A Seattle couple who sustained multiple injuries during an attack at a Gay Pride event on Capitol Hill now face thousands of dollars in medical expenses.
Rawstory reports that Steven Briggs and Patrick Dettling had been out celebrating the legalization of same-sex marriage last Sunday, when a gang of three men and two women approached them.
As Dettling stretched, one of the men allegedly smacked his hand from out of the blue. When Dettling asked, “Why did you do that?,” the stranger sarcastically retorted, “I was just high fiving you.”
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.
The situation quickly intensified, with the attackers shouting homophobic slurs as they repeated punched the two men in the face and kicked them before fleeing.
“It’s kinda made me regress back a little bit,” says Dettling, who suffered a broken nose, cuts and bruises.
After spending five hours at the hospital, the couple — who have been together for eight years — decided to return to the Pride event later that evening. Seattle police are investigating the crime, but right now there aren’t any suspects.
“[People] must think with marriage comes everything,” said Briggs. “You know, that all ignorance and intolerance goes away and it doesn’t.”
The below video from KOMO further elaborates on the story.
Arcamenel
These are the people who need a gofundme.
Knarf Yahzie
horrible! what is wrong with people! karma will work its way back to them. get well soon to the victims.
otheby
That is scary,huh? Wonder if it would had been worse if one of the partners had not been there. Either way kinda terrifying.
Joseph Natos
🙁 this is ridiculous
M J Martinez Crogan
I will say this again . arm yourself. Don’t be a statistic.
otheby
Yup
James Lee Hawn
Sad that homophobes are so cruel
Denis Camacho
Awful! Agree M J Martinez Crogan
redcarpet30
The victims need help with medical bills. Here is the official GoFundMe http://www.gofundme.com/elg8pg
If you can’t afford anything, they would love any positive well wishes you can muster. You can post them to the facebook page of Capital City Pride, the pride organization of their home town of Olympia, WA. http://facebook.com/capcitypride
Tony Chaplinski
Jesus saw you shame shame
Chris Mommaerts
How Terrible
Dameon Gene Rogers
When gay marriage became legal in France there was an 80% rise in homophohic assaults. Be aware of ur surroundings and take Judo…get better soon brothers
Bob LaBlah
I think a physical self defense course should be taken by all. A few years back I saw a fight in the NYC subway system that made me stop and think what if that were me on the receiving end of those blows that guy was RAINING down on that other guy. It looked like something out of a Popeye cartoon, the fast, furious, vicious blows he was throwing.
NoCagada
That’s why I’m always packin’…and I don’t mean fudge
Brandon E Donovan
Do you have a place where I can donate money?
Ivan Alberto Lugo
Plz open a gofundme account for them!!
Jeffrey Wilcox
Fear and ignorance often lead to violence. Stay strong.
polarisfashion
I guess we all have to start carrying guns now.
lauraspencer
Scary and sad at the same time.
I’m confused though. Doesn’t everyone have to have medical insurance these days and isn’t everyone now covered? Why don’t they have insurance?
Cesar Fortun
I hope they feel better soon.
Be very careful guys.
John Olivier-Shaw
The others need to be caught and punished!
SeeingAll
BTW : The Utah case was exposed as a fraud today. The “victim” staged it and the family claims to be returning all the GoFundMe donations.
SeeingAll
(And I’m not making a statement on this Seattle case. Just mentioning the Delta, Utah, incident because Queerty linked to it up above).
Xzamilio
@Tony Chaplinski: Fuck Jesus. If I sat back and saw this happen and did nothing — like JESUS — I’d be called a monster and people would wonder why I didn’t help. It’s funny how we hold ourselves accountable as fallible humans more than some so-called imperfect sky daddy. But there’s that cognitive dissonance again.
Xzamilio
We’re still a ways away from true equal rights… but in the meantime, some of us are honing our skills to deliver equal lefts to some of these homophobes. This gay dude don’t go down easy… not without a fight or an invitation from Will Smith.
benandy
Laura, you should look at your health insurance policy. There will nearly certainly be both deductibles and co-pays up to a certain amount. If they don’t have a “family” policy, that might be doubled, less any medical expenses they’ve had so far this year.
And just having insurance doesn’t make the “cost” of being assaulted badly enough to go to the hospital “go away”. And that assumes they have jobs where they can still go to work before the scabs drop off and the bruising subsides. If they were your waiter or barrista, probably not. They also might need counseling to recover from the psychic trauma.
Stephen Kuzirian
This is horrible but don’t they have health insurance?
Terry Purdue
I hope this is legit. Idk whats real or hoax anymore in the age of Social Media
Louie Mars
Queers need to take back Capital Hill, and need to fight back….I don’t wear steel toed boots just because they’re sexy…
Sean Hansen
Come to Canada, we.ll treat you free…..
Alvaro Ramirez
Or just carry a gun. AZ gives us the right to have a gun. Faster than a punch. Nobody is going to put my life in danger just because they thinks it’s okay
Transiteer
Time to set up a donation centre. And NO ONE should have to shell out of pocket for medical attention in this regard. Or any other either.
Joseph Pulvirenti
Very sad!
SpunkyBunks
Was it really a legit homophobic bashing? Or did he get his ass kicked for being a drunk jerk?
I’m not trying to be rude, but usually there are tons of people at gay events, or at least a few hanging around the bars/clubs during and after business hours. How come there’s no witnesses??!!??
Nowadays, if it’s legit, there will be eyewitness video posted on the internet immediately. Did that happen in this case? Plus there’s video cameras posted everywhere in public places. Still no video?
I’m just tired of the fake assholes exploiting the sympathy of the gay community, now they cause us to doubt the real victims!
SeeingAll
@SpunkyBunks: I know, it gets hard to know for sure in so many cases, right ? Ugh. (Unless they’re really OBVIOUS frauds like the one in Delta, Utah).
GG
My bowling teammate was attacked on the way home after bowling one nights. Cuts and bruises, some bad, one eye swollen shut for several days, not to mention what a physical attack can do to one’s psyche.
AFAIK, most states allow an adult to carry mace (check your state’s laws). Arm yourself if you can.
Fiona Fernandes
Sad!
Cam
@SeeingAll: And of course the first thing BJ’s other screen name does is find a way to use this story to attack gays or insinuate they are liars, and, as is usual with all if his screen names, he provides no link for proof.
Nice to see you’re consistent no matter what name you post under.
BJ McFrisky
To add insult to injury, Obama’s IRS will now fine them for not signing up for Obamacare.
Sluggo2007
There was no description of the perps whatsoever. Gee. I wonder why.
SeeingAll
@Cam: I’m good at spotting the liars. I knew Rick Jones in Utah was a fraud, and that the Relentlessly Gay yard thing was a fraud. But I’ll admit I just don’t know with these guys.
Cam
@BJ McFrisky: said… “To add insult to injury, Obama’s IRS will now fine them for not signing up for Obamacare.”
__________________________
Typical, somebody is beaten badly and BJ desperately won’t talk about that and tries to use it to attack any politician who isn’t a republican.
The derangement of you Log Cabiners is truly staggering.
aliengod
@BJ McFrisky: Right. How dare they not comply with their beloved President’s mandated health insurance. I thought it was perfect and we’d never have to worry about health care again?
Stache99
@Xzamilio: I have a dream that one day one of these shitheads will get his ass kicked bad with lots of pictures to share. I have a dream that it was me there instead of Mr no violence at any cost guys. Maybe the next one will be packing a smith and wessen and just goes off on these thugs.
Btw. when are people going to help? There had to be others in the vicinity. That’s a very crowded area. Especially, on a gay pride day! Really tiring of this sheep mentality. Where are the hero’s?
Stache99
Sorry but hearing these stories over and over doesn’t make me feel much pride. I get it. These guys aren’t fighters but there’s no way I would’ve let these punks do that without paying for it even if I lost the fight.
Eric Scholtz
That is why we as a community us LGBTQ
Xzamilio
@Stache99: Many of these homophobes know who to target. You think they’d go up to some buff, roided out gay guy and try to jump him?
Saint Law
@Stache99: Um, the chubby guy did fight back. He actually chased them off.
Saint Law
@SpunkyBunks: “I’m just tired of fake assholes exploiting the sympathy of the gay community,”
Like yours you mean?
Saint Law
@aliengod: “I thought…” Well, that’s what u did wrong right there.
Ryan Michael Darsey
Joey Bellucco maybe you heard it wrong? Gay couple was attacked
enlightenone
@lauraspencer: “…Why don’t they have insurance?…”
The same reason why they don’t carry mace, don’t know self-defense, etc. Why can’t they identify their 5 thugs/thugetts is the big question?
seaguy
I know the victim pictured he is a nice guy who did not deserve to be attacked at all. I live just a couple blocks from where this happened. There have been an increasing number of gay bashings in the area so I hope the the Seattle Police start to put more cops on patrol and that the community can do what it can to stop these senseless attacks on gay men.
seaguy
@SpunkyBunks: It was a legit gay bashing. He is not a big drinker and when he does he’s not one to be loud and obnoxious trying to start trouble.
seaguy
@lauraspencer: Many of the Obamacare plans are high deductible plans so that could be why they need the assistance. Some of the plans have deductibles in the $5,000 range.
Bob LaBlah
@lauraspencer: No hospital can turn you away in the time of an emergency. It is against the law and they will be sued, and they know it. The same goes for follow up treatment. Obamacare, as every thing else in life such as taxes and car insurance, isn’t exactly fair to every one but for the most part it is. That is why, if you noticed, the republicans hardly ever mention it anymore.