🚀 go-pugleaf

I am forwarding to the pnw list due to regional interest.
Please do not contact me personally on this subject, as
I got this from the Channel Q list, and have no further info.
For further info, contact the groups listed at the bottom of the message. 
Thanks.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 1995 11:45:48 -0400
From: Channel Q <qnews@channelq.com>
Subject: FYI - Spokane Coroner Bashes Gays

This was sent by PLUS Idaho, one of our InterNETWORK members.
---------------------
Forwarded message:
Subj:    Spokane Coroner Bashes Gays
Date:    95-08-10 14:03:02 EDT
From:    PLUS Idaho
To:      GLAAD NATL
CC:      GLAADUSA

The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) reported on Wednesday, Aug. 9, a story
about Spokane County Coroner Dexter Amend, who for some reason has chosen to
utilize the tragic death of a 9-year-old girl to publicize his homophobic
views. Rachel Carver was found beaten to death near the Spokane River on June
15; police said her uncle, Jason Wickenhagen, admitted to killing his niece
at their North Side home. He was arrested the day her body was found in a
cardboard box near the river.
In releasing his autopsy report this week, Amend acknowledged that her death
had nothing to do with gays, then reported that he found that Carver had been
abused for years prior to her death. Some of that abuse included sodomy.
"She'd been sodomized over and over and sodomy is a homosexual act. It is. To
have everybody thinking homosexuality is ok is a bunch of baloney," Amend
said. "I don't care what the political ramifications are on this. It's a
horrible, unbelievable thing that this child went through and they
(homosexuals) destroyed her life."
The coroner, in further explaining his remarks, said he believes only
homosexuals engage in sodomy and "all they think about is sex and lust all
the time. They had an innocent victim in her and they took advantage of her."
Other than saying that he thinks only homosexuals engage in sodomy, Amend
offered nothing to back up his assertions about the orientation of Carver's
abuser(s).
Local G/L/B activists are outraged by Amend's tirade. Ann Wood and her
husband, the Rev. Charles Wood, members of PFLAG for 10 years, were stunned.
"He is nauseating," Ann Wood said of Amend. "And the fact that he is a public
official is just scary."
Charles Wood said the coroner should know only 2% of child sex abuse cases
involve G/L/B individuals. More than half of the abusers are family members
of the victims. "Chances are that child was probably never touched by a
homosexual man," Wood said. "Dr. Amend is woefully ignorant on this."
Some members of Spokane's G/L/B community said they will launch a recall
effort against Amend.
"He's using one more tragedy to push his own beliefs on people who may not
know better," said Craig Peterson, vice chairman of Spokane's Human Rights
Commission. "The city's gay and lesbian community may very well be targeted
again because of this and it's very sad."
If you wish to respond to Dr. Amend, his address and phone number are:
Dr. Dexter Amend
Spokane County Coroner
W. 1201 Broadway
Spokane, WA, 99201
ph. (509) 456-2296

(This information was provided to GLAAD by People Like Us, a social and
educational group creating community for gay, lesbian, and bisexual
individuals in North Idaho. P.L.US contact info: People Like Us, P.O.Box
4534, Coeur d'Alene, ID, 83814, ph. (208)667-4523.)