Lesbian Raped and Beaten, Left Naked on Train Tracks

One of the common memes promulgated by homophobic men is that lesbians just need the right man to "show them what they're missing."  In Richmond, California this offensive concept may have led to the kidnapping and gang rape of a woman in the city's Belding-Wood neighborhood.  The 28-year-old victim was attacked by four men as she was getting out of her car.  Police Lt. Mark Gagan states that when a witness approached the scene, the men forced the woman into the vehicle and drove away.  From Mercury News:  They took her to a desolate area near the Bay Area Rapid Transit tracks in the 1300 block of Burbeck Avenue and continued to sexually assault her, Gagan said. "The victim was physically and sexually assaulted numerous times." ...During the attack, which lasted for about 45 minutes, the suspects made several statements about the victim's sexual orientation... The victim also had a rainbow sticker on her license plate..."

When these cowardly thugs finished beating and gang-raping the woman, they left her on the railroad tracks, naked.  Gagan notes that while the victim's injuries are very serious, "the extent of the emotional trauma rivals the extent of the physical trauma."  Richmond Police, who are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators, supplied this information:  "The first suspect, who appeared to be the leader of the group, was described as a Hispanic man in his 30s. He was about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighed 180 pounds and had black hair, brown eyes and a mustache. The second suspect was a black man in his early 20s. He was about 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighed about 170 pounds and had black hair and brown eyes. He goes by the nickname 'Blu.' The third suspect was described as a Hispanic man about 18 to 20 years old. He goes by the nickname 'Pato.' The fourth suspect was described only as a Hispanic man about 18 to 20 years old."

Meanwhile, right-wing evangelicals like Mike Huckabee, Rev. Rick Warren, Rev. James Dobson, and Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss continue to oppose federal hate-crimes legislation.  It's enough to make you gag.

Related Post - Mike Huckabee: Gays Don't Have To Worry About Violence 

UPDATE - Gang-Rape Perps Arrested

Comments

[Obbop]

What are the odds that the Chicanos are illegal aliens?

[Bee Girl]

That's kinda rude. I'd be more inclined to think they were raised with RW Xstian "family values" - gays are evil, women in their place, that sort of thing.

[Tessa]

Surely with all this info the police will be able to catch these guys. What monsters.

[Zaheer Ali]

I am from the SF bay area. I have grown up in an environment of general acceptance of homosexuality and have several friends who are part of that community.

This crime in Richmond, so very near SF and its community of gays/lesbians is terrible.

However, hate crime legislation, is an attempt to punish people for what they think.

This is too close to "thought policing." Rape and all sexual assaults are vile crimes and should be punished as such.

To say that this is worse than any other rape because it was motivated by bigotry is idiotic.

[Jackson]

If you had gay friends in San Franciso (as you say) you would already know why hate crimes are different - I'm sure your friends would have told you by now. But since no one has told you, I will. Hate crimes are different because they are not only committed against an individual, they're committed against an entire group of people. Their purpose is to spread fear and terror among members of certain targeted communities. Hate crimes also send the message that violent attacks (and murder) are acceptable to those who hold similar bigoted views.

Hate crime legislation is not punishing people for what they think, it is punishing people who terrorize an entire community - of blacks, or gays, or Jews, or whatever - by killing or maiming an innocent person in order to send a message to others that says... You Might Be Next.

[JohnsonTech]

Politically-correct clownish gay activists are trying to say it was the Duke lacrosse boys in disguise who raped her. They never give up, do they?

[Rhea]

How horrible. These jerks should be put away forever. Rape for any reason must be ended.

[Glenn]

I am a Man. I feel it is our responsibility to find these men and castrate them without antithetic then get some gay male porn stars to sodomize them each 4 times.

[Jay]

Hate crime legislation is a clear violation of the fourteenth amendment. To take a horrible act like this to further a political agenda is reprehensible; you ought to be ashamed of yourself. The rape of a gay woman is in no way worse than the rape of a straight one; the punishment should be equal in both cases. If you make the punishment higher for criminal acts to a specific group, you are saying that people who have these same acts committed against them outside the protected group are less heinous.

[BSC]

It is my opinion that the rape of a gay woman may be more psychologically damaging for that woman. Hate crimes are motivated by a belief that someone else's life is not worth as much as your own because they are gay, black, whatever. This is why hate crime legislation is needed. Suspect classes need more protection because the risk of violence is greater for everyone in that class. If that woman was straight, would she have been raped? It sounds like she would not have been.

[name]

This is the Change Obama promised, this is the Change you can believe in.

[Nichole Bonsteel]

Community Violence Solutions in Richmond(formerly Rape Crisis) set up a trust fund for the victim. Persons interested in making donations should make their checks out to “Community Violence Solutions.” On the memo portion of the check they must write “Richmond Jane Doe.” The checks can then be mailed to: Community Violence Solutions, 2101 Van Ness Ave., San Pablo, CA 94806 Attn: Mrs. Joanne Douglas. If 200 people donate 10$ then maybe she can take another few weeks off work to recover and not have to worry about the rent.
www.jointheimpact.com

[Amy]

Basically what some of you are saying is that hate crimes=terrorism. So why don't we cover them under terrorism?

[Eric Dondero]

Can you imagine the national media outcry on this story, if the 4 perpetrators had been "southern redneck" white males, with Republican voter registration cards, found on their person?

My gosh. We'd be seeing 24 hours a day coverage on CNN and MSNBC, with in-depth analysis from every imaginable perspective.

But it was 3 Hispanic males, (reports that they were illegal alien gang members), and 1 Black male. So, the story has basically been dropped off the radar screen.

And you thought there was no such thing as media bias?

[Isa]

"This is the Change Obama promised, this is the Change you can believe in."

This makes NO SENSE. None whatsoever. What are you trying to imply? That this happened because Obama was elected? That things like this never happened prior to his being election?

Sorry, just... no. Swing and a miss.

[Sam Bennington]

I find many of these comments extremely racist. Speculating as to weather or not the rapists were undocumented is, one, irrelevant, because the fact is that this attack was a product of US culture, and, two, plays upon xenophobic paranoia as old as the Mexican-American war. "Those over-sexed Mexicans will rape your daughters."

Rape is part of our society; it is a way to sexulaize the evaporating power that men hold over women. That is exactly what this example is about: people who have been systematically disenfranchised trying to feel powerful again by violently asserting their sexual dominance (acting as oppressors). Race is significant here, because all oppression is connected, not because closing the boarders and locking up brown people will end rape.

I think that there do need to be more protections for victims of crimes based on group-membership, but increasing sentences is a mistake. Prison does not help anyone to grow, least of all grow out of hate; it is a broken and racist system of institutional slavery.

[Anon]

What makes me gag is that fact that you people use this woman's pain to push your own political agenda.

[Brandon Hex]

This would have never happen if men learned to honestly respect women, no matter their sexual preference.

1 in every 3 males is a sexual preditor of some sort. Nobody else has to live that down but men.

Straight men are the biggest pussies in the world. Don't see it? Then explain every single bad thing to ever happen in history.

nuff said.

[OhNo]

This is kinda irrelevant to the conversation, but i strongly believe in "every action receives an equal and opposite reaction," so every on of the rapists, in my opinion, should be individually gang raped, beaten, and left naked on the street.
And perhaps burned alive, just for the fun.

[Curmudgeon]

Dupes like Sam Bennington just can't face the truth.