Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Hookers & Crack Pipes & Slurs, Oh My!

A reader writes in with the following disturbing account:
Hi UU,

I wanted to share what happened to me this morning around 10 AM. I had just picked a newspaper and was walking past the corner of Kenmore and Lawrence when I was solicited by a woman I had never seen before. She was across the street on Kenmore and as soon as she saw me she started smiling and motioning to me to come over. I ignored her and she crossed that street towards me and continued to follow. I finally turned around and told her that I didn't want her business. Then the rant started.

For the next half a block she was less than a foot behind me calling me a fag, a faggot, an "effing" faggot. It went on and on, screaming at me at the top of her lungs. Finally, the contractors who are working on our building drove up in their van and I was able to use their cell phone to call 911. The woman continued screaming "faggot" at me and then started yelling at the contractors. They were concerned for my safety and kept the van running.

Kudos to the officers who showed up within less than two minutes to intervene. Kudos for also finding crack and a crack pipe on her. She'll have her day in court.

As a gay man, I'm used to being taunted and called names. It doesn't phase me anymore. But I won't sit quietly while the crackheads and prostitutes try to intimidate my neighbors.

This lady messed with the wrong faggot.

24 comments:

  1. Good for you. We need more concerned people like you who care and are not afraid to do someting about this problem other then to run away. I congradulate you on your actions and may other follow your direction to make our area safe and healthy!!!!!!

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  2. This is something I never understood.

    I had a professor in Law School who was gay, or a "faggot" as you put it. It never crossed my mind that he was gay, until he announced to the class that he was gay. My reaction was, "ok great. Can we get back to class?"

    Any way, how did this woman know you were gay? I doubt she really knew that. If you don't want to talk to a crack whore, does that make you gay? Is this a gay issue?

    The really issue is just that she was a psycho, isn't it?

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  3. This seems to be the common slur from the uneducated folks in the area.

    A few months ago this happened to me after asking a woman not to throw her beer cans out her window. She then felt the need to call me a faggot motherf#*ker over and over again. Mind you I was walking with my wife and three year old so it had nothing to do with my sexuality, but more to do with her lack of class.

    Sorry this happened to you though, you did the right thing by not engaging or sinking to her level.

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  4. It's the default insult hurled at a male subject by anyone of considerable ignorance, Jason.

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  5. Jason, that's a pretty naive post you just made. While there are plenty of gay people whose appearance and demeanor come off as straight, there are plenty whose don't, and in those instances it's really not that hard for any homophobic asshole on the street to pick them out.

    60 minutes did a story about this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOO1Y4OryWY

    Go to about 3:45 into the video to see a really cool study that Northwestern University did on this subject.

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  6. Probably the worst thing about this scenario was being harassed by someone on CRACK.
    Insults get hurled all the time from people that 'work' the streets, but someone on Crack is a nightmare.

    That's the big issue up here. Drugs, drugs, and more drugs.

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  7. Chip Douglas had to participate in that study that aired on 60 minutes. My wife was in that professors psychology class at Northwestern. I had to watch that video and give my impressions. It was hard because we try to train ourselves not to judge but at the same time we must be honest with our perceptions.

    I will say that it had a lot of feminine guys and masculine woman (by my standard and only mine)but not a lot of in between. Personally my gay friends fall all over the spectrum, the same as my straight friends.

    I will say I look at the "F" word in question a lot like the "N" word. I think all parties gay and straight need to squelch it from their vocabulary.

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  8. It's the default insult hurled at a male subject by anyone of considerable ignorance, Jason.

    Yep, you are right. Thanks for making sense.

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  9. Yep, default insult for sure. Just like in high school.

    The bigger issue, is the rampant criminal activity,
    whether it be crazed prostitutes, gangs, or the general
    lowlifes, as seen in the 'candid camera on Clifton show' in prior posts.

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  10. I've always found it ironic that people would be insulted by the "N" word will sling the "F" word with reckless abandon.

    And the WCE is about as hetero as they come, and I've been called the "F" word by some of the crazies in our neighborhood.

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  11. Thanks for showing both class and intolerance for those who are unwilling to demonstrate the same. You are a valued neighbor!

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  12. Uptown Veggie,

    I assume you meant class and TOLERANCE?

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  13. I have seen a LOT more prostitution in Uptown lately. Obviously they're getting the business here. People -- CALL 911. Let's stop this before every John and Pimp make neighbors with the crackheads and dealers.

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  14. Well said, Meg. I remember when the problem used to be MUCH worse, but thought they had this problem taken care of. To see bold soliciting making a comeback is a depressing sign. Either these are desperate times that are forcing people to go for desperate measures, or they know the cops and/or the community doesn't care. Time for people to prove them wrong, I guess.

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  15. FYI, "Sarge" is another of billyjoe's aliases.

    See how he got you all riled up by sneaking that slur into his otherwise innocuous post?

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  16. And don't forget how having hookers on your street affects EVERY female. Johns start soliciting any female they see walking down the street once an area gets a reputation, of ANY age. Even if you think prostitution should be legalized and is a victimless crime, report it for the sake of your wife/girlfriend/daughter so they don't have to deal with that crap.

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  17. I can remember back in the 80's when a TV news crew did an "expose" on teenage prostitution in Uptown, especially around the youth-centric entertainment spots at Broadway/Lawrence. Apparently this has been cleaned up and the "grown ups" are now in charge?

    BTW - just a thought - don't see many calls for legalization here, the way some posters advocate legalization of drugs.

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  18. Has anyone else noticed an increase in solicitors and Johns lately ? I was walking walking my dogs threw the alley between Malden/Magnolia just south of Wilson when I observed a trix and John starting to make full use of a thrown out Lazy boy. One of my dogs was off leash which I think scared them away in a hurry, otherwise I have doubts they would of stoped. My best guess is that most of these "ladies" and Johns are from the shelter on Clifton. I maybe wrong here but it is obvious that their is a larger than normal influx of homeless hanging out and drinking/hitting the pipe up and down Malden st. in the ealry-late afternoon also in both east and west alleys. Does anyone know what gives? Did the shelter change hours or something?

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  19. uptownpits - i've definitely noticed it, but mostly on leland/broadway or leland/sheridan. there's one african american woman - skinny - white shoes - always tight jeans that i see super early in the morning often. the only reason i really knew she was a prostitute was because i saw her and a male exiting an alley together putting themselves back together. i called 911 about a week or so about her and haven't seen her since.

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  20. Weekend, I see her quite a bit and have let her know I'm watching her actions. I've also called 911 when I see her "flagging" cars. She comes from west of Broadway around 5:20 am and moves east toward Sheridan. With me watching her so closely she doesn't hang around Broadway/Leland/Racine so often now.

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  21. Great, Chuck! Glad to know I'm not the only one spotting her in the 'hood. Thanks also for "shoo"-ing her from your intersections. Hopefully she stays away from mine now too... and eventually goes elsewhere (or ideally stops) altogether!

    But seriously people -- 5:20 in the morning?! I've usually seen her around 630am... Which reminds me of the man I saw drinking a 40 and being belligerent on my 730am commute to work this morning. Public intoxication and prostitution knows never sleeps?

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  22. With all these posts about hookers I wish I were in town. So many leads........

    If you really want to annoy a hooker this is one way to do it. When she asks if you want a "date" tell her "you can't afford me". I've used that a number of times and almost got in a few fistfights because of it. One pissed off working girl told me to do something that could be euphemistically referred to as "tossing her salad" and I replied "you certainly can't afford that".

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  23. looks like we need Irish Pirate back in town...
    ...at least to make our ladies of the street a little less happy ;)

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