Police: Anti-gay bias behind attack on UVa student

Five young men attacked an 18-year-old University of Virginia student and his friend while yelling anti-gay slurs, according to police and university reports.

The unidentified student and his friend were walking home from a friend’s house around 3:30 a.m. April 4 when they were jumped by the group of five white males between the ages of 16 and 20 in the east parking lot of UVa’s Scott Stadium, officials said.

The attackers grabbed and smashed the UVa student’s cell phone while he tried to dial 911.

The UVa student and his friend tried to run, but the attackers chased down the UVa student and hit him in the back of the head. As he fell, he scuffed up his right elbow on the sidewalk, according to a police report.

“Based upon the facts as we currently know them, we believe this to be a bias-motivated crime, in that the perceived sexual orientation of the two victims appears to have motivated the assault,” wrote UVa Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Allen W. Groves in a statement sent to the university community late Friday.

Following the attack, the victim was treated and released at UVa Medical Center for his injuries. Groves said Monday that the UVa student is doing well and attending classes.

The Charlottesville Police Department originally investigated the incident, but investigators realized Friday that the crime scene was on UVa’s campus. The University Police Department then took over the investigation.

“It’s an open, active investigation,” said Lt. Melissa Fielding of the UVa police. “We would encourage anyone with information about this incident to call Crimestoppers or University Police.”

Attacks motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation — or other characteristic, such as race, gender or religion — are exceedingly unusual at UVa, Groves said.

“Bias-related physical assaults are rare,” he said. “I’m not aware of any, off the top of my head, in the two years since I became dean of students.”

According to crime statistics reported by UVa police, the department investigated one “hate crime” motivated by religion in 2006 and three such cases based on race in 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, there were no other bias-related crimes investigated by UVa police.

Virginia law allows for enhanced punishment against offenders who attack, intimidate or harass based on the victim’s race, religion or ethnicity — but not the victim’s sexual orientation.

UVa’s student-run judicial system, however, can impose additional sanctions against an offending student if the action was motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation. According to the policy: “Any violation of the University Standards of Conduct motivated by the age, color, disability, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or veteran status of the victim will be deemed an aggravating circumstance, and will result in a more serious sanction up to, and including, expulsion from the University.”

Groves said that “bias-motivated assaults” are especially hurtful for students because there is no justification for the attack other than hatred.

“You cannot rationalize that,” he said. “There’s only one explanation: You were assaulted because of who you are.”

Alex Tatum, a third-year computer science major at UVa and the rising president of the Queer Student Union, said he has heard the occasional derogatory remark against gays and lesbians at UVa, but considers the university overwhelmingly inclusive. He was surprised to hear that a student was apparently attacked because of his perceived sexual orientation.

“The incident is very unfortunate, and during my three years at UVa, I never imagined such a hateful assault would have occurred in a community as progressive as ours,” Tatum said.

According to Equality Virginia, there have been only a few incidents of anti-gay attacks on Virginia college campuses. In 2002, a group of Virginia Commonwealth University students were assaulted while waiting to attend a gay student group.