Date: Friday, November 20, 1998, 1:23 pm
To: Undergraduate Women's Studies Association
Subject: SPEAK OUT!!! THIS IS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1998 13:15:22 -0500 (EST)
To: Undergraduate Women's Studies Association
Subject: SPEAK OUT!!! THIS IS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On October 28 at 9:00 PM, Leonard "Lynn" Vines--a black drag queen--was shot 6 times in the chest area, just outside of his cousin's front door in Balitimore, Maryland to anti-gay, and anti-drag epithets. He was rushed to the emergency room, and miraculously lived through his attack.

I hope that you have heard about this. If you have not, you are--sadly-- not alone. It took me weeks to hear about it, and I try to keep pretty well informed.

Matthew Sheppard's death received all of the press it deserved. We were all relieved to hear President Clinton address gay hatred in a way that was not "don't ask, don't tell." Many of our parents called and offered us their support--or, at the very least, their fear. For once, the issue of hate that we, as any sort of minority--racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual--face every day was the entire nation's issue.

There was no surge of support for and awareness of Leonard "Lynn" Vines--perhaps because he was black, or a drag-queen, or in his early 30s rather than early 20s. Maybe the country was tired of the hate crime issue.

In any case, this attack must be addressed.... Help us show that hate crimes--ALL HATE CRIMES--will not be tolerated.



"There is no heirarchy of oppressions."--Audre Lorde

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