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EUAN KERR: It's just after 9:30 in the evening outside the Gay 90s, one of the biggest and best known gay bars in Minneapolis. A tall, thin, ear-ringed man with a goatee is getting a small group of men and women ready to hit the streets. They aren't in uniform yet, as this is a run-through, but this is the Queer Street Patrol.

ROB YEAGER: Here's the plan for tonight, as I understand it. We'll go up Hennepin, come back around some alleys, and cover as much of the regular route as possible.

EUAN KERR: Rob Yeager is one of the coordinators of the Queer Street Patrol, or QSTP. The patrol was organized to prevent gay-bashing, violence against members of the gay and lesbian community over the last few years.

The patrol will crisscross the streets of downtown between 11:00 PM and 3:30 AM, while keeping in constant contact by radio with a central dispatcher. Yeager says the idea is not to intervene, but to observe and get the police in to help.

ROB YEAGER: We're here to deal with a survivor, give them the assistance that they need-- the immediate assistance they need, I should say, not long-term. Our basic tenets will be to observe and report and intervene if necessary and possible. Everybody cool?

SPEAKER: Sounds good.

ROB YEAGER: OK.

SPEAKER: Where's Hennepin? Oh.

[LAUGHTER]

ROB YEAGER: This is our guy.

EUAN KERR: The patrol moves off down Hennepin, accompanied by Minneapolis Police Officer Tom Sawina. He's along to point out problem areas and to give hints that could keep patrol members safe.

TOM SAWINA: Are there problems with this parking lot here?

SPEAKER: Not per se, really.

SPEAKER: Always answer?

SPEAKER: No, not really.

ROB YEAGER: Really? Because--

SPEAKER: Graffiti once in a while. Graffiti once in a while on a thing, but I haven't--

EUAN KERR: The group doesn't attract a lot of attention as it goes down the street. People are more intrigued by the uniformed cop and a TV camera that is tagging along. This will probably change when the patrol begins to wear the black T-shirts with a large pink triangle and Queer Street Patrol splashed across the chest.

Yeager admits there was a lot of debate about the name and the possibility that it might make them more of a target, but ultimately, patrol members decided they had to take a direct approach.

ROB YEAGER: To say just so blatantly who and what we are is an important statement that we feel we need to make. And the word "queer," for us, is a political statement about how we fit in this society and how we're treated by this culture. And we figured if we're going to be out there loud and proud, we might as well be as loud as we can.

EUAN KERR: Along the route, patrol members point out the sites of past bashings, including a bus stop.

SPEAKER: A group of four men bashed by a group of--

SPEAKER: Six.

SPEAKER: --six, wielding umbrellas.

SPEAKER: They were those cheap umbrellas you get a Walgreens. They have the sock that goes on them. Well, those guys put rocks in them. And these four guys were sitting in one of the bus stops. And they said, before they knew it, there were six people in their faces swinging those things.

SPEAKER: And they were sitting in the bus stop?

SPEAKER: Yeah, it was a hit and run kind of thing.

EUAN KERR: Also accompanying the patrol is Linda Bosma, a community crime specialist with the police department. She has been acting as a liaison between the QSTP and the police. The relationship between the gay and lesbian community and the police has been strained at times, but Bosma says the response this time has been generally positive.

LINDA BOSMA: I'm sure within some quarters, there'll be a little curiosity. Certainly, I'm sure some people will have some skepticism, just as there is about any new initiative, whether it was a Black club 10, 15 years ago, or the first citizen patrol here in the cities a couple of years ago. So whenever you're doing something new, you always have to overcome the folks that just aren't so sure that'll work.

EUAN KERR: Bosma says she's impressed with the way QSTP is organized, describing it as the best-trained patrol in the city. Admittedly, the patrol and the cops are still trying to learn each other's language.

TOM SAWINA: Cafe Royale is frequented by PLUs and--

SPEAKER: People Like Us.

TOM SAWINA: Thank you.

[LAUGHTER]

Thanks for clearing that up.

SPEAKER: Jargon, man.

[CHATTER]

EUAN KERR: The patrol heads off Hennepin and into the back alleys. It's striking how quiet and isolated it can be back here just yards away from the main drag. As they walk, some of the members talk about why they are here. The idea for QSTP actually came from Gary Schiff, who was looking for a way to deal with the murder of a good friend.

GARY SCHIFF: I remember when he died, not having really a place of support in the gay and lesbian community to go to for either a place to deal with my anger over his senseless murder, or just a place where I felt I could put my energy towards trying to prevent violence in the future.

So I looked at a street patrol as something very practical that could be done in the Twin Cities to help prevent violence against queer people. And it may not save somebody from being murdered in the future, but it may save somebody from being bashed on the street.

EUAN KERR: Schiff says the number of gay bashings do seem to be going down, both locally and nationwide. He says, however, the problem is still very real, and he doesn't think the public is aware of what is happening.

GARY SCHIFF: I don't think queer issues get that much attention in the media at all. And I think an issue like antigay violence only becomes the issue of the week if somebody famous is murdered.

EUAN KERR: Just ahead in the group is Dianne Bonebrake. She says a few years ago, she would never have done something like this, but now sees it as an important way for the gay and lesbian community to protect itself and to become more visible in the community.

DIANNE BONEBRAKE: These type of groups really do have a lot of impact, especially when you're concentrating on a specific area where a lot of the violence is taking place.

Not only do you have the physical visibility of us patrolling up and down, which-- it really lets bashers and other perpetrators of violent crime know that we're here and that it's not acceptable, that gays and lesbians aren't alone, and that the populist, even the straight populist out here, is not alone because we're going to stop violent crimes against anyone.

EUAN KERR: It takes an hour for the group to complete its circuit and to arrive back outside the Gay 90s. A stream of people is heading into the bar, and a few stop to talk.

SPEAKER: Wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait. There's a gay patrol?

SPEAKER: Well, we're based in the gay and lesbian--

SPEAKER: Volunteer, of course.

SPEAKER: --community, and we're not strictly gay and lesbian--

SPEAKER: How do I join?

SPEAKER: We're out here for everyone.

SPEAKER: I'm really tough.

EUAN KERR: There is always a flurry of interest when any new project like this gets started. However, it's often the case that interest fizzles as time passes. Rob Yeager admits it's an issue the Queer Street Patrol may run up against, but says if Minneapolis follows the pattern of other cities, QSTP will be around for some time.

ROB YEAGER: There's a core community patrol in Seattle that has 15 to 20 members. And seven of them are straight men who saw what the patrol was doing, liked it, and joined in to help. So I think that's going to happen here. I think we're going to get a lot of people from the communities of color. We're going to get straight people, lots of folks involved.

As long as they're comfortable walking down the street with Queer Street Patrol on their chest, I think people will ultimately look past the word and look past their own prejudices and see the good that we're accomplishing and back that.

EUAN KERR: Rob Yeager of the Queer Street Patrol. I'm Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio.

[CHATTER]

SPEAKER: Right. Well, I need to talk to somebody.