DENVER -- Supporters of a 17-year-old lesbian in Colorado who said three men assaulted her March 26 have accused officers with the Denver Police Department of publicly doubting her story.

"Their primary responsibility is to fully investigate what has happened and not reach judgments before the investigation is complete," said Denise de Percin, executive director of the Colorado Anti-Violence Program, which advocates for gay victims of violence.

April Mora told police that three young white men in a black Honda began calling her "dyke" last Tuesday afternoon when she turned to look at their car. The teenager said she was walking to the store at 2 p.m., in an alley near her home in west Denver, when she encountered the men.

"They said if I wanted to look like a guy, I would get beat up like one," she said.

Mora told police that two of the men got out of the car and pinned her down on the sidewalk, while a third man waited in the car. Using a razor, they then carved the word "dyke" on her left forearm and the acronym "RIP" on her stomach.

Mora was treated for several shallow razor cuts and released from the Denver Health Medical Center, the Denver Post reported.

Detective John White, a spokesperson for the city’s police department, said the assault is being investigated but no arrests have been made.

Police question whether attack really happened

Mora told Denver television stations that investigators asked her whether she made up the assault story, according to a report in the Rocky Mountain News. Roberta Quintana, whose 19-year-old daughter, Dominicque, is Mora’s partner, criticized the police response to the incident.

"One police officer was so rude," Quintana told the Blade. "When they first pulled up, they were asking my daughter if [she and Mora] had been fighting."

Mora has lived with the Quintanas for about a year.

"They asked April how many drugs they were on," said Roberta Quintana, who is also openly gay. "They tore my room up searching for the blade and a bloody shirt. They said they were looking for a razor blade and that the wounds looked self-inflicted."

Police asked Mora to take a lie-detector test, but she refused to do so. Mora told the Denver Post that Quintana told her she should not have to take the test, and police should just believe her.

"They were arrogant," Quintana said. "They just seemed like we were wasting their time."

Mora, who said she attends the Denver Inner City Parish, an education program for adults that is affiliated with West High School in Denver, echoed Quintana.

"The cops are treating this like they don’t care what happened to me," she said.

White, the police detective, told the Blade that Mora’s refusal to take the polygraph test does not prove she made up the assault story.

"I don’t think it in any way tells us about her guilt or innocence," he said.

"[Mora] is a victim in this," White said. "We have no reason to believe she’s not being truthful with us at this point."

The Rocky Mountain News reported that Mora said she has been attacked twice before because she is a lesbian.

"One of the incidents she described, which involved gangs, bears striking similarity to the [March 26] report," the daily newspaper reported. "On May 6, 2001, [Mora] said two men attacked her in an alley. The men shouted 'Crip' and then beat her to the ground and kicked her, according to the report. Mora, who told police then that she was a member of the Bloods gang, also suffered cuts on her arm, according to the report."

The Denver Post reported that Mora initially told officers that four men were in the car and two pinned her down while a third man cut her with a razor. Mora and Quintana said the officers did not put the correct information in the police report.

The Colorado Anti-Violence Program, the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition in Washington, D.C., and the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition issued statements supporting Mora.

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