Have you had a good week? Well itâs about to get a lot worse.
Readers appreciated last weekâs roundup of anti-LGBT violence, so weâre doing it again. Itâs vandalism-a-go-go this week with a little bit of good news as police in several cases have finally released suspect descriptions. Nevertheless, it totally bums us out that we can so easily do a round up of queer bashings.
The week we canât, weâll make sure to throw a party.
Thamesmead, London, UK: When leaving for work one morning, Anthony Riversâ boyfriend discovered that someone had spray-painted the word âsinnerâ on their door. From that point they started receiving hate mail including letters that Rivers would âburn in hellâ for being homosexual and another saying, âmen should only lay with women.â His apartment complex failed to remove the paint for four days and even now have not repaired the door. Rivers (pictured above) was referred to a psychologist and put on antidepressants amid the stress of the situation; but mostly he just wants to move out.
Immokalee, Florida: Five men jumped Manuel Galan, 27, and his friend Cirildo Soliz, 21, in the middle of the street while pedestrians walked by doing nothing. The assailants kicked and punched the two in the face, ribs and limbs while screaming anti-gay slurs. After, one of the men told Soliz, âIâm going to kill you and I know where you live.â
Once they broke free Galan and Soliz refused hospital care but have pressed charges. Galan says that a local gang, Brown Pride, might be to blame for the attack and that he is actually friends with some of his attackersâ mothers. He also indicated he didnât leave his home for a month after the assault.
Washington, DC: Communities in DC, San Francisco, and Maryland held candlelight vigils this week to mourn the passing of 35-year-old Dr. Gaurav Gopala, a gay aeronautics engineer and theater artist who was murdered near his home on September 10, while walking towards a party dressed in drag.
Police suspect a possible hate crime and theft as they found no keys, money, or jewelry on Gopala when they found him dead from blunt trauma to the head. They still have no leads despite their ongoing investigation.
Gopala, who was from Nepal, loved the works of Shakespeare, served as cultural advisor for an upcoming staging of the Ramayana, and is survived by his partner of five years, whom he had planned to marry.
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Prison guard Harry Nicoletti, 60, faces 92 criminal charges including âseveral counts each of institutional sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and official oppressionâwhich amounts to covering up the crimes or allegedly threatening others to do so,â for his alleged rape of over 20 inmates, including transgender women, and theharassment of those he believed to be homosexual. Nicoletti reportedly fondled and raped the trans woman while calling her a âweird freaky monkeyâ and other sexual and racial insults.
Seattle, Washington: Chris Ilovar and Lyle Evans discovered a rock was thrown through the windshield of Evansâ auto and the tires on both their cars were slashed. One of the rocks had the following message tied around it, âGet the fuck out of our neighborhood. The Bible says God forbids men committing indecent acts with other men. Pack up your shit and get your gay shit out.â The note was signed âKKK.â
A neighbor saw two white men in the alley near the time of the attackâone was about 5â10âł with a stocky, muscular build; the other was around 5â7âł with a chubby build. Both wore black.
Ilovar and Evans are installing motion detectors and additional lighting around their home to prevent further incidents. Evans said, âIf the intent was to destroy or to oppress thatâs not really workingâitâs having the opposite effect. Itâs making everyone in the community really rise up and come together and be positive and be open and vigilant around whatâs happening in our neighborhood.â
Salt Lake City, Utah: Police have released a description of a suspect in the Dane Hall bashing from late August. During the assault, one of Hallâs attackers put Hallâs open mouth on the curb and stomped him, knocking out six teeth, shattering his cheekbone, breaking his jaw in three places, and jamming a piece of his jawbone into his brain. Police are investigating whether a hate crime or drugs motivated the attack.
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Brooklyn, New York: On September 5th at 3:30 am, police allege that 21-year-old Julius âStinkyâ Wright (pictured left) broke into the residence of a 24-year-old Hispanic man, held him at gunpoint with a simulated firearm, asked him if he was gay, and then proceeded to shout slurs at and sodomize the man before running away with his property. The victim was hospitalized in stable condition. Police continue hunting for Mr. Wright.
Edinburgh, Scotland: Police have begun the hunt for four males and one female, ages 18 to 19, believed to have witnessed an attack on a gay 20-year-old. The gang made offensive comments towards the 20-year-old before one of the men in the group sucker punched him, breaking his jaw. You can read the suspectsâ physical description here.
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Michael
Sick fucks and they say people who are GAY are insane? I think all these stories prove once and for all who the sick deranged unstable insane ones are and its not gay americans period.
Take the plank out of your own eye before trying to change others.
Concentrate on your own backyards first bigots.
Michael
RIP also to Dr. Gaurav Gopala and all the other victims of hate.Yet ANOTHER senseless act of violence and hate against someone who is gay.People truly do hate and fear what they do not understand.No education no ethics no values no morals no decency no humanity in ANY of these people.Despicable.
gayfrog
Jesus Christ. This world is really deep sick.
The murder of Dr. Gaurav Gopala is particularly symbolic of the “education vs. stupidity” conflict that homophobia and anti-gay hate are.
@Michael, you are wrong, the Bible says it is OK to stone gays, so all these brave people were only being faithful Christians expressing their First Amendment right to freedom of speech by strongly voicing their disagreement with the gay “lifestyle” and how it destroys our values and are dangerous role models for the children. And also, they acted out of gay panic because they were accosted by gays, so they can’t be held responsible; if any, the victims are responsible.
Michael
@gayfrog:
Im gonna go out on a limb here and hope what you just wrote is sarcasm.It definitely looks like it to me lol It reminds me of a verse I use against hypocritical Christians I always tell them that it also says you should stone disobedient children so I write ” gives you stones and tells you to knock yourselves out * RUN KIDS mommy and daddy have stones… AGAIN! đ
CBRad
The Dane Hall case maybe shouldn’t be listed with these others til we know for sure. A lot of us believe his claim of gaybashing is questionable (with his history of arrests). The police are investigating drug angles as well.
Myles MacLean
Copies of these articles should be sent to the Republican Presidential candidates and to all the religious bigots so that they are aware of the fallout from their bigoted statements.
CBRad
@Myles MacLean: Uhhh….I don’t think most of these gaybashers are Republicans, nor listen to Republicans.
thom
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Guillermo3
I’m confused by the writing Llovar & Evans:One line describes bystanders’ saying they saw 2 white men.The next paragraph describes the two men and finishes with:”both are black.” CLARIFICATION,PLEASE.
Sebizzar
Idk if any of you have seen or heard about this (traumatizing) video, but is this man really being tortured because he was gay? http://alwaysimagining.tumblr.com/post/10880838887/tavocorts-el-video-mas-horroroso-que-se-me-ha
I cried after watching it, it’s just so unbelievable how demonic people can be. I already hate this world but now it’s just… i don’t even know what to say…
just sayin
Come on Queerty, where’s the stupid joke to go with the Pittsburgh prison rape story? You’re really slipping. People here just love a good prison rape joke. They’ll even tell you that you have no sense of humor if you don’t think violent prison rape is a real knee slapper!
DJ
@Sebizzar: that is sad wtf is wrong with ppl..im in tears…just fucking wow..