Members of Utah's gay community are alarmed over two separate gang rapes of homosexual men this month. Hate, they believe, is the motivation for both crimes.
"Two incidents of kidnapping and subsequent rape originating outside Salt Lake gay establishments have us very disturbed," said Michael Aaron, co-director of the Utah Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, at a press conference Friday at the Utah Stonewall Center. "We are worried that if people are not made aware of these crimes, then they will continue - and might eventually turn into murder."Salt Lake police are concerned the two incidents may be related - and could possibly be repeated.
The first incident occurred approximately two weeks ago when a man was forced into a van by four unidentified males moments after leaving a Salt Lake gay bar. After a struggle, the Salt Lake man, age unknown, was sexually assaulted for several hours before being shoved outside next to a trash bin close to the bar, according to SLPD spokesman Lt. Marty Vuyk.
The second assault occurred Monday when an Ogden man was abducted as he walked out of a downtown Salt Lake bar and was repeatedly raped for two days by a group of men.
The victim, 33, had just walked a couple of blocks away from a downtown bar when five males began chasing him around 11 p.m., according to a police report.
When the man hurt his ankle after jumping a fence near 320 S. State, the group slapped handcuffs on him, gagged him and transported him by van to a nearby building.
The man was taken to a basement room that was empty except for a full-size bed in the middle of it. There, he was tied and raped and sodomized repeatedly throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday by five men, including one who wore a black leather hood and was referred to as "master," the report states. After he was released, the man contacted police.
No arrests have been made in either incident.
When asked what could be a motive behind the two crimes, Aaron said, "I believe these are hate crimes . . . possibly committed by skinheads or a Nazi group. Rape is a common form of gay bashing."
Aaron admonished people in the gay community to exercise common sense to prevent additional crimes.
"Rape is a violent crime. People need to find ways to prevent this from happening again," he said. "Don't stand alone, carry an attention-getting device like a whistle, use your gut feelings to avoid a dangerous situation and work with the local police if you are a victim of a crime."
Police echoed his counsel.
"We are urging people in the gay community to use caution," Vuyk said. "Men and women can protect themselves by associating with people they know and can trust."
Deseret News staff writer Scott Iwasaki contributed to this report.