Christian Council, an Oklahoma City-area realtor, has gone public with his account of a brutal homophobic attack that left him hospitalized.
The incident took place early Saturday morning as Council and a friend returned to his apartment complex. Council honked his horn, as another car was blocking his parking space. After the car moved and Council parked, two people approached him.
“When they saw us,” Council told local TV station KFOR, “and saw what we looked like they said ‘oh are you two a couple of-‘ and they used a gay slur. … It was clear that when they could tell my friend and I were gay, or that we appeared to be gay, they knew they could do what they did to me.”
The two proceeded to beat Council until he was “knocked out.” He suffered severe bruising and a concussion from the assault.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Related: Man charged with assault for homophobic attack… over a parking space
Council also claims the pair yelled anti-gay slurs at him during the whole of the attack. Police omitted that detail from their report, and have thus far declined to treat the attack as a hate crime.
Police identified the two suspects as Amery Dickerson and Bennett Stone. They arrested the pair for misdemeanor assault and battery but released them without booking.
Meanwhile, Jake Langford, a friend of Council, has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover his medical expenses and to launch a civil case against his two attackers. The statement on the page reads, in part, “Christian also hopes to bring a civil case against his attackers, so we’ve increased the amount in hopes that we can raise money to cover legal fees. Any amount not used will go to a non profit that supports victims of hate crimes.”
Cam
Police protecting bigots.
Max
probably true, and they are also homophobes as well or they know the two assailants in some way
Larry
Life in a conservative, hate-filled, state.
LifeinShaw
Doesn’t matter. The haters are everywhere. We had a string of gay bashings in Washington, DC last year in the gayborhood.
Kangol2
They’re everywhere.
startenout
This kind of hatred is everywhere. I’ve dealt with it in NJ, but I kicked his a$$
dhmonarch89
sue the cops as well
Andrew
Why don’t they post pictures of these assholes?
tomcat7
I looked them up, they don’t fit the BLM agenda to post any photos..
Contrarius
@tomcat7 —
Oh, really? And where pray tell did you find these supposed photos? Please share.
These guys weren’t booked. Therefore, there were no booking photos.
Hdtex
****tomcat7 iss a simple case of racist white trash.
JPB
Oklahoma, where the hate comes sweepin’ down the plain!
Smith David
😉 You are a word smith.
Lightbulb
Maybe the bigger question we need to ask is why is this not national news AND what did Queerty do, which they should publish trying to get national attention for this story or are they just fluff?
ShiningSex
how is a gay bashing a fluff story? Really?
startenout
They published it from an Oklahoma news channel this giving it international press. What else do you want then to do? Do you know how news works? You don’t force the AP to pick up articles.
CityguyUSA
Fluff
jdr11201
Oh darling,
Rotten bastards, they will get there karma answered. Now it’s time to go to your local gun shop and get a 357-magnum & 38 Special Snub Nose short barrel so they can feel the heat. The larger for under arm the snub for ankle. I know it’s a sin but look what they brought down on you. I carry the same NY isn’t getting any safer. Were back to fighting, so bring it to them before they hurt someone you love. Good Luck,
bachy
Oh right, the NRA Solution: put a gun in the hand of every numbnut on the street. I have a better idea: why not issue every citizen a personal nuclear weapon? For “maximum deterrence”?
Dunnedin
Oh right, bachy, the “turn the other cheek” (so it can get busted) solution. Or maybe, let’s call the police. Wait, they did and look what happened. Until the LGBTQ+ community learns to fight back, including shooting their assailants, the attacks will continue. Unfortunately firearms are the only thing that homophobes seem to understand.
bachy
@Dunnedin: there are solutions that “make things better” and there are so-called solutions that “make things worse.” Your recommendation definitely falls into the “makes things worse” category. Sorry.
Andrew
You can rate him on his site
ShiningSex
It’s Oklahoma. Not shocking. It’s quite sad, but first things first, GET TRUMP OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE and maybe we can see change in LGBT laws.
Tishthedish1
After seeing their names I would guess they were black. And now it seems that black people can attack white people anytime they want! And not get arrested! In this case they got arrested but not properly charged. If a police officer can be charged with 1st degree murder for protecting themselves then these 2 punks should be charged with a hate crime!
Kangol2
@Tishthedish1, are you for real? So because of your racist reading of their names, you are going to post racist nonsense that’s clearly filling your head? GTFOH! You give gay people and even gay right-wing people a bad name!
Cam
@Tishthedish1
This is what right wing trolls do. They invent a lie, then argue as if it is fact. So tell me Trish, what about just seeing the words “Bennett Stone” made you go “YES! That must be a back gaybasher!”.
You aren’t fooling anybody. The biggest gay bashers in America, Trump and the Republican Congress, pretty much all white.
Walker
Flat out lie. There is video footage of them being arrested. Neither are black.
[email protected]
I just made a donation and wished I could send more….. unfortunately, this kind of behavior sadly happens all across America monthly, weekly and even in some cities and or areas, daily… I’m just glad he went to the authorities becasue most of the times these crimes arent pursued in fear of retaliation or when reported, swept under the rug… If we pull together as a society reguarless if your gay, straight, lesbian, bi, trans, nonbinary, them, black, brown, white, other, and so on….I dont want to leave anyone out or exclude anyone so any breathing human being decent enough to understand and want basic equal human rights, then maybe, just maybe, it will create more recognition and justice for ALL cases and infuse harsher consequences for those who think bullying in any form will be tollerated and go without punishment.
Jesse XOXO
TamaraChing
Now is the time to buy a firearm or learn how to use martial arts to equalize a situation where physical violence might occur. How many times have I surprised an attacker when they launched an attack against “a drag queen” (I am transsexual/transgender, not a drag queen as they perceived) and after beating their butts told them “never to harass queens or anyone else for that matter. ” The whole planet is going through some real issues and violence is going to be more utilized – so be prepared. Be aware. And be SAFE.
Hdtex
….because the answer is obviously moor gunz
GTFO.
jayceecook
If you’re trans and people wrongly assume you’re a drag queen why do you tell would be attackers not to “mess with queens”? Seems contradictory.
startenout
Okay your whole story seems to Be a fabrication, but either way more guns aren’t the answer. Or do you just want people shooting each other dead in the street, because remember it goes both ways…. you get a gun, so will they
Dunnedin
startenout, not sure where you come from, but criminals (and homophobes, perhaps the same) HAVE guns. Don’t tell me you are relying on the police to take care of the situation. You saw how the police handled it.
RobF
Contact Lambda Legal’s Police and Criminal Justice department!
Virpilosus
Great response, Rob, thanks, and I hope he does!!!
Jon in Canada
This is why I no longer weep or concern myself with cops being killed. I just can’t bring myself to ever again look at a cop without a feeling of distrust coupled with revulsion; and before any apologist comes along with the “most cops are good”, know you are lying. There are no “good cops”, if there were, they’d call out and report the “bad cops” but surprise, surprise, they never do. It’s called complicity and that why all cops are bad cops.
radiooutmike
Completely on point.
Hdtex
Folks, learn to DEFEND YOURSELVES!
Steve
F—- that it’s a conservative state this indeed was a hate crime. I would say scream that it’s a hate crime until the idiots do something don’t stop calling out the the morons for their stupidity
dali
So, am I the only one who noticed his name is “Christian Council”? Like, what does this mean to be named like this? Anyone?
jayceecook
No, you’re not. When Googling his name to learn more about the incident it was a nightmare. What were his parents thinking?! I had to comb through a bunch of religious crap to find more information.
jayceecook
So after doing some reading of this story on a few different sites I have some questions. Also, trying to Google Christian Council was a chore. What were his parents thinking?!
Some details don’t add up as his story changes a bit. In some accounts his friend is with him when he was attacked while in others there’s no mention of his friend being there. If his friend was there why didn’t they help? Why would you not try to help or at least call 911? By all accounts he says somebody eventually called the police. Huh?
Then in some versions he says the woman approached him first and attacked him and when he fought back the man joined in. In others they both were waiting for him at the trunk of his car to attack him. Wouldn’t you have noticed 2 people just waiting at the back of your car? Or your friend if they were there? Why get out? And if there were 4 of them total why did only the woman and the man attack you? If this was a bunch of drunk rednecks looking to gay bash somebody wouldn’t they all join in?
What’s really puzzling is the police say that when they arrived Christian and his attackers were all present. I realize that people can very stupid. Especially when drunk. But the one time I was a victim of a hate crime and the other a robbery gone bad the people who assaulted me were long gone before any police showed up. Why would they hang around? Pride? It just feels off.
Not to mention that a few gay sites reached out to him for an interview and he declined or never responded. Now maybe that’s because he doesn’t want to mess up any potential civil case but I’d be hounding the media to get my story out.
Clearly he was in an altercation. I don’t deny that. But I can kind of see why the police didn’t label this a hate crime. At least yet. To me this sounds more like beef over a parking spot that got violent. And the woman and man who attacked him were really pissed off at him for honking his horn for them to move. Which they either did or didn’t depending on which version of the events you’re reading.
I hope his attackers are eventually arrested and booked. Why they weren’t is shocking. However we really don’t need this to be a Jussie 3.0
dali
Whatever happened, or not, no matter how criminal it was, I still try to understand why someone named “Christian Council”, which sounds alot to me like a christian council, is in this story. Thanks for understanding my question.
wikidBSTN
It all sounds very odd. And why the Go Fund ME page? He got banged up a bit and was probably seen at the ER and let go. That should be covered by insurance. There is no mention of lost work or long lasting impairment. From the photo, he barely has a black eye. All this just makes it more “off”.
jayceecook
@wikidBSTN I’m not an expert in the realty business but I’d assume you’d have to get your own insurance considering you’re an independent contractor. Plus, it’s not steady income so he won’t be having a paycheck rolling in while on sick leave. Though he does work for a large, successful realty franchise so you’d think they would help. Especially considering they have a charity that supposedly does just that.
The thing about the GFM is that it was started the day he was attacked. Granted that doesn’t necessarily mean anything shady is going on. However I find it strange that it says he was attacked on the 26th and the page was set up on the 27th by somebody in another state. However the attack actually happened on the 27th.
Usually when GFMs are started it’s not an immediate response. It’s after the bills pile up and the person or persons become desperate for help. Maybe 20 somethings and those just entering their 30s just think that way automatically now.
I still don’t understand why the woman and man who did this to him weren’t arrested. If they were there when the cops showed up and apparently didn’t deny anything how were they not booked? And save your crooked cops excuse naysayers. I’m not buying it.
Even though Oklahoma doesn’t have sexual orientation and gender identity under their hate crime legislation what they did to him is still a crime. There’s just too many missing pieces to this puzzle.
Heywood Jablowme
@wikidBSTN: Gotta agree with you on that. I’ve been assaulted by homophobes many, many times and the visual results were always MUCH worse than that. And the one time I was beaten literally unconscious, I needed to be hospitalized for an entire WEEK. Something is fishy here!
@dali: Perhaps his parents were theologians and his older siblings were Lateran Council and Nicean Council.
Dunnedin
Say what? So we’re now comparing homophobic attacks to determine which is worse? And if it’s not as bad as yours it should be discounted? WTF? And we wonder why homophobes attack us with impunity.
Heywood Jablowme
@Dunnedin: No! Don’t know how you came up with that interpretation of what I wrote. (Have you been hit on the head recently?) It seems extremely unlikely he was knocked “unconscious” as he claims. As someone else posted, “He got banged up a bit and was probably seen at the ER and let go.”
Obviously some attacks are “worse” than others. Are you claiming all physical assaults are exactly the same? That’s insane, even if you’ve never been the victim of a physical assault (and I bet you haven’t).
And the GoFundMe makes the entire thing automatically suspicious.
ashersea
Hmm, there probably is more to the story. Someone needs to get a hold of the police report and the reason the assaulters were not “booked”. Assuming “booked” in the article means “that police literally have to document the alleged crime and the suspect’s name in a book”. The accused maybe have been booked but released. If that’s not the case then something is SERIOUSLY wrong with that police department and we need to find out.
Black Pegasus
Looks like the police are shielding those cretins. I’m not blaming the victim but gay men should take their personal safety more seriously by taking self defense courses or consider carrying a weapon. Bigots will attack with impunity if they believe their target is weak.
Black Pegasus
BTW, I just donated to his GoFundMe to help with medical expenses and PTSD therapy. I encourage you’ll to do the same.
Heywood Jablowme
@Black Pegasus: I have a bridge, and some magic beans, that I’d like to sell to you.
Onecaddy13
I just don’t get it. Why are they not calling this a hate crime? So anyone can go out & beat someone senseless and use racial slurs and not be charged?? I really don’t want to go there but I have to, With all this unrest happening in the our cities, if he was of a certain color and you called them a racial slur, do you think they would be charged with a hate crime, and this not be a national headline. Is the DA blind? Did he not see the photos we saw of this beaten individual???get better Christian. Truly baffled.
jayceecook
Oklahoma state law doesn’t recognize sexuality and gender identity under their hate crime legislation so they can’t file it as such if it was.