City Councillor Katherine Triantafillou took advantage of Monday night's City Council meeting to draw attention to increased homophobia in the wake of recent acts of violence in the city, in an effort to combat unfounded prejudice.

In a statement read at the meeting, Triantafillou joined others in grieving the death of Harrington School student Jeffrey Curley, but advised Cambridge residents not to overlook the homophobic violence she said media labeling of Curley's accused murderers as "gay lovers" has triggered.

"Cambridge is known throughout the nation, if not the world, as one of the safest places for a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered person to live and work without fear," the statement said.

"Unfortunately, that sense of safety was potentially shattered by the early and sensationalist news reporting that attempted to identify the killers of Jeffrey Curley as gay lovers,' despite the fact that the facts were and still are unknown," the statement said. "In fact, both men have been reported to have girlfriends, and one has a history of domestic heterosexual violence."

The statement was supported by councillors Kenneth E. Reeves '72 and Michael A. Sullivan as well as school committee member E. Denise Simmons; the city's lesbian/gay parent liaison, Emmie Howe; and the Cambridge Lavender Alliance, a local bisexual, gay and lesbian advocacy group.

During her statement, Triantafillou condemned Boston press coverage of Curley's alleged murderers. Lead stories in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald on Oct. 4 labeled suspects Salvatore Sicari, 21, of Cambridge and Charles Jaynes, 22, of Brockton as "alleged lovers" and detailed their possession of pornography that depicted men and boys.

Triantafillou insisted that these stories misrepresented the suspects, portraying not only the suspects' sexual orientations, but also their behavior, falsely.

"The implication was just like when people use race to describe an [alleged criminal]--it's sensationalizing it," said Triantafillou, adding that such exaggeration is of concern "particularly for gay people because that's the stereotype--gay people are bad and they stalk children."

Boston Herald Managing Editor Andrew P. Gully defended the newspaper's choice to describe the men as lovers, however, citing the pornography as factual evidence of their involvement.

"You are what you are, if you're an Eagle Scout you're an Eagle Scout, if you're a Harvard grad you're a Harvard grad; we're not trying to create any false perceptions of people," Gully said in an interview.

"The facts are the facts... I don't believe that this will lead to more hate crimes," he said.

Boston Globe reporter Judy Rakowski, who wrote an Oct. 4 piece concerning Jaynes and Sicari, said her description of the two as lovers was based on factual court statements. Boston Globe City Editor Sean Murphy was unavailable for comment.

Although Cambridge sponsored a forum at the Harrington School on Oct. 7 to disseminate information and decrease homophobic sentiments in the wake of Curley's death, Triantafillou said, the atmosphere at the forum proved counter-productive.

Although a representative from Cambridge Hospital presented statistics at the forum stating that most crimes against children are committed by heterosexuals, the councillor added: "That message was totally drowned out...because the majority of people who did speak out were still in a very angry state. It was not the kind of forum where education and drawing distinctions [could] happen."

Triantafillou emphasized that Cambridge residents should be wary of stereotyping bisexual, gay and lesbian neighbors unwittingly.