related the
attack to him he said he would call me back the next day, after
speaking to Boehnlein and his partner. Sunday afternoon Sergeant Penn
called me back and Janet and I went into the precinct. There, Penn and
another off-duty sergeant began apologizing to me for Officer
Boehnlein's behavior. They then brought Boehnlein in to apologize to
me and made him fill out the police report that I had requested him to
fill out 20 hours earlier.

For every question he asked me, I said "Well, you were there, what time
do you think it was", "Well, you were there, how tall do you think he
was", "Well, you were there, how bad were my injuries". Officer
Boehnlein was unfazed by this. I know in his mind not only am I the
faggot who got beat up, now I'm the faggot who's getting his ass in
trouble.

Sergeant Penn assured me that Officer Boehnlein is going to be
reprimanded and investigated and they assigned Detective Vasquez my
case. He is going to go and see if there are any surveillance cameras
in the area or to see if he can locate any witnesses.

While all this makes me feel a little better (as does the fact that I
fucked up that homophobe and for the rest of his life he's going to
know that a cocksucking fudge packer fucked up his face), the bottom
line is that 1) I was randomly attacked solely because I am gay. I
chose to wear white pants and a fairy necklace and thus
was subjected to a physical attack and 2) Officer Boehnlein did not
give a flying fuck. The asshole, who very well could have pummeled me
into a pulp, (if I were someone who was unable to defend myself) was in
physical police custody, a gay guy said he wanted to press charges,
and instead of allowing me to press charges against him, the officers
chose to release him and we all know he will never be found and never
be punished.

This is precisely the reason I go ballistic on gay rights and
equality. If I were a straight white man, do you, dear reader, think
that I would have been attacked? Would I have been denied the right to
press charges? This entire debacle is complete and utter bullshit.