Petrelis Files

Dec 27 Vigil for CA Lesbian Rape Survivor

The tragic gang rape of a lesbian in Richmond, CA, earlier this month has generated vigil on her behalf, organized by two regional ant-violence organizations. Here is the info on the vigil, taken from a press release put out by the Community United Against Violence organization of San Francisco:

Community Vigil for Peace and Healing
Where: 1500 Visalia Avenue, Richmond, CA
(near Richmond BART Station)
When: Saturday, December 27, 2008
Time: 9:30 pm - 10:00 pm
What: Peaceful vigil in response to hate-motivated gang-rape

Alert: Members of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersexed communities will hold a peaceful vigil with support from Hand to Hand Martial Arts Center, at the location where a lesbian woman was raped by four men on Saturday December 13th 2008. LGBTQQI community members and all allies are welcome to come join in peace, healing, and support for the survivor and her courage in speaking out about the violence that was perpetrated against her.

It pains to see that a blogger I respect deeply, Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, earlier this week wrote about this Richmond woman's brutal experience, without expressing any concern for the victim and using the crimes committed against her for national political purposes. This is what she wrote:

CA: Investigation into brutal gang rape of lesbian
by: Pam Spaulding
Tue Dec 23, 2008 at 17:46:29 PM EST

I assume that the president-elect will speak out regarding federal hate crimes legislation. When you read about a crime like this, it's beyond reason to accept the bogus argument of the fundies that the prosecuting something like this as a hate crime endangers their right to spew bigotry from the pulpit. [Large excerpt from the AP story on the case.]

What deeply troubles me is that Spaulding expresses no concern for the victim, either her medical, psychological, financial and legal needs at that point. Not even a cursory "Let's unite to support the victim, work with police to find her alleged assailants, and the DA to bring appropriate charges with existing laws."

Sadly, Spaulding uses the gang rape of this lesbian victim to call on a politician, in this case Barack Obama, to use the victim as political pawn to pass more law and order legislation. I hate to be rude, but I must point out that there are plenty of laws on the books to charge the perpetrators with numerous sexual and battery assault charges.

Let me state for the record I do not favor hate crime laws, for the reason stated above, but also because hate crimes laws do nothing to prevent crimes against gays and penalize people for their thoughts.

Consideration should also be given to the victim's wishes for privacy. She may not want her case to be used by the president-elect to push for new crime laws. Bear in mind also that her family and attorney may wish to minimize the political and media impact of the case, to better help the victim recover.

I can only hope that the two groups sponsoring the vigil tomorrow night are doing so after consulting with the victim and her lawyer.

By the way, if you're able to donate to a fund to help the victim, the Bay Area's CBS affiliate provided the information on how to help:

People wanting to contribute can send a check made out to Community Violence Solutions to 2101 Van Ness St., San Pablo, Calif., 94806. Donors should write "Richmond Jane Doe" on the check in the memo space.

I'm happy to see that Spaulding today has posted a follow-up on this woman's case and made mention of the outpouring of support for the victim. Spaulding's update is here.