Philadelphia police believe they are one step closer to identifying members of a violent gang of heterosexual men and women who led an unprovoked and debilitating assault on two gay men in Center City last Thursday.
The victims, 26 and 28-year-old boyfriends who have chosen not to be identified by the media, claim they were on their way to dinner Thursday night when a group of two “visibly intoxicated” men and six “well dressed” women approached them on the corner of 16th and Chancellor, hurling gay slurs their way.
According to one of the victims, an assailant asked him if they were “fucking boyfriends,” to which he replied, “yes, this is my fucking boyfriend.”
At this point, the assailant allegedly said “oh, so you’re a dirty fag?” The victim says he responded to this with “yeah, maybe I am a dirty fag.”
Both victims and several friends who took photos of the assault from a nearby third story window have told NBC Philadelphia that all eight assailants joined to kick both victims “in the face, head, and chest.” Though police were unsure at first if the attack was motivated by hate, they have now classified the assault as a hate crime.
Speaking with the media last night, both victims say they have been released from the hospital with serious visible injuries. One victim, speaking through and contraption that will have his jaw wired shut for the next two months, says he suffered multiple facial fractures and several orbital fractures.
“I thought he was dead,” his boyfriend said, describing how assailants “threw his head onto the ground.”
According to a friend, this photo shows the extensive damage done to one of the victim’s faces:
According to CBS Philadelphia, the victims have been able to identify their attackers through surveillance footage captured either before or after the attack. Though no arrests have been made, police seem confident that the assailants will be brought to justice.
IcarusD
Oh God, how awful. I’m glad there’s footage that will allow them to arrest the perpetrators. I’m sure they’ll try to claim that they were provoked, but (a) there’s no excuse for that kind of violence, period, and (b) sounds like the footage will show they initiated it.
Stache99
Oh how brave of this group of twelve thugs. Sounds like attempted murder to me. The DA better take this serious.
Just replace gay with say jewish or a black couple. No one would expect anything less then an all out manhunt. Good news is sounds like they’re going to be caught.
rickhfx
Straight people doing what they are best at. As long as religion gets a free pass on hate, what can we expect, more violence, its sanctioned still by a free pass, Hate is hate whats up with a “free Pass”?
Tackle
This is awful , but thank god both are alive. And it’s just a matter of time before all 12 are cought. @Stache99: And I’m sure an all out manhunt will be conducted for this gay couple. Just like an all out manhunt tends to be moreso for a White child who is abducted and murdered than any other race/ethnicity. And speaking of replacing: Imagine if those 12 Whites had been 12 Blacks. The gay [email protected] would have shown up and directed all their LOVE 🙂 to the Black COMMUNITY.
aero3914
I’m sorry to hear about this vicious attack, but “Intoxicated”, “well dressed” gang huh? Interesting word choice used to describe white, preppy frat guys. We know it wasn’t black or ethnic guys, because that would have been the headline. Hope they catch the gang.
ethan_hines
“Though police were unsure at first if the attack was motivated by hate” are you KIDDING me? what else could motivate an attack on gay people other then deep seated (most likely self) hate made manifest!?!
michael mellor
Most of the alleged attackers were women. This proves that women are becoming increasingly violent towards male homosexuality. They’re doing it because male homosexuality in the mainstream means male power and a questioning of female privilege.
It’s time to fight back, guys. It’s time to take women’s privileges away from them.
Paco
@michael mellor: “It’s time to fight back, guys. It’s time to take women’s privileges away from them.”
Hey Michael…
The 1950s called and it wants its misogyny back.
Besides, I am more inclined to believe it was the two “visibly intoxicated” men showing off for the women by instigating the homophobic confrontation.
dewin
@Stache99: OK, this adds up to 8 terrorists, not 12- still not a fair fight- and most of us don’t hit women, the straight uptight bitches are the worst-
onthemark
Well dressed heterosexuals? In Philadelphia? They can’t be locals. They must be from New York!
@michael mellor: “It’s time to fight back, guys.” What are you gonna do, “michael” – hit them with your purse?
cflekken
I don’t go to the gym to look good, despite what everyone’s perception of working out is. I go to the gym to protect myself from assholes of this world who resort to physical violence to feel good about themselves and to defend those who may not be able to defend themselves physically. I hope these 8 fuckheads get the worst possible punishment.
verylittlegravitasindeed
Just to be clear, until you’re in this situation, you don’t know how you’d react. I used to prosecute domestic violence. I’m well aware of the cycle of abuse and the signs of abuse. But then I fell in love with an abusive guy.
And I stayed, and I got hit, and I accepted the apologies and I felt bad for him and I tried to help him, and I stayed and I got hit…am I the crazy one? Maybe I was, but just because I could see what was happening, doesn’t make a difference when it’s your own feelings. Don’t be too quick to judge someone who stays in an abusive relationship and I hope all the guys who say they’d never put up with it, never find themselves in a position to find out.
verylittlegravitasindeed
@verylittlegravitasindeed: stupid queerty, took me to the wrong story…disregard that comment, lol
SteveDenver
DAMMIT! Here’s hoping for complete recovery to the victims and that all their assailants are apprehended and successfully prosecuted for hate crimes.
Advice to the rest of us who are potential victims because of bigotry: DO NOT ENGAGE! DO NOT TALK OR CONFRONT. Keep moving, move toward populated areas and areas where there is traffic. Go inside a business. Who cares if they call you names or accuse you of being chicken. GET TO SAFETY and call police immediately.
If you are attacked and are not prepared to fight or are outnumbered, GO CRAZY WITH SWINGING ARMS, KICKING LEGS, SCRATCHING, SCREAMING AND GROWLING. Fight for all you’re worth. Go for one person and go for their eyes, don’t pull back, don’t hesitate, you are under attack and this is a desperate situation. Scream like a crazy person, “ONE OF YOU WILL LOSE AN EYE!” — it will cause a lot of people to back off if you’re a lot more trouble than they anticipated. Be as berserk as you can, you’re under attack and have nothing to lose.
michael mellor
Paco,
The article clearly states that the women were involved in the attack on the gay men. Maybe you should stop defending women just because they’re women.
If a gay man is assaulted by a woman, he has every right to fight back.
elSac08
@SteveDenver: Great advice, luv ya Bro!!!!!
Paco
@michael mellor: yes Michael. the article does say women were involved as well as two MEN. It doesn’t specify who started the confrontation or threw the first blow. In the video, the victim says there were 3 guys.
Maybe you should stop making all women the enemy just because they’re women. You live in a special world all your own where all men are secretly wishing to be in your bed but those pesky women folk keep getting in the way. That is the gist of all your posts, isn’t it?
Now please explain to me where I said the two victims didn’t have the right to fight back? Oh that’s right… I didn’t. The gay men were victims of a hate crime perpetrated by a group of both male and female homophobes and they should be punished for it. Quit using this tragedy to spout off with your misogynistic garbage.
pressuredrop
@michael mellor:
“It’s time to take women’s privileges away from them”?
Do you personally know any women, or do you just throw rocks at them from a distance?
Paco
@Paco: oh and the article seems to be off about some of the facts. There were 12 people and three of the attackers were men.
“Monday night, both men spoke with CBS 3 Eyewitness News on the condition that they wouldn’t be identified.
“Three guys just started pummeling me, and knocked me to the ground. I hit the ground hard and I was out hard,” one victim said.”
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/09/15/police-still-hoping-for-video-evidence-in-aparrent-center-city-anti-gay-attack/
IcarusD
@michael mellor: These women should be prosecuted for their crimes. But you have suggested that ALL women should lose their rights because of this. That’s flat out sexist misogyny.
Bauhaus
@jimbryant, I mean, michael mellor:
No matter how many times you change your screen name, or how many screen names you come up with, your modus operandi remains the same.
You’re an attention whore and a sadist. You’ll say anything to get attention. The more offensive and outrageous, the better.
Hopefully, this couple recovers quickly, and that the cowardly thugs responsible are prosecuted and punished severely.
Mikah
Infuriating.Homophobic Scum.
o.codone
it will turn out that this gang isn’t white as first indicated. they will be what the NYT’s, in their doublespeak distortion calls “white hispanics”, or they will be “white african americans”, whatever it takes to re-frame this to be white-on-white crime, but, mark my words, it’s not white people who did this.
CharlieM3
And that is why I pack a .380 in my hip pocket, to defend myself against straight fucks like those in Philly.
CharlieM3
@onthemark: I wont hit them with a purse, but a .380 in the head.
vonric
infuriating – happened in my neighborhood… and I hate this kind of stupid gang mentality bs… Clearly a hate crime, clearly a major imbalance of power and clearly, though according to one of the victims, a lot of the action was by one guy, there were a number of men and women. The Philly police site now has two security cam videos that are being run in an effort to get call-ins identifying the criminal jerks….
normally this is the neighborhood where you can see two Dads in Rittenhouse Square, see two guys holding hands on the street.. and no one cares…
mezzacanadese
I hope that they throw the book at these horrible people. And Philadelphia is known as “the city of brotherly love”?
Bauhaus
HERE ARE THE THUGS:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=KD8MglUjA50
Stache99
@Bauhaus: I would be shocked if they don’t catch them soon with this. Someone will recognize these scum.
Paco
@Bauhaus: Thanks for the link. They are f*cked. Hopefully none of them are suffering from “affluenza” and will get the book thrown at them.
seaguy
Hope they catch each and every one of those pieces of garbage and throw the book at them.
Stache99
Looks like they’ve been caught. Thanks to twitter.
http://prntscr.com/4nl53y
Chris
I hope that both criminal and civil charges get filed against them. ….. And at the risk of sounding catty, that’s “well dressed?”
Saint Law
@michael mellor: If you’d read the article you’d know it was a man that began the assault. If you’d looked at the footage you’d have seen the majority of the gang were men.
But no, instead as per you looked inside your overheated imagination and blamed women.
The straight men you long for will never love you. Hell – no self respecting gay man would. Reconcile yourself to the long years of solitary celibacy that lie in wait and stop flaunting your inadequacy on internet comment boards you creepy, pathetic shut-in.
xx
cflekken
@Stache99: Thank you for that. Brought a tear to my eye to know that they have been identified. Not sure if they’ve been identified by name, but at this point, knowing where they were and with what party they were associated, should just be a matter of days to apprehend them all. Fucking scumbags.
Leonard Woodrow
Catch these ignorant fools and jail them for as long as it takes to re-educate them.
cflekken
Love reading this about how identification and arrests are probably just one step away. People who bash social media should see how Twitter and Facebook helped move this investigation forward so quickly.
http://gawker.com/philly-hate-crime-suspects-tracked-down-by-anonymous-tw-1635661609
michael mellor
Saint Law,
Don’t deny the role of women in this assault on gay men.
michael mellor
Notice how all the women in that photo of the alleged suspects have long flowing hair. There is no individual variation. These women are like clones who subscribe to stereotype.
Such women are clones. It wouldn’t surprise me if these women feared gay men who might interfere with their ability to market their long hair to heterosexual men.
dbmyers
@rickhfx: Let’s keep this real. Straight HOMOPHOBIC people, not straight people per se – we have a growing number of non-homophobic straight persons who are our political and human rights allies. They stand up for human rights – everybody’s human rights and they vote! Let’s respect them for that and not make generalized statements that appear to condemn people just for being straight . . . please!
dbmyers
@michael mellor: Troll Alert! Don’t buy into this BS! The vast majority of women are natural allies of gay men and lesbians. Don’t subscribe to misogyny and bigotry, which is exactly what Michael Mellor is pitching. Any sane gay man would know better, so I’m pretty sure he isn’t gay and is therefore a troll provocateur. Don’t feed the trolls. It just makes them feel (incorrectly) that they are important. Pathetic, I know, but don’t give him any juice. Thank you.
dbmyers
@Bauhaus: You’re total correct about the whore Michael Mellor – a true troll and likely not even gay – just trying to stir up trouble between straight women and gay men when they are actually (in general) natural allies. Ignore the troll – don’t feed it with attention.
dbmyers
@o.codone: Any you know this how? You’re also just another troll, come out of the woodwork just to stir things up. Take Michael Mellor and go away together, you have no power here.
dbmyers
@Saint Law: You are correct. In the linked video from above I count eight men and seven women!
ShaunNJ
@o.codone: The answer is obvious – why would you make such comments and assumptions? Are you suggesting white people are never violent, bullies, or homophobic? There are videos and photos of the assailants which make it clear they are not black. Stop fanning the flames of racism – homophobia affects all of us – including nonwhite people who are also gay. I bet people who cross the street to avoid blacks but don’t do so with whites now understand anyone can be a criminal.
arj
Catch them, sentence them to a few hours locked down naked in some stockades in the dirtiest, sleaziest leather bar in Philly. After their “time,” send ’em home to their mommies…..
queenrosered
@michael mellor: You have lost your ever-loving mind, LOL! Women are the largest block of straight LGBT allies, moron! Why would you even say something so misogynist and clearly WRONG?
Gay men never have been and never will be a threat to straight women. Quite the opposite in fact. Women have been treated like second-class citizens far too long for us NOT to identify with the gay struggle!
Listen to dbmyers here and just GO AWAY TROLL!
Maude
This sort of thing will only be stopped when the ‘perps’ are caught and their pictures shown on tv and in the newspapers…every time it happens.
They did that to the ‘johns’ in another city, and the street sex was all but eliminated.
Stache99
@Maude: I’m probably sure it will be soon. Then the they’ll get the thuggish POS reputation they so richly deserve.
Stache99
@arj: They did that in the movie Police Academy.
Maude
I’m glad when the ‘badguys’ are caught, but I’m more than just a little bit uncomfortable knowing I am probably on tape almost everywhere I go.
Is this the price we must pay for our safety?
Ayn Rand, predicted this, and worse.
EGO
The perps should be sent to ISIS who will surely take care of them. :>)
mikehipp
PA doesn’t have a hate crime law so it doesn’t matter if the beating was motivated by the victims being gay.
I like that it was a bunch of catholics and “professional people” – just goes to show you, bigots come in all shapes and sizes, and religion is a bane to society.