Hate e-mail sent to gay group listserv

Penn Police and the Office of Student Conduct are looking into the e-mail sent to the Queer Student Alliance on Tuesday. On the verge of B-GLAD 2000, the annual Bisexual Gay Lesbian Transgender Awareness Days, a hate letter is a not-too-subtle reminder that intolerance still lives. A derogatory e-mail was sent out Tuesday night to the Queer Students Alliance listserv. The strong and offensive language in the e-mail incited immediate response from members of the QSA and is being investigated by the University Police. The offensive e-mail was in reference to a QSA banner hanging on Locust Walk. "So, I was walking along Locust Walk and I noticed a banner for the 'Queer Students Alliance' or whatever," the e-mail said. "Damn, I didn't know there were so many dykes and faggots on campus." The letter continued: "I just want to thank you for helping me target your kind." The writer also used several expletives and said they would avoid members of the queer community. College senior Andy Byala, a QSA member, said he was surprised by the letter. "I think we'd all like to believe that we Penn students are intellectuals who can see past bigotry," he said. "It's easy to think we're all safe and accepted for who we are, and every situation like this is shocking in its own way." The Penn Police, the Office of Student Conduct and the Information Systems and Computing Office are investigating the e-mail to determine the identity of the sender, whether the e-mail is a breach of law and if it implies any threat. But University Police Chief Maureen Rush, said last night, "Quite frankly, we don't have a criminal act. We have an open expression act that's quite offensive." But she also said, "I've never seen anything like this -- especially using the Internet to target a specific group like this. We aren't ruling anything out at this point." University Police Detective Frank DeMeo, a member of some law enforcement agencies that deal specifically with Internet-type crimes, has been assigned to the investigation. Erin Cross, assistant director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center, said some members of the QSA listserv thought the hate letter was in reaction to QSA's name. Previously known as the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Alliance, the group chose to change its name just before spring break because members found it more inclusive of all non-heterosexuals. However, the term queer was once used as a derogatory term and still holds negative connotations for some people. "I think to a certain extent this kind of behavior is an unfortunate but sort of predictable event," LGBT Center Director Bob Schoenberg said. He added, "It's always a judgement call as to whether to really pay attention to comments such as these?. I would really hate to see a lot of time and energy expended on someone's ignorant remarks." However, Schoenberg did not think the e-mail had anything to do with the QSA's name change. He also said that the LGBT Center and the QSA have received hate e-mail and voicemail messages before, but not recently. Another e-mail was sent out Tuesday from a University e-mail address to the QSA listserv about the group's name change. The e-mail was from a bisexual sophomore who was considering joining the former LGBA until the group changed its name. The sender stated that she was offended by the word queer and would no longer consider joining the group. "I have since decided that I will not join your organization since next year you will probably change the name to the 'Dykes and Faggots Alliance,'" she said. Along with a poster campaign, the QSA will be writing a guest column and submitting letters to the editor for The Daily Pennsylvanian to explain the group's name change and react to the hate mail. "[The e-mail] actually came at a good time," QSA Chairman and Engineering junior Kurt Klinger said. "It sparked a huge response from people on the listserv. Obviously, because of things like this there is a need for B-GLAD and the QSA." B-GLAD will start this Friday with a dance at the Veranda and a rally on Wednesday, among other events. Klinger said the hate mail served not to dampen the enthusiasm of the participants but rather to make them "more active and energetic."

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