Stephen V. Sprinkle's Blog, page 22

Gay Ohio Teen in Coma After Post-Bullying Suicide Attempt

Austin Rodriguez, 15, overdosed on prescription pills because of incessant bullying due to his sexual orientation.

Wellsville, Ohio – An openly gay 15-year-old is struggling for his life in a coma after high school bullying drove him to attempt suicide.  The Advocate reports that Austin Rodriguez, student at Wellsville High School, collapsed on the kitchen floor in front of his mother after swallowing over 100 pills because he faced concentrated ridicule and harassment for being gay.  According to WFMJ TV, Rodriguez seemed lethargic to his mother last Friday evening, and then fell at her feet to the kitchen floor from taking a massive overdose of his own prescription drug.  She rushed him to a local hospital for treatment, where doctors then helicoptered him to Akron Children's Hospital where he remains in a medically induced coma to protect his life.  Because of the extent of the damage to his lungs from the overdose, Rodriguez is in critical condition, but his doctors are guardedly optimistic that he will recover.

His mother is appealing to the Wellsville High School administration and to other schools in the Ohio Valley to change its policies toward LGBT students like her son.  In an interview for WFMJ, Bonnie Rodriguez said she had no idea her introverted, quiet son was being bullied to the degree he was until school friends came forward "out of the woodwork" to tell her stories of fear and pain after Austin was hospitalized. In the last eight months Austin had come out to her, and she said she shares a loving, "honest" relationship with her son.  "I actually didn't know how bad it was for him in school until he actually did this," Mrs. Rodriguez said. "And until friends came out of the woodwork saying we knew Austin was going through this, we thought he was handling it a lot better. We didn't know what to do."  Mrs. Rodriguez went on to say that Austin was happy and relieved at first because coming out to her had gone so well, but later he fell into a depression she was unable to get to the bottom of.  Now she knows the bullying at school was behind much of her son's desperation, and he was unwilling to talk about it because he didn't want to seem weak.

Schoolmates harassed Austin cruelly, forcing an already introverted boy to feel like an outcast.  His mother told reporters the extent of the bullying her son had to endure: "It was electronic, it was face to face bullying, they were hiding his gym clothes because they didn't want him changing in the locker room with them," she said. "They didn't want him to eat by them, or in the school lunchroom."  Mrs. Rodriguez hopes that no other family has to undergo what hers has to face, and her calls for action are beginning to be heard.  WTRF TV reports that the Wellsville High administration is investigating the situation that led Austin to attempt suicide.  There is no Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) at Wellsville High, but administrators now say they are open to the establishment of one. Students say that Austin was bullied constantly because is came out as gay.  They also say that the school is not doing enough to address the problem of anti-gay bullying.  Principal Linda Rolley is fielding their complaints as the investigation proceeds.  Meanwhile, the next few days are crucial for Austin's physical recovery.  The culture of harassment and violence that led to this hateful outcome, however, remains intact throughout schools in the Akron area.

Tagged: Anti-LGBT hate crime, Bullying in schools, gay teens, GLBTQ, harassment, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Latino / Latina Americans, LGBTQ, LGBTQ teen suicide, Ohio

Hollywood Hate Crime Suggests City Unsafe for Gays

All is not well for gays in the City of the Stars.

Hollywood, California – Police are investigating a severe beating at one of the busiest corners in Hollywood this Sunday. According to CBS 2 News, three men approached a lone, 39-year-old Hispanic man at the corner of North Caheunga Boulevard and Yucca Street, asking him if he was gay.  When he said "yes," the men attacked him so brutally that he lost consciousness.  They only stopped their assault when other people arrived on the scene, and moved in to help the victim.  The victim took a cab to the hospital where he was treated and released.  Police have only a vague description of the attackers. There has been no evidence to suggest there was a racial/ethnic dimension to the assault.  This appears to be a gay bashing, plain and simple, and police in the Hollywood Division of the LAPD are investigating it as such.

The attack took place around 1:30 am in the heart of Hollywood, a location where people have felt safe for years.  For a man to be assaulted so blatantly raises security concerns for residents.  Area resident Daniela Castro told CBS 2 reporters that she was shocked and disgusted that such a hate crime took place in her neighborhood.  "I hate that people have to think that way," she said. "People need to be more open-minded." Noting that she walks through the same intersection to and from acting classes, Castro said, "I really hope they get caught. If they keep doing that to people, it's just not right."

The gay community in the Hollywood area is on high alert already.  In October, a series of gay bashings took place in West Hollywood, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Authorities downplayed the anti-gay attacks at that time, reassuring the community that there was no evidence that the fall attacks were related to each other, and that there was apparently no upsurge in anti-gay violence in the city.  Now, with this disturbing gay bashing taking place in the heart of the city, gay activists are calling for immediate investigation and action to protect the large LGBTQ community.

Tagged: Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, California, gay bashing, gay men, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Hollywood, Latino / Latina Americans, LGBTQ, Unsolved anti-LGBT crimes

Dharun Ravi, Clementi's Spying Roommate Found Guilty of Anti-Gay Intimidation

Dharun Ravi (l), found guilty of cyber-spying and bias intimidation against his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi (r).

New Brunswick, New Jersey – Dharun Ravi was found guilty today on the vast majority of counts for spying on his Rutgers roommate's gay intimacies in 2010.  ABC News reports that Ravi remained emotionless as the jury brought back its verdict in one of the most closely watched anti-bullying trials in United States history.  He was found guilty of  invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering, and hindering arrest due to his actions setting up a spy-cam to record a gay tryst between his freshman roommate, Tyler Clementi, and a same-sex lover on September 19, 2010.  Ravi was also found guilty of prompting others to spy on Clementi during a second tryst on September 21, 2010, and of intimidating his roommate for being gay.  He was found not guilty of some subparts of the 15 counts of bias intimidation, attempted invasion of privacy, and attempted bias intimidation, but needed only to be found guilty of one part of each count to be convicted. Ravi, who is 20, could face a sentence of five to ten years for his crimes.  Because he is a citizen of India in the United States on a Green Card, he could also face deportation.

Behind the proceedings, the suicide of Tyler Clementi loomed like a dark cloud.  Clementi was distressed when he found out that he had been videoed in his own room and exposed for being gay. His death by drowning after leaping from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010, and the connections between his suicide and Ravi's use of the spy-cam to invade his privacy and intimidate him for his sexual orientation made international news.  Clementi's death, one of a long list of gay intimidation suicides, burst on the national scene with long-delayed urgency, calling attention to the loss of so many young lives to school and university brutality and intimidation.

Over the course of the 12-day trial, Ravi's defense team argued that he was not homophobic in action or intent, and that his actions were those of an immature person who saw a chance to make fun of someone different.  They also argued that Ravi's use of a spy-cam was to monitor Clementi's male guest, whom Ravi felt was "sketchy," according to reports in USA Today.  The jury did not buy the explanation.  As the verdict was read, Ravi's mother burst into tears, and his father took notes about the particulars of the findings.  Ravi will be sentenced on May 21.

Tyler Clementi's family spoke briefly at a press conference following the verdict.  They praised the work of the court, and affirmed how important this trial was to them, though they did not refer directly to the verdict or the case.  The family will now be able to return to their Ridgewood, New Jersey home in the knowledge that some justice has finally been done for their shy, musically gifted son.

Tagged: Anti-LGBT hate crime, Bullying in schools, cyber voyeurism, Dharun Ravi, gay teens, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, LGBTQ, LGBTQ teen suicide, New Jersey, Rutgers University, Social Justice Advocacy, suicide, Tyler Clementi

Clementi's Spying Roommate Found Guilty of Anti-Gay Intimidation

Dharun Ravi (l), found guilty of cyber-spying and bias intimidation against his gay roommate, Tyler Clementi (r).

New Brunswick, New Jersey – Dharun Ravi was found guilty today on the vast majority of counts for spying on his Rutgers roommate's gay intimacies in 2010.  ABC News reports that Ravi remained emotionless as the jury brought back its verdict in one of the most closely watched anti-bullying trials in United States history.  He was found guilty of  invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering, and hindering arrest due to his actions setting up a spy-cam to record a gay tryst between his freshman roommate, Tyler Clementi, and a same-sex lover on September 19, 2010.  Ravi was also found guilty of prompting others to spy on Clementi during a second tryst on September 21, 2010, and of intimidating his roommate for being gay.  He was found not guilty of some subparts of the 15 counts of bias intimidation, attempted invasion of privacy, and attempted bias intimidation, but needed only to be found guilty of one part of each count to be convicted. Ravi, who is 20, could face a sentence of five to ten years for his crimes.  Because he is a citizen of India in the United States on a Green Card, he could also face deportment.

Behind the proceedings, the suicide of Tyler Clementi loomed like a dark cloud.  Clementi was distressed when he found out that he had been videoed in his own room and exposed for being gay. His death by drowning after leaping from the George Washington Bridge on September 22, 2010, and the connections between his suicide and Ravi's use of the spy-cam to invade his privacy and intimidate him for his sexual orientation made international news.  Clementi's death, one of a long list of gay intimidation suicides, burst on the national scene with long-delayed urgency, calling attention to the loss of so many young lives to school and university brutality and intimidation.

Over the course of the 12-day trial, Ravi's defense team argued that he was not homophobic in action or intent, and that his actions were those of an immature person who saw a chance to make fun of someone different.  They also argued that Ravi's use of a spy-cam was to monitor Clementi's male guest, whom Ravi felt was "sketchy," according to reports in USA Today.  The jury did not buy the explanation.  As the verdict was read, Ravi's mother burst into tears, and his father took notes about the particulars of the findings.  Ravi will be sentenced on May 21.

Tyler Clementi's family spoke briefly at a press conference following the verdict.  They praised the work of the court, and affirmed how important this trial was to them, though they did not refer directly to the verdict or the case.  The family will now be able to return to their Ridgewood, New Jersey home in the knowledge that some justice has finally been done for their shy, musically gifted son.

Tagged: Anti-LGBT hate crime, Bullying in schools, cyber voyeurism, Dharun Ravi, gay teens, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, LGBTQ, LGBTQ teen suicide, New Jersey, Rutgers University, Social Justice Advocacy, suicide, Tyler Clementi

Gay University Student Attacked, Raped, Barely Escapes with His Life

Kieire Gartica, 25, Gay Hate Crime victim, recovering from his wounds.

Corpus Christi, Texas – A gay university student says he was captured, beaten for hours, raped, and would surely have died if he had not escaped his assailants through a window.  Keire Gartica, 25, a Texas A&M Corpus Christi Political Science student, was found naked and bleeding from multiple wounds on Thursday after his harrowing escape.  The police took him to a hospital where he was treated and released.  Gartica says his attackers, two Hispanic men in their 20s or 30s, held him hostage and repeatedly assaulted him, calling him racial and homophobic slurs, after he came by their house on Elizabeth Street to repay a $5 debt he owed them.

KRIS TV News reports that police are treating the investigation as a simple assault until the District Attorney makes a determination on hate crimes charges.  Gartica, in the meanwhile, has left Corpus Christi for his home in another locale to recover from his wounds.  According to his Facebook page, authorities are "dragging their feet," and police have not yet interviewed him about the heinous hate crime which took place almost a week ago.  On Sunday, Gartica posted: "I was the victim of a heinous hate crime that has rendered me a shell of myself. Action ten news in Corpus is covering the story and I conducted an extended interview that airs tonight at ten. There is also footage of me immediately after my escape thursday night on the action ten site… the people responsible for this will be held accountable and brought to justice."

The attack was prolonged and brutal.  Gartica told KZTV 10  reporters that he was forced to clean the house naked by his assailants, who beat him with a belt buckle, glass cups, a frying pan, a pistol, and their fists while he complied in fear of his life.  At one point, an attacker threw bleach in his eyes, blinding him. The men debased him racially, and violated him sexually with a variety of items.  Gartica is certain he would not be alive today if he had not taken a chance and jumped out of a window.

Now Gartica, shaken by his ordeal, has lost his sense of security. He says he will not feel safe again until his attackers are apprehended and are behind bars.  As he said in a telephone interview for Six News, "I don't feel right at all. It's hard to fathom that this actually happened. It doesn't seem like this actually happened."  Though Gartica is appreciative of the outpouring of support for him by friends and classmates all over the state of Texas, he posted on his Facebook page,"It has been almost a week. I just feel powerless."

Tagged: African Americans, Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, gay bashing, gay men, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Latino / Latina Americans, LGBTQ, Sexaul assault and rape, Slurs and epithets, Texas, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Unsolved LGBT hate crimes

Cameron: "Homosexuality is unnatural" — This is why we must continue to fight back!

CNN – Kirk Cameron, '80s teen idol, tells America that same-sex love is "unnatural" and "ultimately destructive to the foundations of civilization."  Cameron, one time star of TV sitcom, "Growing Pains," told CNN's Piers Morgan on Friday that God is opposed to homosexuality and to same-sex marriage.  The theological justification of oppression against LGBTQ people is at the root of much of the anti-gay discrimination and violence in our society, and Cameron uses his celebrity to promote religious bigotry.  In response to Morgan's question about marriage equality, Cameron said, "Marriage was defined by God a long time ago. Marriage is almost as old as dirt, and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve — one man, one woman for life till death do you part. So I would never attempt to try to redefine marriage. And I don't think anyone else should either. So do I support the idea of gay marriage? No, I don't."

Cameron, a once-upon-a-time atheist, underwent a Christian conversion, and has become a leading voice in condemning gay and lesbian equality.  Now the father of six children, the child star said to Piers Morgan that if one of his children told him he was gay, he would have a long, serious talk with his boy.  "I wouldn't say 'That's great, son, as long as you're happy,'" Cameron said. "There are all sorts of issues we need to wrestle through in our life… Just because you feel one way doesn't mean we should act on everything we feel."

Since becoming an Evangelical Christian activist, Cameron has often attacked gay and lesbian equality on religious grounds.  GLAAD Senior Director of Programs, Herndon Graddick, was swift to call Cameron out for his bigoted remarks.  Graddick said to TMZ that Cameron is "out of step with a vast majority of Americans, particularly people of faith who believe that their gay and lesbian brothers and sisters should be loved and accepted based on their character and not condemned because of their sexual orientation." GLAAD has mounted a campaign to monitor Cameron's public statements and appearances, and vows to inform outlets of his anti-gay extremist views.

LGBTQ people of faith have a special mission to blunt the force of faith-based bigotry, like the sort espoused by Kirk Cameron. Openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson points out, "Religion in general still presents the greatest obstacles we face in full equality. Ninety-five percent of the oppression that we know in our lives comes from the religious community."  Robinson went on to say that progressive clergy form an important link between gay people and the majority of religious people who are still making up their minds about human rights.

The Unfinished Lives Project knows that religious intolerance toward LGBTQ people contributes to the atmosphere of violence that makes being queer in America a dangerous proposition.  Bigotry like Kirk Cameron's can make homophobic people feel that their loathing of gay people should be acted upon in violent ways.  More importantly, such vocal extremism can make otherwise good religious people support oppression and look the other way when harm strikes their neighbors.  Cameron may have a First Amendment right to free speech, but he and other celebrity homophobes must never be left unchallenged, if anti-gay violence is to be defeated in our society.

 

Tagged: Bishop Gene Robinson, CNN, GLAAD, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, Homosexuality and the Bible, Kirk Cameron, LGBTQ, Marriage Equality, Media Issues, Piers Morgan Tonight, religious hate speech, religious intolerance, Social Justice Advocacy

Gay Tulsa Teen Savagely Attacked at House Party

Cody Rogers, 18, after his hate crime beating this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Tulsa, Oklahoma – A gay 18-year-old gay man, stepping in to keep a girl from being beaten by homophobes this weekend, was pinned down and beaten unconscious at a South Tulsa house party.  Cody Rogers, who had come out only 18 months ago, was told that the hands of the Tulsa Police Department "are tied" when it comes to hate crimes against gay people, since Oklahoma does not protect LGBTQ people from violence in its law code. Rogers' attackers have been charged with simple assault, according to Fox News 23.  His friend, Jordan Garrett, said, "I believe 100 per cent this was a hate crime."  Garrett went on to say, "They were just so angry just over someone's sexual orientation that they would do something like this. (Cody) looked as if a truck hit him."  The Fox news story on the bashing drew so many violent and abusive remarks online, the website has blocked all comments.

His assailants objected to gays being invited to the party by the host, and flew into a violent rage at one of the gay men's female friends, yelling "Where are the f**king faggots?"  Continuing to yell epithets against gay people, one of the angry men began to assault Rogers' 21-year-old girl friend, causing Rogers to intervene.  Rogers says that when he pulled the man off of the young woman, the man's friends joined him in knocking Rogers down, stomping and beating him until he became unconscious.

As the Dallas Voice reports, Oklahoma is one of 19 states that refuse so far to include sexual orientation as a protected class.  In states where hate crimes legislation is on the books, what happened to Rogers would probably be charged and prosecuted as a felony.  The Unfinished Lives Project first got word of this hate crime through Facebook posts.  Rogers and his friends have now put up pictures of his ravaged face and chest on a Facebook page, Help Stop the Stomping, designed to spark change in Tulsa. Rogers courageously told Fox 23, "I am not ashamed as to what happened. I am proud to stand here and show the bruises."  As his story goes viral around the web, Cody is mending physically and emotionally at home.

Toby Jenkins of Oklahomans for Equality says that attacks of this severity are unusual in Tulsa, but the law must be changed to protect LGBTQ people so that something like this will never occur again. The state, he said, is "behind the times." 

Tagged: Anglo Americans, Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, gay bashing, gay men, gay teens, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, hate crimes legislation, Heterosexism and homophobia, LGBTQ, Oklahoma, Oklahomans for Equality, Slurs and epithets, Social Justice Advocacy

East Texas Gay Basher Sentenced to 8 Years

James Mitchell Laster III, sentenced to eight years for gay bashing.

Lamar County, Texas – The first of three accused gay bashers has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a Paris, Texas court on Thursday, February 23, following a plea bargain agreement.  As reported in the Dallas Voice, James Mitchell Laster, 33, pled guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in the October 30, 2011 attack on Burke Burnett, a gay man who was attending a pre-Halloween party with friends at the time of the hate crime assault.  Burnett, 26, was beaten, bruised, and burned when Laster and two other men yelling anti-gay slurs bodily threw him into a burning garbage barrel because he was gay.  The story made national news because of the graphic nature of Burnett's injuries.  Gary Young, Lamar County District Attorney, released at statement to the Paris News, saying that Laster also pled guilty to the hate crime enhancement charge lodged against him for his role in the brutal attack.  Laster will have to serve at least four years of his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.

25-year-old Micky Joe Smith of Brookston, and 33-year-old Daniel Shawn Martin of Paris are still in jail pending trial for their part in the savage gay bashing of Burnett, who received 3o stitches to close his wounds, and suffered second-degree burns over a good portion of his body from being thrown in the burning trash barrel.  Burnett, who now lives in Houston, was unavailable for comment on the sentence at the time of this report.

Significantly, this case is one of the few recent instances when the Texas hate crimes law has been invoked in sentencing. The Austin American-Statesman reported in January 2012 that the Texas statute has had "little effect" in prosecuting bias-motivated crimes in the Lone Star State.  Since the law was passed in 2001, there have been no fewer than 2000 cases in the state which were bias-motivated, yet the hate crimes statute was invoked in only ten of these prosecutions.  The reluctance of Texas prosecutors to use the hate crimes statute stands in sharp contrast to California, where prosecutors filed hate crimes charges in 230 cases in 2010 alone, and New York, where around a dozen hate crimes are prosecuted a year.  The use of the Texas hate crime law in the Laster sentencing may set a precedent for its use by prosecutors in the two remaining trials stemming from the Burnett gay bashing.

Tagged: Anglo Americans, Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, gay bashing, gay men, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, hate crimes legislation, Heterosexism and homophobia, immolation, LGBTQ, Slurs and epithets, Texas

Gay Hate Bashings by Young Attackers Alarm Citizens of Massachusetts

Police sketch of assailants in gay bashing on the campus of Bridgewater State University.

Bridgewater and Boston, Massachusetts – Two recent attacks–one against a gay man on a Boston Transit train, and the other against a university journalist for writing a gay-supportive column in the Bridgewater State University Comment–suggest that young females are now attacking gay and gay-friendly allies with greater frequency and boldness than in the recent past.  The Patriot Ledger reported that a student journalist was attacked who wrote a supportive article on same-sex marriage after the California federal court ruling on Prop 8.  Destinie Mogg-Barkalow, who wrote the article entitled "Prop 8 Generates More Hate" told campus police that she was confronted by a young man with close-cropped hair and a red-haired young woman in a campus parking lot Thursday evening, February 16 who asked her if she wrote the pro-gay piece.  When Mogg-Barkalow said "yes," the woman struck her in the face, bruising her badly.  She stumbled back to the offices of the Comment where staffers called for help. Mogg-Barkalow, who is a lesbian, has described her assailants, and the investigation is ongoing.  The university police, president, and campus community have rallied in Mogg-Barkalow's support.  Bridgewater is south of the Boston metro area.

Huffington Post reports this week that Boston Transit Police are investigating an assault on a gay man by at least three teenage women who shouted slurs at him for his race and sexual orientation.  The victim, who remains unnamed, had his face badly cut, and his nose bloodied.  His backpack was stolen along with its contents: an iPod and a digital camera. A passenger on the T who witnessed the attack, Priscilla Ballou, told WHDH Channel 7 News, "[The victim] was on the receiving end of two kinds of violence: one, the physical violence against his body, and the other, the hate violence against his spirit."  Metro Boston Transit Authority spokesman, Deputy Chief Joseph O'Connor, said, "Some statements were made relative to his sexual orientation and we have conferred with the district attorney and the attorney general who have advised us to pursue that avenue."  An 18-year-old suspect from Dorchester has been questioned so far.  The attackers, when apprehended, will be charged with assault and battery, and unarmed robbery, as well as a hate crime.

Bay State citizens, especially LGBTQ people, are deeply concerned about what this means for the safety and security of queer folk in a supposed liberal bastion of the nation.  Conventional wisdom holds that young people are more tolerant of LGBTQ people, and that females are seldom involved in gay bashings.  In both instances, younger women are alleged to have carried out physical attacks against gays and lesbians.  Though the majority of violent attacks on gay, lesbian, and transgender people are carried out by young Caucasian men, the disturbing evidence of female anti-gay violence seems to be mounting.  As hate crimes like this begin to pile up around New England and the nation, the conventional wisdom will have to be reconsidered.

Tagged: Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, Bridgewater State University, gay bashing, gay men, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, LGBTQ, Marriage Equality, Massachusetts, Prop 8, Slurs and epithets, Unsolved LGBT hate crimes

Atlanta Gay Bashing Victim Indicts Homophobic "Monsters" for Brutal Attack

Homophobes attack gay 20-year-old Atlantan, Brandon White, Saturday, February 4 (Surveillance video capture).

Atlanta, Georgia – Brandon White was going to stay silent about the brutal attack of three, epithet-screaming attackers who assaulted him in broad daylight–until his assailants posted a video online bragging about what they did to him.  Three members of a gang named "1029 Jack City" took their homophobic rage out on Brandon White, 20, outside a southwest Atlanta convenience store on February 4.  Yelling "No Faggots in Jack City!" the trio threw a tire carcass at White, knocked him to the sidewalk, and repeatedly slapped and kicked him–all in the the presence of several bystanders who can be heard laughing and encouraging the assault in the video's soundtrack.  The attack was a set-up so that the assault could be captured on video to allow the homophobes to revel in their barbarity.  But though tens of thousands have viewed the short clip on YouTube (which may be accessed here), the incident sparked outrage around the world at the unprovoked hatefulness of the assault.

White felt compelled to overcome his embarrassment and humiliation when so many began speaking out against the crime done him.  At a press conference called this Wednesday by leaders of the Pittsburgh area of Atlanta where the attack took place, White called for justice for himself and for all victims of anti-gay hate crimes.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that White called his attackers "monsters," and said, ""If a straight person walks into a store and I have a problem, I should be able to do the same thing. I shouldn't have to worry about if I should have to look over my shoulder, or if this person is going to attack me, or if that person is going to attack me, for just being a gay male."  Encouraged by newfound support, White went on to urge victims of hate crimes to come forward the report them.  "Don't wait until it's too late to report it. Don't hide it."  White acknowledged that the beating made him fear for his life, and still does.  "The scars run deeper than anyone will know," he said. "The physical pain, I can get over that. My thing is: Who's to say they won't come after me again? Who's to say they won't kill me?"

Three men were identified as the assailants, and one of them, Christopher Cain, was arrested on February 11 in DeKalb County and charged with aggravated assault and robbery. Cain is being held in the Fulton County Jail pending his arraignment. A $15,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the other two attackers.  The FBI is co-operating in the investigation under the provisions of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, since Georgia does not have a state statute making anti-gay hate crimes punishable.  Activists and lawmakers see this widely-known outrage as an opportunity to introduce hate crimes protections in the state.

Tagged: African Americans, Anti-LGBT hate crime, Beatings and battery, FBI, gay bashing, gay men, Georgia, GLBTQ, Hate Crimes, Heterosexism and homophobia, LGBTQ, Matthew Shepard Act, Slurs and epithets, Social Justice Advocacy