Dallas neighborhood on lockdown after a dozen hate crimes

A neighborhood in Dallas has been put on police lock-down after a dozen violent hate crimes against gay men and several robberies were reported. Last thursday,  Geoffrey Hubbard was walking to a friends house when he was bashed over the head with a rock, making him the twelfth victim in three months of an antigay hate crime. Geoffrey sustained a temporal bone fracture that required several stitches to his head.

The city’s gayborhood has been subjected to a frightening uptick in antigay bashings in recent months. In response to the most recent attack, Oak Lawn has been put on “lock-down,” with police encouraging residents to be cautious and “take care of each other.” Additionally, a group of “roughly a half dozen” officers have also been assigned to the area instead of patrolling a larger beat. A local organization, Rally for Change, has been pushing for increased police presence and better protection in the area for months

“Survivors have been beaten with bats, stabbed with box cutters, pistol whipped and pummeled with fists,” Rally for Change said in a statement. “In several of these attacks, homophobic language has been used by the assailant. For weeks DPD has promised an increased presence in the neighborhood. When pushed on the fact that such an increase has been spotty and largely invisible, DPD has pointed to officer shortages and has now even suggested that the protection provided by our tax dollars is not enough and that we should pay for expanded patrols by off duty officers.”

So far, there are still no leads yet on suspects in any of the assaults.

It’s hard to imagine these hate crimes are still present, especially as we live in a very open and progressive Denver. But, it is happening. And the complete lack of attention these stories have received in the past months, as our brothers were being targeted and attacked in their own neighborhood, is ridiculous. As a community, we need to stray away from the trap of looking at an olympian playing the chubby bunny game on youtube, and focus on the issues that continue to plague our community out of hate and ignorance.

There is a time and place for the entertainment part of journalism, especially in the gay community. But, when stories of reoccurring violence are buried under the hottest videos on YouTube, then we have a problem. Being able to look past our own privilege, experiences, and shallow ideas of what being gay in 2015 means, is not only logical, but the only way that we are ever going to change laws and the minds of people who don’t understand us.

These things could easily happen in Cap Hill. They could happen in any neighborhood. But don’t ignore these issues until they arrive on your doorstep. We have to stand together as a community, no matter how many miles separate us.