String of Anti-Gay Attacks In Idaho Raises Concerns

An Idaho state lawmaker and others say Boise police data on hate crimes against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community doesn't reflect actual violence against its members.

Sen. Nicole LeFavour, the Legislature's only openly gay member, complained recently via Twitter of "a horrible rash of anti-gay hate crimes."

In 2010, there were seven hate crimes reported in Boise, including five listed under race, and one each listed under ethnicity and religion, though none due to sexual orientation. There's been one hate crime reported in 2011 that allegedly targeted a person due to his sexual orientation.

LeFavour and others point to several additional incidents in which people may have been attacked due to their sexual orientation, the Idaho Statesman (http://bit.ly/mYopMS ) reported.

Police say they've heard about concerns within the community and are encouraging people to report any such hate-motivated incidents so authorities can investigate. Boise police put out a flier downtown and online in August to encourage victims of hate crimes to report incidents.

"We've been hearing some of the same talk and rumors," Boise police spokesman Chuck McClure said. "We need people to report it, so we can follow up."

LeFavour said she has spoken with several people who say they've been recent targets of hate crime in the Boise area. She said one incident this summer involved a man who was attacked with a golf club in the parking garage adjacent to The Balcony Club, a bar known to be popular with the gay community.

Boise police confirmed the golf club attack, which involved a group of three men versus two brothers, but said they found no evidence of a hate crime. The man who was clubbed suffered cuts to his head and was treated at the hospital; he did not press charges.

In the one reported case of a hate crime involving sexual orientation, a man on July 30 was punched in the face by one of two men, who also yelled anti-homosexual slurs. The victim sought medical care for his injuries; the crime was reported by a third party on Aug. 4.

The suspect, a 6-foot-2 man with brown hair, hasn't been apprehended.

The case remains open, said Lynn Hightower, a Boise police spokeswoman.

The Statesman said it communicated with the victim, who lives in Boston, but didn't disclose his identity. He told the newspaper he has had $45,000 in surgeries to repair a cheekbone that was broken in several places.

Another person, Braden Jesser, said he was a victim in two attacks Downtown Boise since mid-May. The 22-year-old gay man said the most recent incident occurred about two weeks ago, when he and a female friend were leaving The Balcony.

"I've always felt safe here," Jesser said this week. "I don't feel comfortable going downtown at night anymore."

Kyann Negaard, a 25-year-old Ada County resident who lives outside of Boise, said she was attacked by two people in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Negaard said after she had asked a driver to slow down, the woman stepped out of her car and broke her nose. A man then held Negaard down, she said, while the woman hit and kicked her.

Nicole E. Raymond, 24, and Robert James Elam, 30, have been charged in 4th District Court with aggravated battery. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.

Negaard, who wears her hair very short and said she looks boyish, said Raymond used a lesbian slur during the attack.

"To me, it's a hate crime, and I don't think that should go unnoticed," she said. "I want the whole story told."

A man who answered the telephone Thursday at a number listed for Elam insisted it wasn't a hate crime but refused to comment further.

Ada County sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Dearden said no one involved or who witnessed the attack told investigators that it was motivated by Negaard's sexual orientation.

LeFavour, however, said she believes the attack was a hate crime.

"They were well aware she was gay and likely felt emboldened in beating her up seeing her as a gay person as less than human," LeFavour said.