Sexuality may have led to student assault
NHPD filed report on nearby crime April 5
Sexuality may have led to student assault
NHPD filed report on nearby crime April 5
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
A gay Yale Law School student was assaulted earlier this month, ostensibly because of his sexuality, according to a New Haven Police Department report.
On Saturday, April 5, Craig Konnoth LAW ’10 was assaulted by two unidentified males outside the New Haven Towers apartment complex near the intersection of Crown and High streets, one block from Old Campus, according to the report. While the NHPD responded to the crime Saturday, the Yale Police Department had no record of the assault until contacted by the News on Monday, 10 days after the NHPD report was filed.
University administrators were also unaware of the incident until informed by a News reporter on Tuesday. Konnoth said he did not publicly come forward about the assault to University administrators because he thought the incident was isolated from campus life.
According to the police report, Konnoth was riding his bicycle home from the Law School prom when two men confronted him and one asked for a ride on his bike. NHPD spokesman Officer Joe Avery said the assailants may have been trying to steal Konnoth’s bike.
In an interview Tuesday evening, Konnoth said he jokingly entertained the man’s request because he was in a good mood and slightly intoxicated.
As Konnoth went to park the bike in the New Haven Towers complex, one of the men confronted him again, according to the report.
“Did you call me a faggot?” he allegedly demanded.
Konnoth said his response — that he would not call anyone a faggot because he is gay himself — prompted one of the men to pull the other backwards in an apparent attempt to convince him to leave. At that point, Konnoth said, he may have aggravated the situation by asking the men: “Is there a problem with that?”
One of the men then punched Konnoth at least once in the mouth and both men immediately fled, Konnoth said. He told police he would be able to identify the individuals but was unable to provide a physical description, according to the report.
Konnoth said he then walked into the lobby of the Crown Towers where first-year Law School students attended to him and called the police. The students could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The NHPD officer who responded to the scene made a note of Konnoth’s lip, which appeared to have been bloodied. Konnoth said Tuesday evening he had a gash on his head and a sore back, which he said may have resulted from him falling or being punched elsewhere, but those details were not included in the report.
Members of Yale’s LGBTQ community decried the incident as a grim wake-up call for students. The alleged assault calls into question the safety of queer Yale students, said Maria Trumpler, special assistant to the deans on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues.
“[The incident] is really disturbing to all students,” she said. “This kind of event really throws everyone into a feeling of uncertainty. We’re blessed that we could maintain the illusion of safety for so long.”
Benjamin Gonzalez ’09, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Cooperative at Yale, encouraged students to remember that the outside world does not abide by the same level of acceptance as Yale’s community, which is notably gay-friendly.
“In a campus that doesn’t care if you’re gay or not, usually people become lazy and assume that acceptance is given, whereas in the real world, often the best we can hope for is tolerance,” he said.
Like the YPD, administrators at Yale College and the Law School were unaware of the incident.
“I do not have any knowledge of the situation,” Law School spokeswoman Janet Conroy wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.
Conroy then said that if Konnoth did approach the University with information about the incident, the Law School would act as a liason between Konnoth and the police department.
“We would encourage a student to engage the authorities when appropriate,” she said.
After being urged to do so by classmates and a member of OutLaws, the Law School’s LGBT student group, Konnoth sent out an e-mail to the group describing the event.
The incident signals a significant need for increased understanding of LGBT issues within the greater New Haven community, Gonzalez said. To fill this need, the newly formed LGBT group Queer Peers will begin working with local high schools to provide LGBT services, support and education.
Comments
None 3 years, 10 months ago
Dear #4, I think you misspelled cowardice.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
"Do you have a problem with that" is male code for "Want to fight?" or "Put up your dukes". Aside from the possible gay-bashing aspect to this incident near Crown Towers, this sort of challenge goes directly to the gonads of all but the most secure males, who feel immediate castration anxiety at the thought that another male might think they won't resort to physical violence. At 6'2" and 200 lbs, I have lived a full life for several decades without ever having to so resort, by always observing the following rule: When challenged to physical violence, always back down, then run.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
This is a poorly written and possibly misleading headline. "Sexuality" is defined as: 1. The condition of being characterized and distinguished by sex. 2. Concern with or interest in sexual activity. 3. Sexual character or potency.
The YDN clearly meant to say that "sexual orientation" or "sexual preference" may have led to assault -- though I agree with the above commenter that, gay or not, there was a degree of provocation by the victim. My immediate reaction when reading the headline was that "sexuality may have led to assault" was suggesting something along the lines of someone getting sexually assaulted for being overtly sexual. That a headline would suggest such a thing, even for a split second, should be considered a journalistic failure.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
An accurate headline would have been "Homophobia may have led to student assault": It wasn't the student's sexuality that caused a fight, but the two other men's inability or unwillingness to accept it without violence. The headline, as it stands, blames the victim for being attacked.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
"At 6'2" and 200 lbs, I have lived a full life for several decades without ever having to so resort, by always observing the following rule: When challenged to physical violence, always back down, then run." True wisdom but so difficult to implement.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
This is an instance of two grown men (in years not in mental manturity) who started a conflict simply based on alcohol and testosterone.
His being gay had nothing substantially to do with the violence.
If he said "I'm a law student/Indian/Democrat/Texan/environmentalist/capitalist/pro-life etc." followed by "do you have a problem with that?" there would have been violence
None 3 years, 10 months ago
I obviously don't know all the facts, but this is a pretty weird story.
Why was he giving one of his eventual assailants a bike-ride to his house? Why would this guy even engage with two random guys on the street asking about his bike in the first place? Why would he continually make conversation with them before saying, "You got a problem with that?" What role did his admitted drunkenness play in his behavior of the incident and his recollection?
I'm not doubting that a hate-crime may have taken place. I just feel like this guy's story - and the reporting - leave a lot of obvious questions unanswered.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
"People live in fear of discrimination and, consequently hide their sexual orientation, hide their families, their children and their lifestyle as a result," Johnson said. "I believe it will positively impact the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered community". So I think we should give GLBT more support and understanding. Or GLBT may want to try biloves.com to release them and come out here totally.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
I agree with "Not Anti-Gay" in that this didn't seem a particularly homophobic incident but rather an alcohol-related fight. Happens all the time. You should be proud about your identity, and friendly to those who ask after it, but pride and arrogance are only a stone's throw apart, and attempting to confront what you perceive as bigotry when you're drunk and out-numbered is seeking confrontation. What made "got a problem with it" seem like an intelligent comment in the first place? If someone says "you call me a faggot" answer "no dude, I didn't. Have a good night."
None 3 years, 10 months ago
do you have a problem with that?
another instance of yalies not understanding the real world. don't act tough, you'll just get your ass beat. new haven is not messing around here.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
I heard that, taking LGBT's lead, the Bakers Dozen will be demanding up to $50MM for a community awareness program aimed at ending anti-musicality in our lifetimes!
Hooray for BD!
None 3 years, 10 months ago
This is a poorly written article (fragments of a turbid account of an incident, the details of which are not clear), that the authors have tried to meld to another story about LGBT work in the community. It's compounded by a poor editorial decision to make it the day's lead story.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
Now that the YPD knows about the incident, it would be great if a campus-wide email could be sent.
None 3 years, 10 months ago
I don't see this as a case of homophobia either. It really is because of the "do you have a problem with that?"
None 3 years, 10 months ago
i'm not so sure that sexual orientation was the reason for the assault (based on the facts presented in the article)...and if it was, i'm not so sure why it's newsworthy that the world outside of yale is sometimes homophobic...i kind of knew that already. note that the victim didn't notify yale authorities because he thought it was separate from campus life (wasn't it?).
Or login with:
OpenID