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Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company

The New York Times

April 5, 1998, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 14; Page 7; Column 3; The City Weekly Desk

LENGTH: 429 words

HEADLINE: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: CHELSEA;

Group Asks Why 2 Similar Attacks Are Defined Differently

BYLINE: By DAVID KIRBY

BODY:

The debate over what constitutes a hate crime is heating up since two recent attacks against gay men in Manhattan. Although anti-gay slurs were used in both incidents, one is being treated as a possible bias case and one is not.

The widely reported stabbing of a gay man on Wednesday morning in the West Village will be investigated by the police bias unit. The police said Colin Brown, 22, was stabbed by Robert Cockrel, 18, during a scuffle that began when Mr. Brown heard the suspect's younger sister use the word "faggot." Mr. Brown was hospitalized with a punctured liver.

But an assault on Feb. 8 in Chelsea was not classified as bias, though the same language was used. In that incident, Dennis Beauchemin, 41, was walking home from a local gay bar with a friend at 4:30 A.M. when a van ran a red light at 10th Avenue and 23d Street, nearly hitting them.

"I said something like, 'Hey, watch it!' " and we walked away," Mr. Beauchemin said. But the van, with three men inside, followed them. "The door opened and they started yelling 'faggots' and throwing bottles at us," Mr. Beauchemin said.

He fled toward his apartment on West 25th Street, thinking his friend was right behind him, but at his building, he realized his friend was not there and went looking for him. "Then I saw the van coming around the corner," he said.

Two men grabbed Mr. Beauchemin. "One guy said, 'I'll get you, faggot!' and smashed a full beer bottle in my head," he said. "Then they started kicking me." The bottle crushed his brow and part of his cheekbone, and he lost his left eye.

Mr. Beauchemin said he cannot undergo reconstructive surgery because he is H.I.V.-positive and his white-blood-cell count is too low.

The police did not classify the attack as a bias crime because it began as a traffic argument. But advocates for gay causes say bias is a question of whether, not when, hatred is expressed.

"The patrol guidebook says any crime motivated in whole or in part by bias is a bias crime," said Christine Quinn, executive director of the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "We have to clarify that with the police." She said both attacks arose from "homophobic attitudes."

"Take away the victims' perceived sexual orientation," she said, "and there's little to indicate the perpetrators would've acted so violently."

Ms. Quinn's group is organizing a march on Wednesday from Christopher Street to West 25th Street to call for a change in guidelines.

The Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. DAVID KIRBY

 

GRAPHIC: Photo: Dennis Beauchemin lost his left eye after an assault with a bottle. (Jack Manning/The New York Times)

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: April 5, 1998

 

 

 

 

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Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company  

The New York Times

May 24, 1998, Sunday, Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section 14;  Page 5;  Column 1;  The City Weekly Desk  

LENGTH: 313 words

HEADLINE: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: CHELSEA;

February Attack on Gay Man Is Reclassified as Bias Crime

BYLINE:  By DAVID KIRBY  

BODY:

   The Police Department has reclassified a February attack on a gay man in Chelsea as a bias incident. Many lesbian and gay New Yorkers celebrated the decision and commended police for their willingness to reconsider the issue.

Dennis Beauchemin, 41, a gay resident of West 25th Street, was assaulted early on Feb. 8 as he walked home with a friend. The incident began as a traffic altercation -- three men in a van had nearly hit the two pedestrians -- but escalated into a brutal assault when two of the men attacked Mr. Beauchemin, calling him a "faggot." His brow was crushed with a beer bottle and he lost an eye. The attackers remain at large.

The police at first declined to classify the attack as bias related, because it did not begin with anti-gay slurs. But lesbian and gay activists protested, saying bias is a question of whether, not when, hatred is expressed. The dispute grew more heated after another gay man was stabbed in Greenwich Village on April 1, an attack that police are investigating as a bias incident.

The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project organized a march on April 8 and demanded to meet with police officials. At the meeting a few days later, Barbara Sicilia, the deputy inspector in charge of the bias unit, agreed to meet with Mr. Beauchemin. After speaking with him, she was convinced that the crime should be reclassified and, on May 13, it was.

The reason for the reclassification, Inspector Sicilia said, is that the use of the slur seems to have occurred earlier in the incident than the precinct report had suggested.

"This is important for Dennis and his recovery," said Christine Quinn, executive director of the anti-violence group. "But it's also an important message for the community. It says the department is willing to admit it made a mistake, that it's willing to be educated."   DAVID KIRBY

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH 

LOAD-DATE: May 24, 1998