UPDATE: Equality California's executive director released a statement tonight in response to Santa Ana Police “mishandling” a potential hate crime (see end of post) . . .
A volunteer for a nonprofit that works for legal protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered returned to her Santa Ana office Thursday night to find a noose hanging from the doorknob.
]
But Mel Distel, 25, of Huntington Beach, was almost more
frightened by the attitude displayed by Santa Ana police officers who
responded to what she considered a hate crime against Equality
California (EQCA)
On EQCA's Facebook page, Distel relates the conversation she and EQCA's Daniel Shad had with two cops.
“There was
nothing they could do, of course, there was no suspect and no crime had
been committed. The officer said 'what it is, is a string on a door.'
My vision got blurry, I was embarrased and felt stupid for making the
call. I took a deep breath and said 'Do you see any correlation between
the fact that this is a gay office and there was a noose left on our
door in the wake of all of these teen suicides?' The officer said, 'Sometimes you just have to live with being a victim,' and proceeded to
mention that his car had been broken into before.”
That didn't exactly sit well with Distel.
“As if that's the same.
As if having your stereo stolen is anything like the message 'You
should kill yourself.' As if random theft is anything like an act meant
to convey hate and stir up fear in the heart of a minority group.”
[
Shad was more succinct about the cop's attitude on his own Facebook page:
“Not cool dude. Not cool.”
Writing about the incident on the Liberal OC, Chris Prevatt shared the description of a hate crime as stated in California Penal Code section 422.55.
The cited examples–“painting racist, homophobic and/or religious graffiti on private
property; burning a cross on an individual's lawn; an assault; a
criminal threat of violence against an individual or group; attempted
murder or murder”–seem to indicate a suspected hate crime case could be made from a noose left on an LGBT rights group's doorknob.
UPDATE: Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, the largest statewide
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights advocacy organization in
California,” issued the following statement tonight:
“This is an outrageous, despicable attempt to intimidate the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community just a few days before
the election, but we will not be silenced. We will strengthen our fight
to elect pro-equality candidates who champion full equality for our
entire community and who shun anti-LGBT initiatives that foster
discrimination and prejudice.“In addition, the dismissive and deeply offensive conduct of
the police officer who responded to this incident is nothing short of
appalling and sends the message that LGBT community members cannot rely
on the police for protection against the kind of hatred and prejudice
that can lead to violence.“We urge all Orange County residents to join us in demanding that Santa Ana Chief of Police Paul Walters conduct a thorough investigation
into what appears to be an atrocious hate crime, to investigate and
discipline the officer in question and to ensure that all officers are
properly trained on how to appropriately handle all bias-motivated
crimes against LGBT community members moving forward.”Equality California will file an official complaint with the police division for its handling of this matter.
To contact Police Chief Walters and demand a thorough investigation, please call 714-245-8002.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.