Gay Activist Victimized by Vandals

ANAHEIM â€”  A prominent Orange County gay rights activist reported Tuesday that vandals broke into his home, spray-painted the inside with anti-homosexual slogans, stuck knives in the walls and stole thousands of dollars in jewelry and electronic equipment.

Jeff LeTourneau, founder and chairman of Orange County Visibility League, one of the county’s most vocal gay and lesbian rights groups, summoned police to his West Forest Lane home after a roommate found it ransacked on Tuesday afternoon.

Anaheim Police Lt. Ray Welch said detectives are investigating the case as a burglary but declined to say whether the incident could be considered a violation of the law against hate crimes.

But Rusty Kennedy, chairman of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, quickly condemned the incident and said he considered it an example of a hate crime against gays.

LeTourneau, who said he shares the three-bedroom house with his lover and two roommates, reported that vandals stuck knives, sprayed derogatory slogans and stole about $10,000 worth of electronic equipment and jewelry.

“I’m very angry,� LeTourneau said. “They’ve taken just about everything of value. I feel angry because society is so sick, so filled with bigotry. The only hope is to educate them.�

LeTourneau, 34, said the vandals apparently staked out the neighborhood and waited until his roommate left the house around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. Two hours later, two roommates returned and found the house “completely trashed,� LeTourneau said.

The vandals sprayed graffiti on mirrors and walls in the house, he said.

LeTourneau founded the gay and lesbian rights group three years ago. Its members have participated in gay rights marches and have repeatedly sparred with conservative politicians.

“I’ve received more than a dozen death threats by people who threatened to burn my house to the ground and shoot me when I walk through the door,� LeTourneau said. “We need to educate people that this thing happens and there needs to be protection against hate crimes.�

Kennedy said the human relations board will work with police to help solve what he called a “hate crime.�

“It’s clearly the act of ignorant hoodlums who have magnified their crime of breaking and entering with their own irrational hate of this individual,� Kennedy said. “We roundly condemn this and state categorically that this type of activity will not be tolerated in Orange County.�