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COPYRIGHT 2003 Curve Magazine, Outspoken Enterprises, San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 863-6538
"Woman Raped After Leaving Bar," the April announcement declared, following an alleged incident outside a lesbian-frequented San Francisco dance club known for its mixed LGBT crowd. A visitor to the city reported that after feeling sick and trying to hail a cab, three men accosted her, took her to an unknown location and sexually assaulted her for several hours, all the while using antilesbian slurs.
The public alert was issued by a local agency, Community United Against Violence (CUAV), a nonprofit organization that tracks hate crimes and domestic abuse within queer communities. But the alleged rape was downplayed by the media, including the gay press, because reporters were suspicious of the victim's account.
According to police, the victim was unable to pay a hotel bill, and officers were called in to address the situation. When questioned, the victim incoherently described being assaulted--and apparently robbed--the previous night, but couldn't remember most of the details.
To some, this story sounded like an on-the-spot excuse for getting out of a sticky situation. But to groups like CUAV and fellow member organizations that make up the LGBT-specific National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), the victim's story was all too typical of an underreported crime within LGBT circles: assault and/or robbery as a result of involuntary drugging.
Whether dropped into a drink or disguised as a recreational substance, the use of so-called "date-rape drugs" in gay bar's is on the rise, according to Avy Skolnik, direct services coordinator of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program. Queer sexual assaults as a result of involuntary drugging experienced a statistical climb in the Denver area at the beginning of 2003, prompting his agency to draft an article for the local gay newspaper.
"We have seen a recent spike in the number of calls we receive from people reporting a sexual assault of which they have no recollections," stated his piece, "Date Rape Drugs: Not Just a Straight Thing," which ran in the newspaper Out Front Colorado. "Victims wake up usually feeling sore and remembering some events...
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