At GLOV Meeting, Disbelief that Hunter Provoked His Attacker
Written by DCist contributor Shauna Miller
The newly re-formed D.C. chapter of Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence met Monday night to discuss action plans following last week’s arrest of a suspect in the beating death of gay Maryland resident Tony Hunter.
Robert Hanna, 18, was arrested last Wednesday and charged with voluntary manslaughter in connection with the deadly September attack on Hunter near BeBar in Shaw. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at a news conference Wednesday that Hunter’s death would not be charged as a hate crime, and a police affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court quoted Hanna as saying he had defended himself against a sexual advance by Hunter during an altercation, according to the Blade.
GLOV issued a press release Friday listing five questions related to the handling of the case, asking why gay bias was dropped as a motive after being noted in the original police report, and why no charges have been filed in the attack against a second victim listed in the report.
Monday’s meeting of about 20 core members -- the group’s fourth meeting since co-chairs Chris Farris and Todd Metrokin began bringing community members together following Metrokin’s brutal July attack in Adams Morgan -- focused primarily on immediate responses to what appears to be a recent spike in bias-related violence. The group discussed partnering with local businesses and bars to promote safety guidelines for patrons and staff.
Farris expressed disbelief over allegations that Hunter allegedly provoked his alleged attacker. He said he had spoken to the second victim in the case, who was “convincing and passionate that it was unprovoked.” He said that the message being sent to the gay community is “that he asked for it, and as long as you keep to yourself, it won’t happen to you.”
Metrokin read from a draft of GLOV’s mission statement, which highlighted the group's role in “monitoring cases [and] establishing and maintaining a system to document and track cases … and working with police and criminal justice officials to maintain accountability.”
“We want to focus attention on the things that have happened and find ways to support victims,” he said.
Farris discussed progress on GLOV’s attempts to begin collecting and tracking hate-crime statistics from all District law-enforcement agencies, noting that reporting requirements differ across jurisdictions. “Answers on statistics are very muddy right now,” he said. “We need to get a clear picture of what’s happening so that we can see where we would like to be and how to get there.”
“We need to make sure they know we are watching,” he said. “Someone has to stand for Tony.”
For more information on GLOV visit glovdc.org or see Farris’ recent post on thenewgay.net.