A Queen’s University professor and her partner have recently received a series of threatening notes delivered to their home.
Karen Dubinsky, a professor and historian on gender and sexuality at Queen’s, and her partner, received two letters allegedly written by a group of Kingston residents determined to “removing the scourge of homosexuality in [the] city.”
It was followed by a second letter, which threatened violence against Dubinsky and her family.
Dubinsky said she lives with her partner of 21 years and their 13-year-old son.
She said the incident has had an impact on her home life.
“It’s been stressful. For a week we were the poster children for homophobia, and it was interesting. We’ve never been on that side of the issue before,” she said.
The letters were typed and dropped into Dubinsky’s mailbox, and later appeared on Reddit.
The Kingston police department is investigating the letters and assured the public via Twitter that they are “doing [their] utmost to solve this investigation” and thanked the public for their support.
“In terms of gay rights, I don’t think Kingston is any better or worse. And in the backlash, in the outpouring, people in Kingston showed that they didn’t want to accept it. They didn’t want to be known as this,” Dubinsky said.
Dubinsky said she has never before had a bad experience as a member of the gay community in Kingston.
“Nope, I’ve never experienced any homophobia. Never anything overt. I’ve been an out, gay teacher at Queen’s for almost 20 years,” she said.
The letter threatens violence, and alludes to ties with the Kingston police department. The police released a statement denying this, and took to Twitter.
The official Kingston police Twitter reads, “While we absolutely believe no one from our organization would be associated, if the investigation determined otherwise the member would be looking at Police Services Act charges & possibly criminal charges. We are taking this seriously.”
They could not be reached directly for comment. The second letter becomes more overtly violent: “Some of our younger members want to have some fun chasing ‘lesbos.’ We have brought them BB guns and today they are doing target practice, so that they can hunt you down.”
Dubinsky said she is taking a more positive approach to the situation, applying herself as a professor first.
“I always bring the answer back to what I am. I am a historian; I teach courses on the history of sexuality. I would think about it not in terms of my own life, but also the research I do, as a scholar. Homophobia has a very long history,” she said. “I would want to know where this person fits into this history. It was scary and they deserve the kind of punishment the law provides, because they scared my kid, and me, but I would want to understand it.”
