Lesbians, Gays At Gu Targeted

Hate-motivated incidents are happening again at Gonzaga - this time, the victims are gays and lesbians.

The latest one happened Monday when a letter was found on the windshield of a student’s car. “Get AIDS and die …,” it said in capital letters, written with a black felt-tip pen.

“I was shocked, scared, disgusted,” said the student, a freshman who asked not to be identified. “But in a lot of ways, I wasn’t surprised.”

Parked in a lot near St. Aloysius Church, the car displayed rainbow and pink triangle stickers, two symbols that stand for diversity and gay pride.

The letter is one of six known incidents recently committed against Gonzaga students who are gay, said Jennifer Alvin, a junior and member of a campus club called Helping Educate Regarding Orientation.

“Why now?” she asked. “This shouldn’t be happening at my school. We’re supposed to be enlightened and open.”

Gonzaga University’s Office of Student Life is aware of two of the incidents: a harassing message left on a gay student’s voice mail and a flier with “racist and homophobic overtones,” said public relations director Dale Goodwin. Both incidents have been reported to the Spokane Police Department and are under investigation.

Gonzaga’s acting president, Harry Sladich, recently wrote a letter to students and faculty denouncing the homophobic acts. “He has committed the university’s resources” and will “pursue this to its fullest extent,” Goodwin said.

Sladich’s letter, also sent by e-mail to the campus, stated: “Gonzaga University deplores and condemns hatred and intolerance in all forms … The University values and fosters diversity, which benefits the University and the entire community.

“Homophobic acts attempt to silence and erase the lives of individuals who are, and continue to be, valued members of the Gonzaga community.”

The two incidents also were reported in last Friday’s student newspaper, the Gonzaga Bulletin.

The first of the six incidents occurred a month-and-a-half ago when a male student received a threatening message on his voice mail that called him a “queer” and other derogatory names. He has since received two other similar messages.

A flier was posted a week-and-a-half ago in a stairwell between the second and third floors of Gonzaga’s administration building. The flier was a “wanted” sign, asking for a “a black male” who would perform sodomy, Alvin said.

Another incident happened last month when a former Gonzaga student was visiting Spokane. He was staying with a lesbian student who found a letter pinned to her door. It was a death threat, Alvin said.

“She felt so violated,” said Alvin. “Someone had written that with the intent to hurt them.”

Those involved are stunned that this is happening at Gonzaga, especially after the hate crimes committed against African-American law students in the past three years.

Those racist incidents eventually rallied the campus and the Spokane community to work together to fight discrimination. It also led to the city’s first Congress on Race Relations.

Just last week, Gonzaga students and instructors came together for a White House Conference on Hate Crime. During the event, some urged Gonzaga to make courses in diversity part of a requirement for graduation. Many also spoke out against discrimination, whether it was based on race, age or sexual orientation.

While Gonzaga has strongly condemned the hate crimes at the law school, some gay and lesbian students are wary of the university’s commitment this time.

Gonzaga has a support group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, but it isn’t chartered by the school’s student body association. Helping Educate Regarding Orientation, which aims to eliminate discrimination by teaching people about sexual orientation issues, received charter membership in 1995, Alvin said.

“This deserves as much attention as the law school received, but I don’t think we’re going to get it,” said the student who found the letter on his windshield. “It’s a Catholic university. It’s big on love and social justice but we’re not seeing that consistently.”

“Why are they doing this strictly because of sexual orientation?” Alvin asked. “I’m wondering about the intelligence level of the people who are doing this.”

, DataTimes