Gays See Attacks Rising : Long Beach Stabbing Triggers Uproar; Police Call Attack Random

LONG BEACH â€”  Kim Labourdette’s death could have been just another crime statistic in a city that has seen its share of the reckless, senseless violence of the streets.

But the 38-year-old bartender was gay, and since the night he was mugged and stabbed to death on Broadway, Labourdette’s killing has triggered an uproar in the local gay community almost as dramatic and unexpected as the attack itself.

Police say there is no evidence that Labourdette was killed because he was gay; they say he was murdered while being robbed. But gay activists view the killing as the latest example of what they perceive as a significant increase in attacks on gays.

In the four weeks since the murder, gay activists have been holding protest marches, distributing leaflets and forming committees that, among other things, are considering equipping area bars with safety-oriented videotapes. They are also establishing a 24-hour hot line to report harassment and attacks and are organizing neighborhood watch teams to cut down on crime.

Few gays walk alone on the streets any more, and in the restaurants and bars that cater to the gay community, there is fear and uncertainly.

“There’s always been violence against gays,� said Mark Foster, a member of the local chapter of ACT-UP, a militant gay organization that has taken an interest in the case. “But we think it’s at a fever pitch right now.�

Labourdette had been dining with friends July 5 at a restaurant on Broadway when he left to walk across the street to buy cigarettes about 9:30 p.m. He didn’t get far. Immediately outside, two men jumped from a car, stabbed him repeatedly and rifled his pockets.

Police, who have no suspects, say the motive appears to have been simple robbery and that the victim’s selection was random.

But some gays say the unusual viciousness of the stabbings and the attack’s location in the middle of the city’s most visibly gay neighborhood indicates to them that the selection may not have been random. In fact, they say, the attack has the earmarks of being part of a rising tide of verbal and physical harassment of gays along the Broadway corridor--a two-mile stretch centered roughly on Bixby Park at Broadway and Cherry Avenue.

Police insist that the area is relatively safe, with fewer assaults, murders and robberies on record than many other parts of the city.

“It looks like a low-crime area, considering the city as a whole,� said police spokesman Melvin Gallwas, who added that crime statistics reveal no assault upsurge in the area.

“During the many times I’ve monitored the situation,� he said, “the place looked (quiet) as a ghost town.�

Rick Rosen disagrees. Chairman of the police relations committee of the gay-oriented Lambda Democratic Club for the last year, Rosen said many crimes against gays go unreported because of the unwillingness of some gays to be so identified and their general distrust of police.

Further, Rosen said, his own statistics seem to contradict those of the police. Part of his job is to field calls from gays complaining of harassment.

Six months ago, he was averaging one or two calls a month, but today he is getting up to four a week, he said.

“There’s a noticeable increase,� said Rosen, adding that the incidents range from name-calling to physical assaults.

In either case, the perception of danger seems to have mobilized the gay community. A rally and protest march last weekend drew about 150 people. Local members of ACT-UP are planning a community meeting Aug. 17, followed by another public rally later this month. And in the bars along Broadway, fears seem palpable.

“We walk out in groups,� said David Bowling, 31, a waiter who frequents the bars. “We kind of watch out for each other.�

“I only live two blocks away,� added Jim Forbes, 26, “but I drive here now.�

Activists are not sure what has caused the increase in attacks. Some said gays are finding themselves subjected to more abuse because society itself seems to be more violent, because fear of acquired immune deficiency syndrome is growing and because anti-gay hysteria is too.

Others said that even though some attackers have nothing against gays in particular, they are more likely to act against a population that, according to the stereotype, is less likely to fight back. And some blamed a neighborhood action taken by the city last year for contributing to the problem: specifically, the gating of Bixby Park.

Long known as a cruising area for male homosexuals and prostitutes, as well as a gathering place for drug dealers and vagrants, the park was the subject of several community meetings in 1989. Acting on recommendations from a neighborhood coalition that included gays, the city finally increased police patrols, enacted an anti-cruising ordinance and built gates to stem the flow of foot traffic through the park from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

As a result, most area residents now say there is much less criminal activity in the park. But the same criminal element that once gathered in the park, some activists complain, now wanders along Broadway, creating an unhealthy atmosphere in which gay bashing is more likely to occur.

Rosen, who as a member of Lambda sat on the panel that drafted the park recommendations, sees Bixby Park as a non-issue.

“It doesn’t matter where the crime takes place,� he said, “a victim is a victim. Closing the park (at night) has not led to an increase in the number of assaults anywhere else.�

At least one element of the community--an ad hoc group called Community Response Network, formed shortly after the Labourdette killing--says it intends to pursue the problem as a general matter of crime affecting the entire neighborhood, gays and non-gays alike.

ACT-UP members say they have organized informal neighborhood patrols to watch out for fellow gays.

“Harassment is very common down in that corridor,� said Bob Brown, who is coordinating the group’s anti-bashing effort. “Hopefully, just our presence will deter any (potential attacks) in our vision.�