Says San Diego LGBT Pride executive director Ron deHarte, who was attacked on Saturday while waiving a rainbow flag at Equality Torch Relay: "I was waiting for the Equality Torch Relay to come by Main and Broadway and standing in front of the famous overly life-size lemon (statue), and with a rainbow flag big as day … and someone decided to remove me from Lemon Grove. He started wailing on me and tried to take the flag away and made it very clear he didn't think I should be there: 'Get out of here. What do you think you're doing? You need to get the fuck out of here. Get that out of here. There's no place for you here.' All the while, he was grabbing at the rainbow flag and trying to take it away from me. And he was kicking me and slapping. He hit me good a couple of times. … I got the side of his fist the first time he hit me, then I think he got my lower jaw on another time. He kicked me a few times. I wasn't bleeding or anything. It certainly hurt. I certainly had soreness as the day went on, and this morning when I woke up, I realized my upper lip was swollen and the inside of my cheek was cut up."
Rex Wockner has video.
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In the age of Barak "Cuz God is in the Mix" Obama and Prop 8, etc., you probably need to be armed. I hope Ron is ok.
At what point do we say "Enough" and start fighting back?
That's what we really need, because words and peaceful protests are obviously doing nothing for us. As long as we don't fight back we will keep getting beat down and I for one am sick and tired of it. Even animals have the common sense to fight back when attacked.
@Fitz: Yes, because no queers were bashed during the Freedom filled days of, say, the Reagan administration.
@Alex: But during the Reagan years we had (seemingly had) allies in the progressive community.
This sort of thing is an outrage.
What makes anyone think that they have the right to walk up to another person, for whatever reason, without provocation, and start punching and kicking them?
When a the last time you heard of a gay person walking up to a str8 person and doing what this creep did? I'll just bet that his mom and dad are a piece of work too. He had to learn that hatred somewhere.
I have read so many times of gay people getting beat up or killed because they didn't fight back. Learn how to fight. Learn how to defend your self. Fight back!
Did he fight back? No? He's just complaining now? What a sissy queen!
@prissysissy: He didn't fight back because he was trying to avoid escalating the confrontation. He also knew that a news van was behind him so he was backing up towards it because he wanted them to get it on camera.
The local news caught the tail end of the confrontation and the result was that they were able show the haters in an aggressive, violent light. That did more for the movement than responding with violence, as much as he may have wanted to.
Probably a "good christian", this stuff needs to stop, absolutely disgusting.
@ PRISSYSISSY: SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU SELF-LOATHING ASSWIPE! YOU ARE SUPPORTING THE SENTIMENT BEHIND GAY-BASHINGS–THAT WE ARE LESS THAN MEN AND HUMAN BEINGS! FUCK OFF, YOU LOATHSOME TURD!
the jerk wad that did this also had….. big suprise he had (according the the SD tribune "The suspect had an outstanding warrant for weapons possession, trespassing and violating a restraining order" as well as having a hate-crime component added to his new charges.
What a winner.
Sickening. Hope the fucker is prosecuted and hope Ron is ok.
Lemon Grove is the pits. Sorry it happened to you Ron. I wouldn't hold out much hope for the police or the courts to help you down there. It is a sad sad place.