KCAVP Issues Advisory to Kansans About Increased Hate Crimes due to Proposed KS Constitutional...

Written by Doug Riley

Thursday, 31 March 2005


KCAVP Issues Advisory to Kansans About Increased Hate Crimes due to Proposed Kansas Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage.

Kansas City, MO – The Kansas City Anti-Violence Project (KCAVP), Kansas City’s only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to providing emergency and ongoing services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and bias crimes in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, is issuing an advisory to all Kansans that the proposed amendment to the Kansas constitution to ban same-sex marriage will likely lead to an increase in hate crimes whether it passes or not.

“As we’ve seen with Missouri and other states with marriage as an issue, LGBT Kansans will be more vulnerable to hate crimes simply for being who they are and this is a direct result of the state legislature and government,” said Doug Riley, executive director of the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project. “The aftermath of these amendments, especially when passed, show that some Kansans are not equal to others which is dehumanizing and discriminatory. Violence against the LGBT community in Kansas by those who see us as a threat rather than as human beings is inevitable. We need to support each other and support those who are vigorously working to defeat this discriminatory amendment. This is why it is important that KCAVP added bias crimes to our services, and we encourage all those who have been a victim of anti-LGBT crimes to report them.”

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs issued the “Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Violence in 2003” report in April 2004. Of note is in areas where LGBT controversies have happened such as gay marriage and the abolition of sodomy laws, there has been an increase in reported anti-LGBT violence of 26 percent. The 2004 report is set to be released on April 26. KCAVP documented 26 anti-LGBT incidents in 2004 with 9 of them in August when the Missouri constitutional amendment was in the election—35 percent.

“This amendment jeopardizes Kansas families including unmarried couples who will face the possibility on Wednesday morning if this amendment passes that they may not be fully protected against domestic violence and may also face the prospect of losing health insurance and other human rights,” said Cyd Slayton of Kansans for Fairness.

KCAVP is a Missouri nonprofit corporation committed to providing services, advocacy and education for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and bias crimes within the five counties that encompass the metropolitan Kansas City area. For more information about KCAVP, visit www.kcavp.org.

Kansans For Fairness is a statewide, nonpartisan group that was formed on Feb. 12, 2005, to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment. For more information about Kansans For Fairness, visit http://www.kansansforfairness.org.

NCAVP is a coalition of over 25 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victim advocacy and documentation programs located throughout the United States. In cooperation with its member organizations, NCAVP is committed to addressing the pervasive problem of violence committed against and within the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive (LGBTH) communities. For more information about NCAVP, visit http://www.kcavp.org/.