Local gay rights activist George Zander and his husband Chris were attacked in downtown Palm Springs as they were leaving Hunters nightclub around 8 p.m. Sunday night, police say.
The assault is being investigated as a hate crime.
As Chris recalls, he and George were holding hands as they exited the popular bar. A passerby bumped into them and muttered an antigay slur at the couple.
Chris replied, “That’s totally uncalled for.” Then the man pulled Chris down by his shirt and ran away.
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The Zanders continued on, but the man returned with at least one other person. Chris was hit on the back of the head with a bottle, and George was thrown down to the ground, breaking his hip.
“It was complete anger, it was just anger,” said Chris, who choked up as he spoke of the details Monday. “I don’t understand why somebody would push a 71-year-old man over. It makes me want to cry every time I talk about it.”
Investigators said two suspects — one described as a white male adult with a stocky build and red hair, the other only as a white male adult — fled the scene in a sedan-type vehicle.
Chris and George were rushed by ambulance to Desert Regional Medical Center, where Chris was treated for a concussion and received staples in the back of his head and stitches in his lip.
George, who currently works as a field manager with Equality California and is an active volunteer of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, suffered a double hip fracture and will undergo surgery. Doctors say the break was clean and he is expected to make a swift recovery.
“I guess it’s a bigger deal than I ever even imagined,” Chris said, expressing shock that this type of crime would occur in gay-friendly Palm Springs. “I don’t know what to do but cry. That’s all I can really do.”
“We feel so safe here, and it’s a wake-up call, that we are not as safe as we think,” said Ruth Debra, chair of the Desert Stonewall Democrats, a local LGBT advocacy group. “This was very specifically a hate crime.”
The Desert Stonewall Democrats have set up a Justice 4 George Facebook page and a GoFundMe account for George and Chris to match a rewards fund up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers.
This is the second reported crime targeting LGBT people in Palm Springs in 2015. In June, Joshua Wade Johnson, a 30-year-old homeless man, allegedly attacked a 71-year-old man after discovering that he was gay. Johnson was arrested a few days later.
Leonard Woodrow
Catch these ignorant morons and lock them away until they learn to respect other people’s rights.
John Ryan Arnold
Jean Paul Tu how sad and scary!! In Palm Springs of all places
Chris DeMay
I hope they catch those assholes and give them life in prison!!
Rusty66
I am 71 years old, gay, and live in Cathedral City with my gay foster son, who is my caregiver.
We are both disabled and confined to wheelchairs. He had a Big Gulp thrown on him at the bus stop. The “man” said something like “disabled queers like you shouldn’t be allowed to live.
It never occurred to me that we would have problems like this in the desert. I lived in San Diego since 1976 and never had ANY problems.
With all the ammosexuals running around, I’m really afraid to go out.
Darryl Moir
It’s time to takethe streets back, and give as good as we get.
alanh1249
Honestly, Is it just me or is the human race armed with religion poisoned by prejudice and absolutely frantic with hatred
and fear galloping pell-mell back to the dark ages? Who on earth is hurt by a little girl or boy or adult being gay??
Desert Boy
This story is receiving a lot of press in the Southland. Luckily, there were several eyewitness and gave the cops excellent descriptions of the perps. This case stands as a cautionary tale that even in Palm Springs, you need to be on-guard.
Jim Fortier
Just awful
Mack
I’m pretty much anti guns but maybe we ought to start carrying in the areas we’re allowed to. I guess one would be pretty surprise if a “queer” pulled his gun out and pointed it at a bully.
Brian
This is why it’s important for all gay-identifying men to do weight training exercises. Build up your muscles. Learn self-defense.
A lot of homophobia occurs when the homophobe sees two men holding hands in the street. I would say that 80% of all homophobic incidents are triggered by such a sight. It proves that homophobia is triggered when the homophobe perceives that male homosexuality is entering the mainstream.
alphacentauri
Bashings can happen anywhere even in the nonstop parTy city of Palm Springs AKA “Death Valley” which is full of poz eldergays on meth that do it raw and trade HIV strains and STDs.
Jane Freeman
Diabolical! Hope they catch those swines and throw the book at them!!!!
NoCagada
Start packin’
Keep packin”
Giancarlo85
@Brian: Identifying this, identifying that… do you identify as a nutcase? Weight training? Why don’t you? And I don’t mean packing on the pounds eating Cinnabon. You don’t have any muscles and you can’t defend yourself.
You try to act “straight” so you can continue your closeted routine. You are deeply afraid of being out and you never hold the hand of another guy. You are too scared.
Bashings can happen anywhere because bigots can travel anywhere.
DarkZephyr
@Brian: “It proves that homophobia is triggered when the homophobe perceives that male homosexuality is entering the mainstream.”
And?
By the way, it HAS entered the mainstream. Homophobes need to get over it.
ridgelineranger
@ alphacenturi…WTF? What a stupid statement. Ant to George, sending positive thoughts your way for a speedy recovery.
Masc Pride
@Darryl Moir: Good luck getting that movement going! Guys like Chris would rather just cry about it.
Tracy Pope
@alphacentauri: I’ve heard this idiotic remark many times. I have a home in Palm Springs and I am there most of the year. I know a lot of the men you call “elderpoz” (who the eff makes up this sh!*?), probably a lot more than you will ever know your entire life, and none of the older men I know who are HIV+ use meth. Damned few are having sex outside of their marriage/relationship let alone bareback sex. Keep your antiquated silly notions to yourself.
alphacentauri
@ridgelineranger: No it’s not stupid, haven’t you ever been to Palm Springs?
@Tracy Pope: I wrote about eldergays, but a lot of them are poz and do cheat on each other, do it raw/BB, and yes a lot do use meth and it doesn’t matter their age.
Tracy Pope
@alphacentauri: Wow, I thought I wrote “eldergays”. I’m not a fan of the term. It feels a little condescending and off-putting. Beyond that, all I can say is you must be friends with a or know a completely different group of older gay men than I in Palm Springs.
BTW, there is a big difference between “full of” and “a lot”, and it does matter – ask anyone who writes click-bait titles!