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A Harlem Gathering to Fight Homophobia
NYS Black Gay Network leads clergy, political leaders at Riverside Church rally
By HANNAH SELIGSON
On Sunday, July 31, leaders in the gay and lesbian community, clergy members and elected officials hosted a meeting at Riverside Church to call attention to a series of violent attacks against African-American lesbian, gay and transgendered people in what the event’s organizers are calling a state of emergency.
In the first half of this year, two particularly brutal crimes garnered the city’s attention. On June 8, three men attacked Dwan Prince, a building porter, on a Brooklyn street. The three shouted anti-gay epithets and punched, kicked and stomped the 27-year-old victim, who is HIV-positive, leaving him semi-paralyzed after he emerged from a coma in Brookdale Hospital. Steve Pomie has been arrested in the case and faces bias-related assault charges. The two other men are still being sought by police.
On February 17, transit workers discovered the dismembered arm and two legs of Rashawn Brazell, a 19-year-old murder victim, stuffed in a plastic bag on subway tracks in Bushwick, Brooklyn. A week later, Brazell’s torso was discovered at a Greenpoint recycling plant. His other body parts are still missing and police have yet to discover the scene of the gruesome dismemberment. The murder remains unsolved and his mother, Desire Brazell, a social services worker, has become—like mothers of other slain gay and lesbian children—an advocate for tolerance and non-violence. Brazell attended Sunday night’s gathering in Riverside’s Assembly Hall, but left early after becoming overcome with emotion.
Read the full article at Gay City News.
Posted by RBMF on August 4, 2005 09:51 AM | Permalink
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