A gay man attending the Motor City Pride festival in Detroit last weekend was caught on video being savagely beaten by a group of homophobic assailants in what he alleges was an unprovoked attack.
The event has been recorded as the first case of violence at the city’s annual Pride festival in its 43-year history. It comes just three years after the festival was moved to downtown Detroit from nearby Ferndale.
In the video below, 20-year-old stylist Christin Howard is seen being tossed to the ground and physically assaulted simultaneously by a group of five to eight unidentified men. Howard claims that the group circled him while he was taking a picture with a friend in Detroit’s Riverwalk park, yelling homophobic slurs and criticizing his long hair.
Howard was beaten for nearly a minute while concerned bystanders are seen using their phones. The excessive hitting and kicking resulted in a bloody eye, abrasions on his face, and a broken finger.
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Although it’s not visible in the video, Howard says one of the men claimed to have a gun. “I thought I was gonna die,” he tells WXYZ. “At one point, I thought they were going to kill me.”
Detroit police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. At the time of posting, none of the assailants in the video had been identified. Those with information regarding the incident are being urged to contact the DPD at 313-267-4600.
masc4masc
how do we know they weren’t gay though?
Blackceo
This is just awful. Poor guy. What a bunch of punk ass thugs to have to gang up on this guy and beat him. I hope they get the book thrown at them and some TLC by a big burly prison guy when they get sent away.
aliengod
That’s quite an arm cast for a broken finger.
SpunkyBunks
His hair is so damn glamourous! I can’t handle it. Hopefully those thugs didn’t mess it up too much.
Kieran
I’m sure MSNBC’s Al Sharpton will do a full expose on this vicious attack against a “person of color”. Just you wait. You’ll see.
cformusic
@SpunkyBunks: yaaas bitch!
gskorich
put the camera down and help a brother out
Blackceo
@Kieran:
You’re a douchebag. Go scratch!!!
Mezaien
Christin, you need a gun HOMIE! that mean to shoot anyone that fuck with US gay men.
MusicMikey
This is not homophobia. A phobia is a fear of something. This is not fear. It is hate.
DarkZephyr
@MusicMikey: Hate often stems from fear. The hatred of homophobia is based on fear. Think about it. They are afraid we’ll “look at them” in locker rooms. They are afraid we’ll “recruit their children”. They are afraid we’ll cause earthquakes and floods, etc. They are afraid we will “destroy their families” if we are permitted to legally marry. Some are even afraid that we are possessed by demons.. “Homophobia” is a very appropriate term for it as far as I’m concerned.
BB45
there is nothing a 357 magnum won’t cure.
Teeth
I also think that this is hatred, not fear. Hatred can come from fear– but sometimes a cigar is a cigar— and these jerks just hated this gay guy. He was no threat to them.
jar
@MusicMikey: Homophobia is defined as the fear or hatred of homosexuals. Does this really have to be explained?
I’m disappointed at the flip nature of so many of the comments here. This is a young man who was attacked for being gay. Where’s the solidarity for one of our own? And more importantly, where’s the basic human decency?
litper
It’s a peniswoman, not a gay man!
DickieJohnson
@Mezaien: @BB45: You f*ckn d*cks. Yeah, that’s just what we need, armed queers on the streets. That’ll take care of all the homophobes! I can see it: “Now you go’n die, Biatch!” BANG! BANG!
money718
Those dudes were gay. It is odd that they would single him out in broad daylight at Detroit’s gay pride. In the video, Christian obviously responded to something the boys said and that’s when it escalated. But yeah, they were gay. Gay youths can be violent too.
Maude
They were there because one of them said, “Lets go look at the fags”, and they didn’t like what they saw, so they beat-up a fellow black innocent youth!
Maude
@litper:
“Penis women” — Is that the same as “Pussy ass”?
DarkZephyr
@money718: Why are you so sure the attackers were gay?
Maude
Homophobia exists, but we’ve made considerable headway.
We are our own worst enemy when we make ourselves look and sound ridiculous by our actions while parading and just observing in those outrageous outfits.
Do we really want that to be thew impression that the people will take home with them? Do we?
Cam
@DarkZephyr:
Because if you can blame it on gays then they can all claim homophobia is a myth.
EGO
We may not like some of the attire worn in public by gays but that is no reason to commit brutality on them. The guys were obviously homophobes because gays and normal straights do not commit such stupid acts on other gays.