National Geographic

A little common sense out of the Michigan Court of Appeals (PDF):

This case arises from the beating of Ryan Young. In the early morning hours of June 11, 2009, Young was celebrating his birthday with friends at a local bar. Defendant was also at the bar. Young did not know defendant, but defendant joined Young and his friends at their table and defendant and Young talked and became acquainted. At about 3:30 a.m., Young and defendant were dropped off at Young's apartment. Young testified that he went into his bedroom to change and asked defendant: "did you want to do anything or did you just want to go to bed," to which defendant responded: "yeah, I'm going to do something you fucking faggot."

Young testified that defendant choked him "so bad" that he "could not get away from him" and Young thought he was going to die because defendant "wouldn't get off me and just stop punching me." Young believed that he was fighting for his life. Young remembered defendant cutting off his oxygen until he passed out and that, when he came to, defendant was "just still bashing my face in" until he went unconscious again. Young believed defendant hit him "a good 30 times." According to Young, he never tried to touch defendant and neither of them ever fell asleep-except when Young went unconscious from the assault. Young testified that there was no discussion about flipping the television on or anything and that he believed this was because defendant had the assault already planned.

Read the full court ruling at the above link.

(Via - Pam Spaulding)

Portland, Oregon police are investigating a possible hate crime after two gay men were beaten after being seen walking hand-in-hand. One of the victims reports: "I left [the ER] with 9 stitches in my lips, two black eyes, a dislodged jaw, some loose teeth, severe swelling where they hit me on my cheek, and scrapes and bruises on my head."

Detectives say Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear were walking hand-in-hand Sunday evening in Waterfront Park and then headed over the Hawthorne Bridge. As the pair walked, police say, they noticed several men behind them who were talking, laughing and pointing, but they weren’t sure if it was directed at them. Police say the attack happened as Forkner and Rosevear walked from the bridge to the trail toward the East Bank Esplanade. The pair told officers the men pushed and punched Forkner before he managed to break away and call 911. Police say the attackers hit Rosevear in the head, face, back and ribs before running off. ”It’s too bad that people are still walking around a city like Portland feeling, well, actually unsafe,” says Paul Fukui, the operations manager of the Q-Center, which advocates for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.

According to the above-linked news story, several witnesses observed the attack but did nothing to help. The three assailants are described as white men in their 20s.

(Tipped by JMG reader Megan)

Hate crimes charges have been filed against the two Maryland teens arrested last month for the brutal attack on a transgender woman at a Baltimore McDonald's.

The indictment returned Monday by a Baltimore County grand jury charges Teonna Brown with assault and a hate crime in the attack on Chrissy Lee Polis last month. She is also charged with assaulting a customer and a McDonald's employee who tried to intervene. A 14-year-old girl is facing the same charges in juvenile court. A videotape of the April 18 beating posted online shows a woman being attacked repeatedly while an employee and customer try to stop them. The woman then appears to have a seizure.

The day after the attack, McDonald's fired the employee who filmed the incident with his cell phone rather than attempting to intervene.

On Saturday a man standing outside of popular El Paso gay nightclub Old Plantation was beaten with a baseball bay by a group of six men. The victim, who is not gay, remains in critical condition. Although police have so far refused to characterize the incident as a hate crime, the victim's family says the attackers used anti-gay slurs during the assault. El Paso's KTSM reports:

We spoke with the victim's sister, Deanne Martinez, this morning at UMC where her brother is still listed in critical condition. Martinez was there Saturday and witnessed the attack. "He was on the floor laying there knocked out and they still kept bashing his head with a bat. That to me is so cowardly. " Martinez says she and another family member tried to stop the attack but the men turned on them, she said "I was trying to pull out my brother and she was pushing off the guys. They ended up bashing her Jeep Liberty." So far police say they have no evidence to call the attack a hate crime. Martinez calls that ridiculous. She says her brother isn't gay but he was alone outside of a gay club and the men who attacked him made it clear why they picked him. Martinez said, "they were yelling gay slurs and yelling their gang name or where they're from."

The victim's sister added that she's heard of the same group of men harassing other nightclub patrons in the area. Police have not named any suspects.

Over the weekend, eight horses were burned alive in their rural Ohio barn in an arson attack on a property owned by a gay man. The words "fags are freaks" were found spray-painted on the barn. Today a $5000 reward has been offered for the name of the perpetrator.

Brent Whitehouse hopes a reward of up to $5,000 offered by the Blue Ribbon Arson Committee will help find the person responsible for setting a fire that killed his horses and destroyed his barn Sunday night. The State Fire Marshal's Office has ruled the fire was arson. Derogatory statements were painted on the barn walls and doors just before the fire, said Shane Cartmill, spokesman for the fire marshal's office. Whitehouse said because of those statements, the fire marshal's office is looking at the possibility of a hate crime. The reward, sponsored by the Ohio FAIR Plan Underwriting Association, works with law enforcement, firefighters and insurance industry personnel in an effort to combat arson. The fire marshal's office is asking anyone with information regarding the fire to contact them.

Eight horses were burned alive in their barn this weekend in an arson attack on a property owned by a gay man. The words "Fags are freaks" were found spray-painted on the side of the barn.

Seven adult horses and one foal died as a result of an arson fire at 874 West Richards Road in McConnelsville just after 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Owner Brent Whitehouse said he woke to discover the barn engulfed in flames and immediately called 911, but it was too late. "I couldn't get the door open I could still hear the horses kicking and I tried as hard as I could to get them out and I just couldn't get them out in time," he said. Those who know Brent believe this was a hate crime, explicit words relating to his sexuality were spray painted in large white letters on the side of the barn before the fire was started. "They obviously don't know him very well, because he's a sweet-hearted person and how he lives his lifestyle is nobody's business but his own," said friend Bobbie Nelson.

Unbelievable.

Last night hundreds of protesters crowded the street outside a Baltimore McDonald's in a rally against anti-transgender violence. The event was spawned by last week's brutal attack against Chrissy Lee Polis, a local transwoman who was beaten by two female McDonald's patrons for daring to use the ladies room. Kevin Naff reports at Washington Blade:

“The turnout tonight is wonderful, I’m so happy,” said Renee Carr, Polis’s mother, who attended the rally with family and neighbors, but without her daughter. “I didn’t think that McDonald’s was a dangerous place, all she wanted to do was eat and use the bathroom.” In an interview with the Blade after the rally, Carr said she has always known her daughter was transgender and that she has supported her “100 percent.” “I even carried her pocketbook on the way to the bus stop as a kid,” Carr said, adding that Polis is doing better but was unable to attend. Others at the rally said Polis was afraid to leave her house. “I want to thank everyone personally who came tonight,” said Kathleen Hand, Polis’s grandmother, who also attended the rally, which was held in the McDonald’s parking lot in Rosedale, Md., where the beating took place. “Chrissy is doing great.”

Via Metro Weekly:

A candlelight vigil is scheduled to take place at the McDonald's at 6315 Kenwood Ave. in Rosedale, Baltimore, at 7 p.m. on Monday night where on April 18 a transgender woman was physically attacked, before appearing to have a seizure, in an incident recorded on a portable phone by a McDonald's employee.

The victim says she plans to sue McDonald's. Hate crime charges have not yet been filed against her attackers.

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, speaks out about the attack on her at a Baltimore McDonald's.

McDonald's has fired the staffer who laughed and offered no assistance as he filmed two patrons viciously beating a transgender woman at a Baltimore franchise location. Action is pending against other restaurant staffers.

"My first and foremost concern is with the victim," franchise owner Mitchell McPherson said in a statement, adding that action might be taken against other restaurant workers as well. "I'm as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible." The video of a beating the Rosedale restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident. The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men are seen standing idly by. Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim's head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man's voice tells the women to run because police are coming.

The two attackers, ages 14 and 18, have been arrested. The younger may be charged as a juvenile. Police have not yet revealed whether hate crimes charges will be applied.

Baltimore police have made two arrests in the brutal attack on a transgender woman at a McDonald's, where staffers filmed the assault with their cell phones, then urged the assailants to flee before police arrived. The only person that appears to come to the victim's aid is an elderly female customer, although the restaurant's manager did attempt to pull the attackers away at one point. McDonald's has released the below statement.

"We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling. McDonald’s strives to be a safe, welcoming environment for everyone who visits. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter."

The Smoking Gun has more, including a tweet from a witness claiming that the attack began because the victim was in the ladies room.


UPDATE: Equality Maryland reacts via press release.

"A member of our community was recently the victim of senseless violence. Equality Maryland is saddened that in this day and age, bigotry and discrimination against transgender individuals continue, especially in our own backyard. No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation. We encourage the State's Attorney General to investigate this as a gate crime based on gender identity. We are encouraged that McDonald's is working with local police to investigate this incident, and hope that the company will follow-up with appropriate disciplinary action against any employees involved. We remain committed to advancing gender identity protections for the entire state of Maryland and will continue to work with local organizations and legislators to advance these protections.:

The roommate of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi (left) was today indicted on hate crime charges stemming from the secret webcasting of Clementi having sex with another man. Clementi leaped from the George Washington Bridge last year after learning about the broadcast.

Dharun Ravi, a former Rutgers University student, was indicted on 15 counts including charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation and tampering with evidence by a grand jury in Middlesex County, N.J. Prosecutors allege that not only did Ravi invade Clementi's privacy, but he tried to cover it up. Both Ravi and his alleged accomplice, former Rutgers student Molly Wei, are accused of filming Clementi during a "sexual encounter" in his dorm room with a man and then streaming it live on the Internet. Evidence against Wei has not yet been presented to a grand jury. Prosecutors allege that on Sept. 19 of last year, Ravi filmed Clementi with the purpose of intimidating him because of his sexual orientation. Ravi "disclosed a photograph, film, videotape, recording or other reproduction of the image of [Clementi]...whose intimate parts were exposed," the indictment reads. When Ravi became worried about being charged with a crime, he sent false tweets in an attempt "to mislead a public servant who was engaged in such proceeding or investigation," the indictment reads.

Clementi's parents have released a statement applauding today's charges.

A Texas man has been charged with two counts of murder after shooting to death the woman dating his daughter and her mother. The Austin Statesman reports:

Jose Alfonso Aviles, 45, has been charged with capital murder and was arrested early this morning in Bexar County by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, said Lt. Gena Curtis. Aviles lives in Austin, but was found in San Antonio, police said. Aviles’ daughter had been dating 24-year-old Norma Hurtado for several months, which was the source of feuding between the Aviles and Hurtado families, Curtis said. Aviles and another Hispanic man, who has not been identified, went to the Hurtado’s home at the 7100 block of Dixie Drive late Monday and knocked on the door, Curtis said. Moments later, Aviles’ daughter, who was in the home, heard gun shots and found that Hurtado and Hurtado’s mother, 57-year-old Maria Hurtado, had been shot, police said. Both women died at the scene, police said

Police declined to say if the murders would be prosecuted as a hate crime.

(Tipped by JMG reader Monty)

UPDATE: The story I reported early this morning has been revealed to be false. I should have listened to my gut before posting it.

A UNC-Chapel Hill freshman who told police he was attacked by a man who burned his hand and called him an anti-gay slur made a false report, the university says. In a message just released to the campus community, Chancellor Holden Thorp says: "The Department of Public Safety has determined that the alleged aggravated assault reported to campus last night did not occur. That report, filed with campus police on April 5, was false. The University will not report it as a hate crime." "It is important to recognize that incidents of harassment do occur," Thorp continued. "When they do, we take them seriously. We strive to foster a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment at Carolina.

ORIGINAL POST

A University of North Carolina freshman was attacked last week by a man he says severely burned his wrist with an unknown object.

As the freshman took a walk on South Campus at about 3 a.m. on April 4, he said he ran into an acquaintance on the Craige Residence Hall footbridge. As the two spoke, a man sitting at a nearby picnic table stood up and grabbed him by the wrist, he said. “Here’s a taste of hell you f—-ing fag,” Matney remembered the man saying. The man branded Matney, who is gay, on the left wrist with an unidentified object, causing third- and fourth-degree burns that damaged three nerves and a tendon, leaving the freshman with no feeling in his thumb and limited mobility in his index finger, he said.

The attacked student says he escaped after punching his assailant. UNC plans to report the attack as a hate crime to the federal government.

NOTE: The URL for this post contains the original untrue claim.

Last night the NYPD made an arrest in last week's gay bashing of Damian Furtch, who was treated for facial injuries after being attacked outside a West Village McDonald's. The suspect has admitted to the assault, but says he shouldn't be charged with a hate crime because he's gay himself.

Cops busted a 21-year-old homeless man Friday night in connection with the vicious beatdown of a gay man in Greenwich Village. Anthony Bray, collared in Bushwick, Brooklyn, confessed to attacking Damian Furtch outside a McDonald's on W. Third St. - but insisted it wasn't a bias attack because he is also gay. Bray told cops he pummeled Furtch, 26, "because he was disrespectful to him," sources said. Bray, who has prior arrests for marijuana possession, graffitti and robbery, was charged with misdemeanor assault.

Cops say they haven't yet ruled out the hate crime charge. Furtch says the altercation began when his attackers mocked him for his bright pink shirt, which is part of his restaurant uniform.

Surveillance video has been released of this weekend's gay bashing of Damian Furtch, 26, on a West Village street. GLAAD has been advising Furtch, who eloquently spoke out against the attack on local news channels last night. Furtch to GLAAD: "The attack against me is part of the larger issue of violence against gay and transgender people in New York City. While I am grateful for the opportunity to share my story, I hope to shed light on the larger issue of violence against my community. This has to stop. Under no circumstance should a person be attacked for their sexual orientation." Openly gay NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, in whose district the attack occurred, spent time yesterday handing out flyers near the crime scene. No suspects have yet been apprehended.

New York City's month-long rash of gay bashings continued this weekend. JMG reader Warren directs us to this account on the blog Watts Up With This.

26 year old Damian Furtch was on his way home from work at a restaurant late Sat night (Sunday morning), when he stopped off at a McDonalds in NYC’s West Village ( a predominantly gay area) to get some food. It was approx. 4:30 am. While inside the restaurant Damian noticed 2 men staring at him – giving him “looks” – we have all been there, we know what this feels like. It was late, Damian was tired, he felt uncomfortable and he didn’t want any trouble so he left. He was across the street, walking away while on the phone to a friend when the 2 men from McDonalds approached him and asked him “if he had a problem” before he knew it he was punched in the face by one man, then instantly felt another punch by the second perp, and then he heard it – “You Fucking Faggot” , the words as hurtful as the punches.

According to the above-linked blog post, the NYPD is investigating the attack as a hate crime. Surveillance video provided by McDonald's may help. Furtch was treated for his injuries and released after his face was stitched up. He has posted numerous photos of his injuries on his Facebook page.

A Pennsylvania man is under arrest after confessing to beating an elderly man to death with a stone, just like the Bible instructs should be done with homosexuals.

A 28-year-old Upper Darby man has been charged with murder after telling police that he stoned a 70-year-old man to death when the man made homosexual advances toward him, authorities say. John Joe Thomas, 28, of Sunshine Road in Upper Darby, spent almost every day with 70-year-old Murray Seidman at Seidman’s Lansdowne home, police say. Days before Seidman’s body was found on Jan. 12, Thomas allegedly beat Seidman to death with a sock full of rocks. Thomas told authorities that he read in the Old Testament that homosexuals should be stoned to death. When Seidman allegedly made homosexual advances toward him over a period of time, Thomas said he received a message in his prayers that he must end Seidman’s life, according to court documents. Police say that Thomas struck Seidman in the head about 10 times with the sock of rocks. Thomas left Seidman dead in his apartment, and then threw his bloody clothing and the bloody sock in a dumpster, according to authorities.

The killer was the sole executor of the victim's will and returned to the scene of the murder several days later claiming to have discovered the body.

An openly gay Brooklyn man required ten hours of surgery and three metal plates in his face after a February 22nd anti-gay attack by a group of six teenagers. Via yesterday's Brooklyn Paper:

Barie Shortell, 29, was on N. Fourth Street on Feb. 22 at around 10:10 pm when he brushed past six teenagers wearing hooded sweatshirts. “Oh s–t, is that a guy or a girl?” one of the teens yelled. Shortell thought to himself that the slur was “juvenile,” but he crossed to Wythe Avenue just to be safe. But the group followed and shoved Shortell against a wall, fracturing his jaw, nose and eye sockets. He has no recollection of the attack. “I feel pretty confident they perceived me as a gay man and attacked me, but I can’t understand why they did what they did,” said Shortell. “I looked horrible. Blood was everywhere.”

At the insistence of the NYC Anti-Violence Project, the police have classified the attack as a hate crime, although no suspects have been apprehended. Today the AVP issued a press release denouncing the recent spate of hate crimes in NYC, which have taken lives in Staten Island and Queens this month.

The AVP points out a coming fundraiser for the above victim, who has no medical insurance. "The Barie Response is organizing a benefit for Barie to assist him in paying his medical bills. The benefit will be at on Wednesday March 23, from 7PM to 10PM at Blackout Bar, 916 Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. While AVP is not sponsoring the benefit, we will be present to provide safety and outreach information." You can donate directly via the above link.

[Image via Advocate]

Today NOM's Brian Brown has repeatedly tweeted the link to a story critical of a new PR campaign in Brazil which tells citizens to call the country's version of 911 to report homophobia-related crimes. From the Christianist outlet, LifeSite News:

Beginning in late February, the Brazilian government has begun to take complaints of “homophobia” on its Dial 100 emergency line, which was created to facilitate the reporting of human rights abuses. The system was announced along with a new government program with the slogan, “Make Brazil a country free of homophobia,” which includes a special logo. “If someone says ‘I need help’ in any Brazilian municipality, it is necessary to act together. It isn’t just acting quickly, but rather the development of an integrated policy for the protection of the citizen,” said Brazilian Human Rights Minister Maria do Rosário, during the presentation of the program.

Brazil's Father Luiz Carlos Lodi da Cruz:

“Note that, without legal forewarning, the minister now wants to punish those who do not regard unnatural conduct as natural. Whoever complains doesn’t have to worry, because the anonymity of the source is guaranteed,” writes Lodi da Cruz. “Therefore, at the end of the second month of the Dilma administration, her government has already established religious persecution based on free and anonymous telephone calls.”

From the NOMblog comments: "The slogan: 'Make Brazil a country free of homophobia,' is chillingly remeniscent of Hitler's slogan: 'Make Germany Jew free.'"