California’s coveted Parents of the Year award undoubtedly goes to 24-year-old Russell Bates and 19-year-old Abigail Sheehy who beat the everliving fuck out of two gay men aged 45 and 63 in front of their four-year-old child. The fight started over a parking spot that elevated when the gay men started snapping pictures of the couple. Together Bates and Sheehy knocked out one man’s teeth and broke his jaw—teamwork makes the dream work! They also got charged with battery causing serious bodily injury, child abuse, and a felony hate crime for shouting anti-gay slurs while beating up two older men. Their now undoubtedly traumatized kid has been taken by Child Protective Services to a relative where he’ll grow up knowing never to let elderly fags tell him where to park—thanks mom and dad!
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Older Gay Men Won’t Give You Their Parking Space? Just Knock Out Their Teeth
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gregger
human garbage.
Ruhlmann
@gregger: And they are replicating!
dvlaries
If the child is four, then Abigail got knocked up at 14…?!
Nice.
The only surprise is that’s its California, and not some more typical former slave state…
Ken
Beating up two “old men”? “Elderly fags”???? Since when is 45 elderly??? Give me a break!
CB
45 & 63 are NOT OLD!!!
Don’t add to our communities already bad habit of only valuing youth.
Daniel
@CB: The average life expectancy for US males is 75. The 45-year-old is more than halfway dead and if 63 ain’t old, I’m Judy Garland.
Elloreigh
@Daniel: So 32 is middle-age?
Hi, Judy!
Daniel
@Elloreigh: So 63 is young? You can take those ruby slippers back, Ell.
CB
@Daniel:
You must be very young. Much to learn about sensitivity of others.
Not only is 45 not old, the comment is offensive in the story. ” older” would have been much more appropriate.
My grandmother lived to 97. That’s old.
Daniel
@CB: Eh, you win. “Older” it is.
Ruhlmann
@Daniel: A man doesn’t get interesting until 40 and I thought that at 16.
Ruhlmann
@CB: My maternal grandfather lived to 98 and he worked a trap line until he was 82. He fathered 12 kids. My grandmother lived to 101. My fathers parents had 13 kids and lived into their late 90’s. They worked a farm until they were in their late 80’s. My mother who is 75 plays Dobro guitar in a bluegrass band and travels all over Canada and the U.S. playing at events. She has had a boyfreind since she was 70.
You’re as old as you feel I think. My family works beyond what is retirement age. I work 45 hours a week for someone else and when I come home I have my own shop that I work in until I go to bed. I don’t own a TV, drink moderately, smoke a bit of bud and get by on 5-6 hours of sleep. Stay busy, stay above ground.
Queer Supremacist
In classic Queerty fashion, two sacks of human garbage remind me why I call myself Queer Supremacist around these parts, and you’re arguing over semantics? (BTW, if 45 is “old” then I, at 28, am already middle-aged).
Stay classy, Queerty!
Mr. Enemabag Jones
I getting tired of reading these stories about gays getting beaten. Where are the stories of gays fighting back? Do we even bother?
bob
Bates is being held at the Larry Smith Correctional Facility in Banning on $50,000 bail. Court records show Sheehy bailed out on May 26th. Both are expected in court in Indio on June 6th.
Let’s show up at the courthouse and show solidarity for the victims. Let them know that they didn’t suffer for nothing.
John
It’s a given that these two are losers; however, Queerty has proven itself to be trash also. A rag mag. The ageism and insensitive comments by the author add another layer of repugnance to this story. Queerty’s classless shtick isn’t for me.
ewe
someone or something bigger is looking out for that child. At least one good thing came out of this.
Fitz
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: any gay man who can’t defend himself, including the use of legal weapons, is a total doormat. THEY HATE US. Learn how to bash back, harder.
ewe
@John: 45 is older? I kind of agree with you but just take solace that young and stupid gay men in particular have no idea that many gay men are thrilled to get older. It is so sad to see young gay men lash out like they have some sort of wisdom to offer when it is obvious they are just afraid of aging themselves. I think of all the people i know who passed away in their twenties and thirties and as long as i am healthy i look forward to rocking in a chair overlooking Central Park and an Hawaiian ocean. That is the gift their passing gave me and i am grateful to be grateful.
ewe
@Mr. Enemabag Jones: I know right? Imagine? Look at the two of them. I would have taken the both of them and slammed them down on the concrete and then right into a shopping carriage. The both of them look like meth heads. Her hair would have been open reign and his throat would have been next.
Adman
Three words: Concealed Carry Permit. That’s for the olds. For me, this 23 year old de-evolution monkey and his screaming bashee teen whore would’ve been entertaining to meet. Why take pictures, when concrete is very unforgiving, and car bumpers make such excellent face stoppers? Stomp that kids head in, THEN take pics next time, K?
DarSco
lol adman I LOVE yer comment!
bob
Erm, fighting back may feel good at the moment, but why should everyone involved go to jail? Why should these haters be able to play the victim card?
Do the civil thing. Let the judge know, by showing up, that this case is being watched; that it matters.
Daniel
@John: You’ll be missed.
Adman
@bob: “why should everyone involved go to jail?”. Why do you assume everybody is going to jail? Court maybe, but jail? Besides last time I checked I have one body, a body that enjoys a specific health status at any given time. Why should I let ANYONE rob me of a good healthy existence for any reason, would it be in some kind of protest?
Lay your hands on me I’ll shit-can you, it’s simple. But than I’ve been in worse circumstances where I might’ve had to “settle” on this issue, and so I am currently very reluctant to return to those days. Maybe that’s why I’m so unwilling to let a complete stranger break my jaw. I mean WTF(???)
ewe
@bob: Why fight back you ask? I will tell you. To avoid getting your teeth bashed in and setting up an appointment for jaw surgery. You don’t sit back and let people pummel your face in so a judge can issue a ruling.
ewe
@bob: no offense but this is not a topic about non violent civil disobedience the likes of MLK or Gandhi. It is ok to defend yourself if you are able and many times one hard punch back will calm the agressor down so they know it isn’t you that’s a doormat. UH HUH. Once someone knows you are gonna give back more than you’re getting they often back off. This is how the psychology of homophobes works… you pick the weakest looking one and say “you’re real tough in a group but not so much on your own i bet.” Then you have opened the door for a one on one. He inevitably backs off and his own buddies chastise him for being a pussy. That’s the mindset of stupid straight assholes and guess what? You walk away with your respect and you also walk away untouched. Do yourself a favor and take a class in self defense if you don’t feel ready. You are not dealing with people who use intelligence to get by in life.
TheRealAdam
Sorry but that guy in the photo does not look 24 at all. More like 40. I’m guessing he’s led a hard-drinking and drugged up life to go so downhill so quickly.
Anyway, this is unforgivable. They need maximum hate-crime sentencing, and the child should not be returned to them.
Jon
I was about to comment on Queerty’s typical bad reporting and then I read the original article. Not any better.
My main question is: Why were the old gays taking pictures of the str8 couple in the first place? Plus, there seems to be a big jump from picture taking to the beating. The way it reads is, the gays took some pictures and the str8s came up and started beating them. Was there nothing in between??? There seems to be a huge part of the story missing.
bob
@adman
@ewe
@ewe
Wow. That’s quite a reaction to the idea of non-violence.
fuzzy
@Ruhlmann: Yes! Right there. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been shamed by the actions and attitudes of so-called “old” people. My grandmother was in better shape at 80 than I was at 20. I worked for a couple who did farm work and rode horses until they were 80, too. I got passed going up a mountain on the AT by a guy who had to be in his sixties – he’d been on the trail for months. Older folks rock! Stop with the ageism, Queerty, and everybody. We’re most of us gonna get there someday.
As for the beating, I gotta agree with ewe and adman – it’s time to start fighting back. I’m sorry these folks got hurt, and I wish there were a way to turn the other cheek and not get beaten for it. There isn’t, though, and we all have to stand up for ourselves. Like my grandfather always told his kids, don’t ever start a fight, but if someone starts one with you, do your damnedest to finish it.
Zeus
Obviously she’s trash, she had a baby at 15, not to mention that the guy was over 18 when he knocked her up..
ewe
@bob: Bob. Non violence? What are you talking about? The two gay men were the ones who were assaulted. You speak as if they were the ones who started it. It is allegedly the straight couple that first put their hands on the two men. Speaking about non violence is not appropriate when you are being beaten up. That’s like saying have a seat if someone is coming at you with a knife in hand. Get a grip.
ewe
@fuzzy: EXACTLY. Well said. This revictimizing the victims is nonsense. Hey i got an idea for anyone who doesn’t agree with us. Don’t put your hands on someone else!!! Period. End of discussion.
Queer Supremacist - Gays Bash Back
There’s a time for nonviolence. This ain’t it. Nonviolence is suicidal when someone is depriving you of your right to life without just cause. If you attack me and call me a faggot, that word will be your last. This gay bashes back.
If gay is the new black, we don’t need a gay Martin Luther King or a gay Malcolm X. We need a gay Nat Turner.
bob
According to Wikipedia, Nat Turner’s two day rebellion killed 55 white men, women and children. He was finally caught cowering in a hole covered with fence rail. He was flayed, beheaded and quartered. 56 black men were executed for helping him. Many more went through the court system. Also, 200 black men were beaten, tortured and killed from the fear Nat inspired. And many southern states passed even more repressive laws against black education and freedom.
So, the end result was fivefold retribution, and fifty more years of increased repression. Until Abraham Lincoln, who said that any self-respecting free Negro should leave the country, freed the slaves.
Cam
Just looking at her…I have a feeling she was the instigator. She looks like the tye of girl that starts fights in bars and then eggs her boyfriend into jumping into the middle of it.
I hope that the relative the child went to does a better job with them that the grandparents did with their parents.
ewe
@bob: You know how to recite the problems of yesterday. Got any solutions? Throwing out the term “non violence” is like raising your hand in a classroom to answer a question. It has nothing to do with nothing on the street.
ewe
@bob: and don’t forget this Bob. MLK, Gandhi and even Lincoln were all shot DEAD!!!
bob
@ewe see comment #15. And, don’t threaten me. It just makes you look bad.
ewe
@bob: Bob: now you are just being a kook. There is nothing threatening towards you in anything i said.
ewe
@bob: oy vey. oh christ. me thinks she thinks she’s a lincoln or gandhi or an MLK. HA.
Adonis-of-Fire
And that’s why we gays should carry guns
GG
But certain people would’ve gladly issued marriage licenses to the likes of these two heterosexuals. Right, Kim??