Volunteers form "S.I.N." Patrol for Utah gay bars

[Dan82]

http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-si...,7453881.story

They call themselves "Safety In Numbers", or "The S.I.N. Patrol." The volunteer group's primary function is to provide protection on the streets and sidewalks outside of Salt Lake City's gay nightclubs.

Beatings of gay men in Utah have made headlines in recent months. Most notably Dane Hall, who was assaulted outside of Club Sound in the early morning hours of August 26th. No suspects have been named or arrested in the incident.

In weeks since, fear has persisted within Utah's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered communities.

"There's been a lot of people complaining there's not enough police coverage or security in the clubs," said Joshua Barnes who started S.I.N. "The police do a good job, but they can't be everywhere. We thought rather than just complain, we'd just do something. And the simplest thing we could do is just be here. Be an extra set of eyes, an extra body."

The organization has over 140 members who connect through Facebook, go out in small groups and keep a blog of their activities. Most are gay men in their 20's like Chris Deuel...




http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-si...,7453881.story

[PerfectInsanity]

Wow! When I first saw the headline for this post I thought the "S.I.N. Patrol" was another damn anti-gay, religious thing. That's great that they're finally doing something about homophobic violence there, in Utah of all places!

[NickT]

Could've picked a better name though ._.

[ArcusPravus]

Originally Posted by NickT

Could've picked a better name though ._.

Well, beating the shit out of people is a sin, though the irony will be lost on the ones that most need to see it.

[Sheyceli]

As PerfectInsanity said, I also thought this was another anti-gay group when I read the title. But this is kind of cool, and I am surprised that it is in Utah.

[solarcat]

Originally Posted by PerfectInsanity

Wow! When I first saw the headline for this post I thought the "S.I.N. Patrol" was another damn anti-gay, religious thing.

Considering the name, that's a fairly logical conclusion (and the one I reached). My fear is that if you get groups of mostly gay men walking around, recording their movements on blogs, they might just become a bigger target for people with guns.