Community Alerts

AVP has learned that Renato Seabra, a 21 year-old from Cantanhede, Portugal, has been arrested on the charge of second-degree murder in the death of 65-year-old Carlos Castro, a prominent Portuguese journalist and LGBTQ activist. Castro was discovered on Friday, January 7, in his hotel room in the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square which he had been sharing with Seabra. Castro had been beaten to death and castrated. The NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney’s Office say that initial reports indicate this was a domestic dispute but are also investigating possible hate and bias motivations. AVP will continue to work with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the NYPD, as well as the office of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, to follow up on this incident.

On Monday, October 11, two people were attacked at Julius Bar, New York’s oldest gay bar, on West 10th Street in the West Village. The suspect, who has a known history of luring gay men with the intent to rob and physically harm them, is currently in custody, and is also believed to be responsible for a disturbance at Ty’s Bar earlier in the evening. In recent weeks, we have also seen brutal anti-gay attacks at the Stonewall Inn and in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. AVP is working with local bar owners and community leaders to create a comprehensive response to preventing future violence from occurring.

Yesterday, AVP learned of two appalling hate violence incidents that occurred this past weekend in Chelsea and at the historic Stonewall Inn. “Even a bar like the Stonewall Inn, which plays an integral part in the modern gay rights movement, is not immune to this sort of violence," said Sharon Stapel, Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project. “We will not allow perpetrators of anti-LGBTQ violence to come into our communities and target us. Today we send a strong message that our communities will not be intimidated by this violence and that we will stand up in the face of it and demand equality and respect. This is a wake-up call for every New Yorkers. We all have a responsibility to end this culture of violence against LGBTQ people, which has become so apparent in recent weeks.”

AVP mourns the death of Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Following the discovery that two fellow students broadcast footage of a sexual encounter between himself and another man, Tyler reportedly jumped from the George Washington Bridge on September 22nd and is presumed dead. Rutgers University freshmen Dharun Ravi, Tyler’s roommate, and Molly Wei, have been charged with invasion of privacy and face up to 5 years in jail. Additionally, today the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) released a statement concerning four youth reported to have died in hate-related suicides over the past two weeks.

AVP is outraged by the recent attacks targeting Mexican immigrants and members of the LGBTQ community on Staten Island. In what became the twelfth hate violence incident to be reported in the borough since April 2010, Jonas Vidals, 36, and wife Sonia, were threatened with hate speech as they returned to their Port Richmond residence on Saturday, September 17, at 11:45 p.m. Jonas and Sonia Vidals, who stated that they traveled together due to the recent surge of bias attacks on the island, allege that three individuals in a nearby apartment building shouted anti-Mexican and anti-Latino slurs, as well as threatened them with physical harm if they did not leave the area. The incident is being further investigated by the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force.