Mountain View police reported two hate crimes over the summer targeting LGBTQ individuals. While not necessarily indicative of a trend, local community organizers and social service workers paint a nuanced picture of life in the usually progressive Bay Area as national events raise questions about LGTBQ protections under federal and state law.
The recent hate crimes in Mountain View – one at Dollar Tree on East Middlefield Road in July and one near Shoreline Amphitheatre in June – hinged on the victims’ perceived sexual orientation.
Nationally, legislative actions have directly impacted the LGBTQ community, especially transgender men, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signing into law a bill regulating discussion of sexuality in schools.
According to Thomas Kingery, who works with LGBTQ seniors through Avenidas in northern Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, whether or not hate crimes have increased, the anxiety among people he works with has.
“I do know that, especially in the older adult community, there is a fear of” being publicly accosted or even physically attacked, Kingery said, adding that people he works with rate Mountain View and Sunnyvale as the local cities where they feel least safe.
Jessica Dickinson Goodman, a self-described member of the “alphabet mafia” who serves as community outreach coordinator for the queer-friendly Mountain View chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, said she hasn’t seen too much anxiety among her community members.
“There isn’t a lot of personal physical fear here in the same way I was knocking on doors for a queer candidate in North Dakota last week,” Dickinson Goodman said. “That’s a very different environment.”
Still, she said her trans contacts can feel left out of conversations about reproductive rights. Although they don’t identify as female, trans men “are absolutely capable of becoming pregnant,” she noted.
Hostile national landscape
LGBTQ youth may feel a rising tide of anxiety in the face of national hostility, said Ishani Dugar, who works with Outlet, a program of Adolescent Counseling Services.
“There is definitely a sense of we are in a place where we definitely have more protections, but there’s a very prevalent knowledge that that (protection) is somewhat conditional,” Dugar said of ACS clients from across the Peninsula, whom she counsels remotely. “If public opinion sways, enforcing laws is not something that is always on the side of the queer community.”
Similarly, Dickinson Goodman said that though the LGBTQ community may feel supported in the Bay Area, especially by tech employers with generous reproductive health and other medical policies, recent events have caused some of her acquaintances to reconsider, for example, when they might pursue gender-identity-related surgery.
“I think the national atmosphere makes people think really critically about to what extent they are able to get work done, and to what extent they want to build their lives in one place or another,” she said.
Staff at the Santa Clara County Office of LGBTQ affairs haven’t heard reports of any violence, according to Sera Fernando, a senior management analyst with the office. In fact, she said, the office is getting more referrals from workplaces, schools and other organizations seeking tips and training on how they can be more affirming and inclusive.
“They see the national landscape with the anti-LGBTQ legislation that is out there especially for trans folks or trans youth,” Fernando said. “A lot of people (and organizations) are taking a more proactive stance.”
The city of Los Altos is among those that have reached out; the office conducted a gender-identity training session for city staff a few weeks ago.
“They’re very proactive in ensuring that their city employees are aware – you know, making sure they get the pronouns right,” Fernando said of Los Altos officials.
In the run-up to the November midterm election, Dugar said, nationwide rhetoric around LGBTQ issues in general and trans children in particular may become more charged.
“I think it would be helpful if the community at large took a firmer stance against hate crimes,” she said, “making sure our rights and protections are codified, not just spoken.”
