Some heinous violence is being reported in the US this week. A couple in Dallas were attacked around 2am, while walking to the corner store, by a group of five men, who savagely beat them with baseball bats while yelling gay slurs. Investigators say one victim was hit over the head four times, being knocked unconscious. The other victim tried to fight back and ended up getting caught in the passenger seat door while the car sped away.
A friend is taking care of the two men while they recuperate from their injuries. One victim had to get eight staples to the head, while the other is covered with scrapes and bruises.
“It makes me very, very sad,” the friend said, opting to stay anonymous to protect the victims’ privacy. “I hate it for my friends to be in so much pain. It was because they were gay.”
Police are saying it has been classified as a hate crime, but I think it should be attempted murder. Weapons were involved, and the victims are lucky to still be alive.
In Washington, DC, there have been three attacks against gay people this week in the Columbia Heights neighbourhood, which officials are calling “a spate of LGBT violence.” A gay man was shot in an IHOP, suffering damage to his liver. Less than 24 hours later, a gay man and a trans woman were badly beaten. The man is still hospitalized, awaiting surgery on his broken jaw, while the trans woman has been released after being treated for a head injury that rendered her unconsciousness.
Washington Mayor Vincent C Gray has released a statement about the incidents:
“All crime is horrific and destructive to the fabric of our community, but especially violent behavior that targets people because of their ethnic background, sexual orientation, faith or other identifying characteristics. These kinds of crimes are particularly insidious, because they are designed to instill fear in an entire community. This cannot and will not stand in the District of Columbia, where all of our residents have the right to walk the streets of our neighborhoods free of fear, regardless of their identities, beliefs or characteristics. The Metropolitan Police Department and I will not rest until the perpetrators of these brutal crimes are arrested, tried and safely locked away.”
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