Nov 06, 2009  |  By: Lou Chibbaro Jr.  | COMMENTS     

More than 150 students participated in a candlelight vigil Monday at Georgetown University to draw attention to three anti-gay incidents, including assaults against two students and the posting of an anti-gay message on the door of the campus gay resource center.

The university’s Department of Public Safety reported that two unidentified males struck a female student with her book bag and knocked her to the ground on Canal Road near the entrance to the campus at about 9:10 p.m. Oct. 27. The DPS reported in a statement that the assault took place after the two suspects noticed the woman was wearing a shirt “with a logo indicating support for gay rights.”

According to the DPS report, the suspects “began insulting her with derogatory comments based on her perceived sexual orientation.” It said the woman sustained minor injuries that did not require medical attention.

The suspects fled west on Canal Road, and campus officials notified D.C. police about the incident, the report says.

The suspects were described as two white males in their late 20s, about 6 feet tall and weighing about 170 pounds. One was wearing blue jeans, a blue jacket, white shirt and a New York Yankees baseball cap. The other was reported to be wearing blue jeans, a brown jacket, a dark blue shirt and a baseball cap.

DPS said the second incident occurred four days later in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, when an unidentified male assaulted a male student in the area of 36th and N streets, N.W., less than two blocks from Georgetown’s main entrance. A DPS report says the suspect physically attacked the student after asking the student several times, “Are you a homo?”

It says witnesses reported the incident at 1:32 a.m. Nov. 1, but it doesn’t provide the time of the assault itself.

The student was taken to Georgetown University Hospital, located on the campus, where he was treated for injuries sustained from the assault, according to the DPS statement. It says witnesses reported the suspect fled the scene.

Similar to the case of the female student, DPS said it notified D.C. police about the incident.

Witnesses described the suspect as a white man about 6 feet 2 inches tall with “red and white face paint” and wearing a black leather jacket.

Sgt. Carlos Mejia, who recently replaced Sgt. Brett Parson as commander of the D.C. Police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, told participants at the campus rally Monday that D.C. police are investigating the assaults.

“We take these crimes very seriously and we’re doing everything we can to find the suspects and bring them to justice,” he said.

University officials disclosed the third incident in an e-mail letter to students Monday afternoon. The letter notes that “a written slur was posted on the door of the LGBTQ Resource Center” on Monday.

Georgetown University spokesperson Andy Pino said the posting of the slur took place hours before Monday’s rally. He said he could not provide further details about what was written.

University officials created the LGBTQ Resource Center at the request of Georgetown University Pride, a gay student group, and its supporters following a number of anti-gay incidents that occurred on or near the campus in 2007, including a widely reported anti-gay assault against another GU student. The assault took place off campus in a location near where the most recent assault against the male student took place.

Members of GU Pride complained at the time that university officials failed to alert students about the assault.

In that case, which took place in September 2007, D.C. police arrested then 19-year-old Philip Cooney, who also was a Georgetown University student. The United States Attorney’s office later dropped an assault charge against Cooney, saying the evidence against him was insufficient to obtain a conviction at trial.

In the letter sent Monday to students, faculty and staff members, university officials expressed their concern over the newest incidents.

“We do not know whether the person or persons responsible for these incidents are members of the campus community,” says the letter. “If a member of the campus community is found to be responsible for these acts, the matter will be treated very seriously, including as a violation of the student code of conduct.”

The letter was sent by Todd Olsen, vice president for Student Affairs; Rosemary Kilkenny, vice president for Institutional Diversity and Equality; and Philip Boroughs, vice president for Mission and Ministry.

Pino told the Blade that the university sent a safety alert by e-mail to all students about the two assaults shortly after they were reported to campus police.

“The safety of our students ...