Attack on gay man in Salt Lake refocuses on the community involvement

(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank speaks at a fireside vigil at 
Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Friday, Sept. 9, 2011. The vigil was in protest of three assaults against gay
 men that have been reported in the past two weeks in Utah                                                                                                                                                                   BY SHEENA MCFARLAND 

The group was unmistakable.

Its leader wore deer antlers draped in Tulle netting; a red, white and blue plaid shirt; and a pink 
tutu draped with a sheer, 

white petticoat.

Another man in a leopard print unitard stood near another in a sailor suit he insisted was a Scout 
outfit.

The seven men and one woman, calling itself Strength in Numbers, waited Friday outside Club 
Sound’s gay-themed 

dance night, escorting patrons to their cars.

The eight — a portion of the group’s nearly 40 members — wanted to be present outside the club 
where Dane Hall,

 an openly gay man, was attacked two weeks ago to make sure no patrons walked alone or were 
being unsafe.

“There was so much emotion and anger about the whole situation,” said Joshua Barnes, the group’s
 organizer. 

“We were sitting around wondering what we could do. We decided to stick together in groups and
 make sure we’re

 never alone. A bully mentality exists with hate crimes, people who commit them take on people 
who are weak and

 won’t strike back. We wanted to show we are strong and ready to protect ourselves.”

Both Bre Curtis and her twin brother, Braden Baugh — who is openly gay — joined “to take a stand 
against violence,

” Curtis said.

Her boyfriend’s best friend, a straight man wearing the leopard-print unitard, echoed those sentiments.

“We don’t want to see people we care about get hurt,” Rich Howland said.

The Aug. 26 attack on Hall — which left him with a broken jaw and cheek bone after his attackers 

put his open mouth on a curb and stomped the back of his head — is still under investigation and

 has not been labeled a hate crime.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank was at Club Sound on Friday night along with several

 officers, passing out information about tip lines where people can report crimes or suspicious 

activities anonymously.

“The outreach we’re doing is to let people know we have other avenues to give us information,

” he said.

While the story of Hall’s attack has spread, few people who witnessed anything or have first-

hand knowledge of the crime have come forward.

“We don’t want to minimize this. Obviously something bad happened to Dane Hall,” Burbank

 said. “But it’s been very hard to say that this is a hate crime, which we take very seriously.”

What’s undeniable is the community’s reaction.

Leaders hope the outpouring of emotion will further conversations about public safety and 

attitudes toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“Many of these youth have grown up in an environment of relative safety and don’t know the fear

 of the past couple of weeks,” said Michael Westley, a civil rights activist who serves on several LGBT committees and groups. “Regardless [of] whether the attack on Dane Hall was a hate crime, 

it’s always an appropriate time to get that message out.”

Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center, says that while LGBT people feel safer 

coming out at younger ages, “there’s still a high level of homophobia and bigotry.”

She says that there have been cases like Hall’s in the past, and there will be cases like his in the 

future.

“As a community we need to stand up and have conversation about who we want to be in Utah,

” she said.

Kenyon Farrow, a New York City writer and activist who will speak at the University of Utah’s 

School of Social Work on Wednesday, says Strength in Numbers’ approach is “an interesting 

solution” to addressing the safety issues.

“Members of the LGBT community, and allies as well, need to be thinking deeply about what are 

concrete steps to end homophobia and transphobia,” he said. “Other LGBT organizations around 

the country have taken steps to do community education and organization. ... They’ve done 

anti-homophobia work in other public settings that lead to ending those kinds of attacks

 because it changes people’s responses to LGBT folks.”

That’s what Strength in Numbers hopes to do.

It’s one of the reasons members bedeck themselves in goofy and outlandish clothing 

(“Who doesn’t love to dress up?” Barnes asks) while keeping one another safe. The garish 

costuming was intended to help people feel comfortable being themselves.

“There’s no reason to be scared of being different,” said Jonathan Nickle, who calls himself 

the Pink Avenger and wears a Che Guevara T-shirt, designer Dirk Bikkemberg combat boots

 and a fur jacket.

“There has been a lot of education and the conversation is more in the media about LGBT people 

and the issues that we face, but it always brings backlash,” Farrow said. “We still have a long 

way to go in terms of work to do.”

Part of that work is coming from law enforcement.

Many in the LGBT community are wary of reporting crimes, particularly gay bashing, said Salt 

Lake City police Officer Kevin Stayner, an accident reconstructionist and openly gay man who

 serves on the Public Safety Pride Alliance. The group, formed in 2000, has police officers on

 it who are openly gay or transgender or who are straight allies.

“It’s hard as a protector to see this go on and not be reported,” Stayner said. “It can be

 intimidating

 dealing with law enforcement, but we want people to know police officers are ready to help.”

He reminds people to take small, simple steps to stay safe: Walk in groups, park under 

streetlights and pay attention to surroundings. He also cautioned people not to become so

 inebriated or incapacitated they can’t defend themselves.

“If you see something that’s suspicious, it probably is. Call the police. We’ll come check

 it out,” he said.

The Pride Center’s Larabee encourages the community as a whole to look out for one another.