On September 26, 1992, Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian Mock were killed by a firebomb attack at their apartment in Salem, Oregon.
As Cohens was a lesbian, and Mock was gay, the attack was seen by the Salem LGBT community as motivated by homophobia which had been encouraged by advocates of Ballot Measure 9.
[4] A teenage witness reported that a large group of skinheads had visited the apartment on September 25, and that a fight had broken out at the time.
[1] According to Seattle Gay News, she was described as "boisterous...with a great sense of humor and a quick temper" and as "can-do kind of dyke".
[11] The group ate fire in New York City in October 1992[12] and in front of the White House in 1993 to draw attention to the murders of Cohens and Mock.
[4] Initially, investigators assumed the firebombing was gang-related, although groups such as the National Gay Lesbian Task Force released statements in which they called the killings a hate crime.
[17] During the trial, defense attorney Kevin Lafky called the incident "a sad, tragic collapse in judgment" influenced by alcohol consumption, while prosecutors framed the attack as intentional and based on racial and homophobic prejudices.
[16] In April 1993, Leon Tucker and Phillip Wilson Jr. were found guilty of murder, as well as assault, arson and racial intimidation.
[18] Cohens and Mock's deaths led to a tradition among the Lesbian Avengers, in which trained volunteers eat fire to show the LGBT community's strength and to pay tribute to those lost to homophobia.