In Red Square, Attacks Draw Student Response

Updated at 2:34 a.m. on Nov. 6.

Where do we go from here?

That question seemed to be on the minds of many who attended events organized to express outrage with two recent assaults reportedly motivated by anti-gay bias, dissatisfaction with the state of student safety and support for the victims. About 50 students attended rallies in Red Square on Friday and Sunday, and over 150 converged in the same space for a vigil Monday night.

Last Tuesday, two men allegedly assaulted a female student on Canal Road after harassing her because of her perceived sexual orientation; she said she was wearing a T-shirt signifying support for gay rights at the time. On Sunday morning, it was reported that a student was assaulted after being asked, “Are you a homo?” by an assailant.

About 50 students attended a rally in Red Square on Friday that was arranged after the Department of Public Safety notified campus of Tuesday’s assault.

A second rally was organized by Carter Lavin (SFS ’10) on Sunday after he learned of the second assault. Lavin said he notified fellow students of the rally via text message and others spread the word using Facebook and Twitter.

By 5:10 p.m. on Sunday, at least 50 students had formed a circle and begun chanting in Red Square.

“Hate crimes are ridiculous / My Georgetown is better than this,” they said. “Georgetown students under attack / What do we do? Stand up, fight back.”

“That something like this could happen is really scary,” said Kerry Burke (COL ’10), a member of GU Pride, Georgetown’s primary LGBTQ student group.

Some at the rally emphasized the need for students to take action against anti-gay bias.

“I’m all for screaming and rallying ... but noise doesn’t cut it. Actions speak louder than words,” said Donald Burke (MSB ’10), a former member of the GU Pride executive board.

“The energy must be channeled into a solution, an objective — otherwise, nothing happens,” Arthur Woods (MSB ’10) said.

Although little about the perpetrators of the reported assaults beyond physical descriptions has been released and the attacks took place outside the front gates, some associated the incidents with a cultural problem at Georgetown.

“There’s a climate on campus that says, ‘Homophobia — not so bad,’” Lavin said.

Joe Graumann (SFS ’11), co-chair of GU Pride, said that the university was supportive of Georgetown’s LGBTQ community but that progress must be made in the student population.

“The fact that hate crimes still happen and that they’re not isolated … speaks volumes about the distance that understanding needs to travel in the student body,” Graumann said. “It must become ingrained in Georgetown’s culture.”

Students carried signs reading “Enough is enough — stop the hate” and “Not at our school! End the hate at Georgetown.” At about 5:20 p.m., many of the students at the rally walked to Healy Gates and marched back to Red Square while chanting.

About 25 students, many members of GU Pride, subsequently gathered in an Intercultural Center classroom to discuss steps to prevent bias-related assaults. The university’s security protocols, campus safety, and the implementation of self-defense courses and volunteer patrols were topics of discussion.

“The priority should be: What are the concrete changes we can make to keep people safe?” Burke said at the meeting.

The meeting was followed by a vigil, organized by GU Pride member Robert Byrne (COL ’11), that was held in Red Square at 8:30 p.m. Monday night. At least 150 members of the community attended and safety was the prevailing theme.

A representative of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence, a D.C.-based LGBTQ support organization, urged students to take safety precautions at all times. Shiva Subbaraman, director of the LGBTQ Resource Center, encouraged students to use the center and the university’s Bias Reporting System.

“For every crime that’s reported, there’s at least two or three others that aren’t,” Graumann said.

Amelia Di Stefano (COL ’12), GU Pride’s publicity chair, said the LGBTQ community at Georgetown was not alone in its outrage at the reported assaults. “This is a collective effort,” she said.

Jheanelle Brown (SFS ’10), president of the Georgetown chapter of the NAACP, agreed. “It’s important for people who aren’t LGBTQ to know that there is a great purpose and a lot to be done,” she said.

The vigil concluded with Jewish and Catholic prayers at about 9:15 p.m.

Subbaraman said she found a slur directed at her posted on the door of the LGBTQ Resource Center in the Leavey Center at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. According to DPS, the note read, “Homo go home to India.”

Byrne said action steps would be discussed at a meeting of members of GU Pride, the Georgetown Solidarity Committee, United Feminists and others in ICC Galleria on Wednesday at 11 p.m. The LGBTQ Resource Center is sponsoring a community forum to be held at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the ICC Auditorium, he said.

Scott Chessare (SFS ’10), former co-president of GU Pride, said on Sunday that the assaults may mean that the progress seen by Georgetown’s LGBTQ community over the past two years was incomplete. Chessare was involved in the Out For Change campaign, an initiative launched in the fall of 2007; a Georgetown student was physically assaulted in September 2007 after being targeted by anti-gay slurs and another was shoved on campus in October 2007.

The Out For Change campaign culminated in the university’s establishment of the LGBTQ Resource Center, the first of its kind at a U.S. Jesuit institution, in August 2008.

“What we saw in 2007 is happening again,” Chessare said. “Clearly, after two years and the creation of the LGBTQ Resource Center, we haven’t solved the problem.”