SUPERQUEEROES

Utah’s Gay Bashers Beware! The S.I.N. Patrol Is Watching You…

Joshua Barnes got tired of hearing of all the recent gay bashings in Salt Lake City. So he got 140 Facebook friends to start “Safety In Numbers” (aka “The S.I.N. patrol”), a group that patrols Utah’s Friday night gay district to help prevent violence. Equipped with some pepper spray, his camera phone, a semi-official looking red sash and a pair of antlers, Barnes and his costumed cohorts walk people back to their cars while distracting and recording would-be attackers to report them to the police.

That’s right folks, gay superheroes are back… and they’re not gonna take it anymore.

Barnes says, “The police do a good job, but they can’t be everywhere. We thought rather than just complain, we’d just do something. And the simplest thing we could do is just be here. Be an extra set of eyes, an extra body.”

And while on patrol with a news crew he even took down a basher with an ever-tightening headlock and held him in place until the police came and confiscated the knife in the attacker’s back pocket.

We gotta admit, patrolling the streets in weird costumes and preventing attacks sounds a hell of a lot more interesting than downing another vodka gimlet and watching Ivana Slapper lip-synch to Adele… again.

Jump to 10 Comments

By: Daniel Villarreal
On: Oct 31, 2011
Tagged: gay bashings, Joshua Barnes, Safety In Numbers, Salt Lake City, superheroes, superqueeroes, The S.I.N. patrol, Utah

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10 Comments

No. 1 · Cam
I see the Utah Mormons are business as usual in hating gays.

Oct 31, 2011 at 12:27 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 2 · scott
The 2nd part of the story is good too. Please add it to this website of go to the tv stations website to see it, and read the more newsy version of the story and it’s background.

Oct 31, 2011 at 1:10 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 3 · Daniel Villarreal · Member · 259 comments
@scott: We have added the second video above. You can also read the article using the “Safety In Numbers” link.

Oct 31, 2011 at 1:24 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 4 · gollygeegaygoy · Member · 59 comments
This is a great idea. I hope it catches on in other areas. These homophobes want to make us too afraid to go out. And that ain’t gonna happen.

Oct 31, 2011 at 2:20 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 5 · D Campbell
This made me very proud to see members of our community standing up for others. kudos

Oct 31, 2011 at 6:19 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 6 · prohomo
I would love to BRUTALLY attack a gay basher and make them taste their own medicine. Bash back I say.

Oct 31, 2011 at 11:16 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 7 · pepe
ncie

Oct 31, 2011 at 11:38 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 8 · TASTEY GOODIES · Member · 206 comments
TO ALL HOMOPHOBIC GAY BASHERS- TALK SHIT, GET HIT. TO ALL GLBT FOLK- LET’S UNITE 4 RAINBOW POWER!!!

Nov 1, 2011 at 3:25 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 9 · CBRad
What gay bashings in Utah? Of the alleged three, Dane Hall is a fraud, and one of the other “cases” turned out to be a domestic. So that’s one case. Why don’t these superheros move to NYC where gaybashings are more frequent?

Nov 1, 2011 at 2:52 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 10 · scott
@CBRad: Why criticise the volunteer work that other people are doing? The video speaks for itself, regardless of what did or didn’t happen in other cases. Some people are tryojg to make the world a better, safer place. Where were you when people in your community needed your help? Oh yeah, you were at home, online, ripping the efforts of others.

Nov 3, 2011 at 10:47 pm · @Reply · Flag