A “Take Back the Night” rally and march had already been planned on the Cal State Long Beach campus for Thursday night at 7:00pm because of some hateful remarks directed at women during a recent Chicana Feminist conference. But after a vicious attack on a FTM transgender student on April 15, the organizers of the rally are now including LGBT concerns.
So far the victim, a 27-year-old transgender student at Cal State Long Beach, has not been publicly identified. He told campus police that he was attacked in a university restroom. According to a statement distributed by university spokesperson Toni Beron:
“At about 9:30 p.m., the reporting party was approached by a suspect in the men’s restroom located on the west side of the KKJZ building. The suspect called the student by his first name, and the student responded. The student reported the suspect then pulled the student’s t-shirt up and over the student’s head and pushed him back into the stall. The suspect then used a sharp object to slash the student’s chest. The suspect then fled the area in an unknown direction of travel.
University Police strongly believe this was an isolated incident and that there is no additional threat to the campus community. Officers are continuing to investigate the case and ask that anyone having information regarding the matter contact Det. Johnny Leyva at 562/985-4101.”
The campus police released a sketch and described the suspect as a white man in his 20s, between 5’09-5’10 with a thin build, dark colored hair and light complexion. He was wearing a dark colored hooded sweatshirt and dark colored khakis.”
But there are a number of unanswered questions.
I called Det. Johnny Leyva for answers, as reporters often do with the LAPD or Sheriff’s Department, especially when the incident might be considered a hate crime. But spokesperson Beron said Leyva would not return my call because the campus police department doesn’t talk to the media.
I called the Long Beach Police Department, where former LAPD Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell is now the Chief, but Public Information Officer Sgt. Dina Zalski said that since Cal State Long Beach is part of the state university system, the crime falls under their jurisdiction.
I called the offices of openly gay Long Beach City Councilmember Gerrie Schipske and left a message but neither she nor a member of her staff returned my call.
![Hate_Crimes_at_CSULB_copy[1]](http://lgbtpov.frontiersla.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Hate_Crimes_at_CSULB_copy1-194x300.jpg "Hate_Crimes_at_CSULB_copy[1]")
I called openly gay Long Beach City Councilmember Robert Garcia and spoke with his chief of staff who said he didn’t know if the council would take it up as a hate crime since Cal State Long Beach is almost like their own world. However, he turned me over to Cory Allen, who works on Garcia’s staff – Allen is also the president of the Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club and I called him back on his cell phone. I told him I heard from LA City Councilmember Janice Hahn about the rally when she was speaking at a Stonewall Democratic Club endorsement meeting (she got their endorsement for Lt. Gov) – but I knew nothing more about it. He filled me in and sent me two fliers but couldn’t really answer my other questions such as:
- Given the budget cuts to the university system, does Cal State Long Beach have the time and resources to invest in this crime?
- If the police think this is an isolated incident on campus, will they nonetheless reach out to the LGBT community in Long Beach to alert them that such a person is at large and to be aware? As of this reporting, they had not.
- Not included in the official statement about the attack but spread as a truism by LGBT and especially transgender activists on Facebook was the detail that the suspect was not just “slashed” – but had the word “It” carved into his chest. Is this accurate and if so, why was this detail omitted in the campus police report?
- Hate crimes laws require some kind of public utterance or expression of a biased motive to be considered a hate crime. Though no one but the suspect and victim really know what was exchanged between them – is not carving the word “it” into the chest of a female-to-male transgender person sufficient as an expression of bias – and hence a hate crime?
- Since the Cal State Long Beach Police and university are apparently not asking for help (at least not of the Long Beach Police when I called) and are being so secretive – how can the LGBT community – both students on campus and LGBT in the surrounding area – trust what the police come up with as a “result” of their investigation? Don’t the police know that biased-based attacks are designed to “send a message” of hate and fear to an entire community? That’s Hate Crimes 101.
Rikka Gonzalas, who works as a social service provider for LGBT youth at the ONE Center in Long Beach told me she thinks the university is covering up something because they have “kept it under wraps” and haven’t reached out to the LGBT community. She says the LGBT students on the campus of Cal State Long Beach extend beyond the campus borders and into the community and that a number of people with whom she’s spoken are now afraid. For instance, she knows the victim, as do a number of young people on Facebook where the story has caught on fire. She hopes the rally will help mobilize youth to fight back for their rights.
Just a final note – LA City Councilmember and candidate for Lt. Gov. Janice Hahn will be at the rally. Perhaps she will have some answers.
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