News Mar 11, 2015 at 4:00 am

More Collaboration, More Funding, and More Shelter for Youth

What officials have to say: Hate crimes are on the rise in Seattle. At a March 3 forum called by Council Member Kshama Sawant to discuss how to “end” this trend, Mayor Ed Murray’s solution was more diversity in the police force. Others are calling for an LGBTQ youth shelter. Alex Garland

Comments

1
A couple decades of this and we're still info-gathering? I suspect it's the same troublemakers - provincial suburban idiots who go to Capitol Hill just to see the "weird purple-haired people" and to find themselves some gay people to egg. Twenty years ago they did this - and when they couldn't find any "strange" homosexuals, they killed a woman instead.
Get the kids and homeless out of harm's way, but the only solution back in '97 was when the country boys realized that big-city "queers" were even scarier than they imagined - their "targets" were patrolling vigilantes, occasionally armed, definitely more fearless, and possibly even straight.
(I'm not saying that violence is the answer - I'm just saying those idiots don't configure their lives in response to well-reasoned arguments about Seattle police funding or sentencing laws or whatever.)
2
"I can't even imagine what we would do with $500,000 in the community..."?

We could buy a 400 sq ft studio on Broadway and Thomas to use as an LGBTQ shelter...
3
Also, how about just "crime" on capitol hill - you know, violent crimes committed against everyone.
4
Funny how none of the solutions embraced by the LGBTQ community address crime and interdicting crime. They just want to give LGBTQ folks a shelter to hide in from the criminals. Blame the victim for having the audacity to be in a public place where they have every right to be. When those public places can only be used at the sufferance of the criminals, then the criminals have been handed a victory and de-facto control of the public commons.
5
@3 - Yeah! Straight white lives matter, too!
6
@seatownr I agree. I am a heterosexual married man and, trust me, it has gotten just as scary up here for us as it has for the LGBT community. We are all brothers and sisters in this. There are no police around. When you call they will not show up unless you say that you can actually see a gun or a weapon (which, if you're that close you're either stupid or about to be assaulted) and the number of knuckleheads from Federal Way puking on their shoes at night coupled with a crop of vagrant junkies using our stairwells to fix has created a toxic stew. The mayor does not give a shit. Period. Full stop.
7
@georgeingeorgetown right on! Enough of this passive PNW posture. Slinking away will not solve anything. The police and the community need to stand up and make our neighborhood a place where the predators feel like the prey
8
Oh please, cis white males complaining we have it just as bad!

If you haven't been on the getting-bashed end of hate crime (&, maybe you're metrosexual & you have?), then you most certainly don't bear the full brunt of it.

Walk the hill late at night with women/gay/trans individuals, and they'll tell you just how easy you have it.
9
Maybe it's time for Q Patrol again! I remember them from the 90s.
11
@3:

It's somewhat ironic you should take note of that, given that Mr. Fetzer, who's recent unfortunate encounter comprises the lede to this story, is himself quite happily married - to a very lovely woman. And since when do perps have such keen perceptual discernment to KNOW their victims are actually gay? Our theatre staff, particularly many of the women, have been harassed numerous times by creeps in the last couple of years, many of whom seem to throw out anti-LGBT epithets like so much verbal scatter-shot, on the apparent assumption that, if you're not a skinny blond in a tight black dress and high-heels stumbling down the street, then you clearly are NOT straight. So, in that sense, ANY positive outcome would in point of fact benefit everyone, since the ones doing this can't really tell the difference between who is and who isn't in the first place - assuming they even care all that much.
12
If only about 10% of the vulnerable population started packing heat, most of these thugs would think twice before attacking. Disarmed in a neighborhood teeming with violence-prone thugs, you are sitting ducks, whether you are gay or straight.
But I suppose most readers here have been brainwashed by the likes of Bloomberg to oppose the right of citizens to defend themselves. In that case, I say, good luck. The police will never be able to protect you. At best they show up a little after the attack to take evidence and make reports.
"Collaboration, funding and shelter" just means more of Kishama's socialist buddies on the public payroll, with no real benefit to anyone else.
13
Wasn't it writers at The Stranger who years ago said we didn't need a gay ghetto? And that for some reason here in Seattle our GLBTQ community was safer than places like Chicago (still has Boy's Town) or San Francisco (still has the Castro District).

Guess what? We still need that part of town where we are largely safe from the assholes who still hate us. You can legalize protection but that doesn't change the hearts of haters.
14
"Seattle had the third-highest rate of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in the country—three per 100,000 residents—after Washington, DC, and Memphis."

Not to diminish the awfulness, but is this normalizing the data to account for the percentage of LGBTQ residents? You might expect higher per-capita numbers in a place with a higher percentage of identifying residents.

As Seattle's population increases, its absolute number of LGBTQ residents also likely increases (perhaps at the same rate, perhaps higher or lower). So you would expect an increase in crimes against LGBTQ residents, because it's just the way math works. (Unfortunately.) Whether it represents an actual increase, relative to the population, is what I'm not clear on.

Regardless, this shit needs to stop because, duh.
15
@12:

Yeah, just what we need - a bunch of gun-toting yahoo's blasting up the neighborhood like Yosemite Sam. On a typical weekend evening Capitol Hill is a veritable packed-like-sardines wall-to-wall swarm of drunkenness - and YOUR brilliant idea is to introduce a whole passel of people with guns into that mix; guns most of them will barely know how to use, that many will certainly be in no condition to use safely, and that will have a very good probability of being taken away and used against them, not to mention the likelihood of causing harm to innocent bystanders.and property, because again, drunk people with guns.

Sheer fucking brilliance, mate. I mean, seriously, what could possibly go wrong in this scenario?
16
@12: My uncle is a cop, and he's worked nightlife districts, making sure places are carding, wrangling drunks, and generally keeping the peace. He's a very big guy, 6'3" and gotta be close to 300 pounds. And he has a badge, a gun, and a partner backing him up. And drunks half his size STILL take swings at him!
If people thought rationally in the first place, they wouldn't be roaming around looking for femmy-looking guys to harass. The prospect that someone might have a gun isn't going to make it into the head of any of these nutbars.
17
@15:
Nobody ever suggested that it would be a good idea for untrained inebriates to go blazing away in crowded public places. Why don't you address the actual issue instead of your straw-man caricature? You're probably a hopeless ideologue, but for those responsible adults who may be reading this, if you feel yourself to be at risk in the side streets and alleys while going about your normal business, or even in your homes, you have a right to defend yourself against violence, and you really can't count on the government to do it for you.
19
There are a few things that could help. Increased police presence - yeah, sorry guys, but if you are going to get mugged/bashed and want help, it has to be there pronto or it won't be there at all. Want to lessen crime in the Pike-Pine corridor? CLOSE CLUB Z. Sorry, it's been a magnet for pimps, junkies, and people that will do anything for a $20 sack of meth for years. And while I'm not into guns as defense (it just doesn't work that way), after two in the morning is a good time to carry mace with you. I trained nurses at Swedish and lived at Pike and Boren - the 3rd shift walk was compelling, if nothing else.
20
Kshama Sawant! Kshama Sawant! Kshama Sawant! It must be good, right?
21
"White lives matter"? No one ever said they didn't matter #5. What a racist thing to say considering the history of the country you live in. Get a clue you entitled Twit. And how about a little originality for a change? For once in American history? I'll tell you the same thing I hear whites tell the black community ALL the time, lets see how stupid it sounds... "Why don't you guys focus on gay on gay violence - battering issues?" "Why don't you focus on the racism in the white gay community?" "Why don't you focus on the sexism in the gay community?"

Pretty counter productive, huh? Well remember that the next time you're tempted to say something like that about people of color. Or hear someone else say it.

Now, all that said Mr/Ms "White Lives Matter", It sounds like it's time for neighborhood patrols at certain times of the night. Folks with dogs, both MEN AND WOMEN, OF ALL COLORS, GLBT and Allies need to be on the streets looking out for each other. I don't know, if the LGBT community started doing "Open Carry", - would there would be a lot less thugs out there? Who knows? It might have a visual impact. I'm not a gun person myself. I say go for dogs and community patrols.

And #19 nailed it, if there is a place that is drawing negativity, shut it down.
22
Count me in with commenters @3 and @4 -- the problem is crime on Capitol Hill. The city's long-standing policy to increase density in the Pike-Pine corridor continues to be a great success, bringing huge numbers of new residents, businesses, and visitors, including many for the nightlife scene. Inevitably, that means more persons intending to prey on inebriated club-hoppers. The solution to crime against LGBTQ members of our community is to reduce crime against all members of our community. A more-visible police presence might be a great start. If the would-be criminals saw constant foot patrols, police in and out of the bars and clubs, walking the neighborhood beat during and after the night-life hours, that should be a better deterrent than a squad car parked in the center turn lane of Pike Street.

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