Oklahoma’s ridiculous state lawmakers are trying to exempt themselves from federal law, saying their state doesn’t need to adhere to the Matthew Shepard Act. States’ rights! So let’s meet 24-year-old Phillip Nelson, a college student who lives north of Tulsa, and says he was gay bashed while taking out the trash.
“[… T]hree men screamed ‘faggot’ and ‘You’re going to die!’ as they beat him while he took the trash out in his apartment complex late last month. Nelson’s assailants left him with cuts and bruises on his face and body. And he said they broke into his apartment a few days later, ransacked it and scrawled ‘fag’ across the wall. […] ‘I keep calling them [the police] and leaving voice mails but I never hear anything back,’ Nelson said. ‘No one ever returns my calls, which has me wondering if they’re kind of trying to let this thing die out and go away, or if they are going to do anything about it.'”
Oklahoma doesn’t cover sexual orientation within its own hate crimes laws.
Cam
He needs to get an attorney immidiately. Even in ragular assault cases, hiring an attorney who’s job it is, is to merely keep calling the police and the DA and saying “I’m mister so and so’s attorney, I was just wondering if you have an explanation for why you haven’t come out to interview him about the assault and battery that took place the other day.”
That usually gets the police moving.
Giovannidude
The decision to prosecute is totally up to the discretion of the police or the state’s attorney, but the decision to investigate is not.
If a crime has been committed (assault, later breaking and entering), and the police refuse to do their job and at least investigate, then they are incompetent and unprofessional. The police, to cover themselves, should at least go through the motions of an investigation, and pretend to be doing their job.
People from Oklahoma have told me that small towns there are much worse than in neighboring states like Arkansas and Texas when it comes to anything involving gays. When your state is so bad that Arkansas and Texas look enlightened by comparison, that really says something.
tazz
Also in Oklahoma a gay rights activist was found dead in his apartment after filing a ‘brutality complaint’
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/national/gay_activist_found_dead_kimmel_040510
Just goes to show that gay rights in America has a looooong way to go and incidents like this prove it
Cam
No. 3 · tazz
Also in Oklahoma a gay rights activist was found dead in his apartment after filing a ‘brutality complaint’
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dp…..mel_040510
Just goes to show that gay rights in America has a looooong way to go and incidents like this prove it
________________
No, look further into that one. The police were called becuase he was attacking another person inside a gay bar. The Bar called the police on him. Apparently the guy had also been banned from every gay bar in OK city occording to people in the gay community there.
That said, this guy needs to get an attorney to keep an eye on the police. Let the police know that this isn’t going away.
smith
Don’t jump right into believing this yet. People who go to college with him are saying he is an attention whore (gay classmates). Claims of harassment in the classroom that never happened..etc. Facebook page says he call himself “star Phillip” and is releasing a memoir..um okay. sounds fishy to me. Plus, there are only 17,000 people there and the harassment continues without no identification of these people. May be wrong, I really hope someone would not fake a gay bash. Never know these days with fame whores.
Independently Minded
Something similar happened in Tucson, AZ. Two gay men who work at a local bar got smashed and drove to a restaurant downtown. They were so drunk they almost killed someone on the curb. Then when confronted by the person they almost killed (and their friends) they got violent and broke a window in the restaurant. They then fabricated an entire story about how they were in a hate crime and how they were targeted. They accused the police of ignoring their story and accused the restaurant of hating gay people (because they avoided the scuffle). Now that restaurant has a damaged reputation and these two losers got away with libel/slander.
ChrisM
I did think the story sounded fishy when he said the two men broke into his apartment and wrote on his wall. How would they know where he lived if they attacked him as he was taking out the garbage?
That said, though, I wonder if the police did respond to his calls, if he did make them. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Oklahoma cops took “no hate crime status for gay bashing” to mean they can ignore assaults on gays with no repercussions.
Scott
He needs to outfit his apartment with hidden cameras and also a dash cam for his car. The police will only do something if they have video. He should carry a pocket video recorder and whip it out when something occurs.
Josh
Is this Jayden from Fratmen? It really looks like him…
If it IS him, perhaps that explains the police reluctance to act on it, as the mentality could be that the “porn faggot got what was coming to him”…
If it IS him, it also casts his assailants in an interesting light…
Ricky
ChrisM, logic eludes you on one small aspect of your point. Do you not think it possible that if they attacked him while he was taking out the trash, there was a chance that they were watching his place and waiting for him to come out, or followed him from his home? To say that the story sounds fishy BECAUSE of that is rather unrealistic. For example, if I take out the trash in my appartment complex, anyone would know where I live because my appartment is pretty much in front of the dumpster.
I’m not saying this isn’t a “fishy” situation but c’mon, many people who are attacked are attacked by people that know them or of them and that could have been the case here.
KB
Regardless of whether these charges are true, people I think forget exactly what hate crimes legislation does – and more importantly what it doesn’t do. The legislation merely enhances criminal penalties for targeting lgbt people for acts which are already illegal. In this case, even without a hate crimes statute, there is clear criminal assault and battery. Further, he should retain an attorney and seek civil damages. Assault and battery are common law torts which are recoverable regardless of the victims lgbt status, and irrespective of the state’s having a hate crimes statutory scheme. You don’t have to wait for the legislature on this – the law in every state already protects everybody’s bodily integrity from attack.
WiseUp
I don’t believe his story. I think it’s yet another case of fraud.
Joe K
Federal laws triumph over state laes. the state can not just excuse itself from a federal law (otherwise they would have dome that against the IRS years ago). What he needs to do or his lawyer is to contac the US Dept Of Justice.
He should also be covered by simple assualt and battery charges. Otherwise anyone who just shouts faggot can be given a free ticket to beat the crap out of someone.
Bayley
Ummm….okay? that’s it?
That’s a miserable cliff hanger.
Any petition, contact info of police to get a hold of? contact info of this guy for HRC or ACLU or freelance equality lawyers to get a hold of? ANYTHING other than reporting on this and making it seem like gays in Oklahoma should stay locked behind closed doors.
Kyle
Are hetros trolling our site again or is it more of the same with repressed closet cases on here who get rejected out & about for being ugly…then come and take out their bitterness on the community on gay blogs?
I don’t believe so many people could question a gay bashing. I think the above commentators questioning the motives here are just trying to stir the pot and get a rise out of people. For that, I sincerely hope you get your head bashed in and that goes for all of you who come on here questioning gay bashing incidents. I PRAY a miserable attack on you with no one to come to your rescue. The thought alone makes me smile, and I don’t even know this kid.
WiseUp
Kyle : Don’t be a retard. Look up the Shawn Bennett case in Lansing, Michigan. There’s something seriously wrong with you if you think disbelieving someone’s story means one is “self-hating” or a heterosexual. And praying for somebody to get bashed? There is something wrong with you, and you should get help.
alan brickman
where did they find out where he lived in that complex? did he know his assailants then?…
WiseUp
P.S. And notice how the photoshop enhancement on the black eye actually goes over the sideburn.
Monica
@Cam: I totally agree!
Who Cares
Hey Wiseup, did you notice the bruise goes all the way to the ear? You are pretty quick to pass judgement, especially since you have no clue of which you speak. I can hardly wait until someone whupps up on you so we can all scream LIAR. Growup, the world awaits you.
WiseUp
LOL at Who Cares. Actually, a group did try to bash me once and I kicked their asses. But that still doesn’t mean I don’t sympathize with others who are bashed who can’t fight back. But THIS case is a fraud. When you see the black eye blown up (you can see a larger pic on Towleroad) you can see it goes OVER the sideburn. And he says on his MySpace page he’s into photoshop. You’ve been frauded.
Anon
@WiseUp: Troll on, troll, troll on.
ossurworld
The trash took him out.
Lacy
So many of you know, it was proven that Phillip Nelson did NOT committ fraud or lie about the situation.For it IS TRUE! Phillip Nelson does not have MySpace or Facebook. If this was an act if fraud, then why is the case still open? I seen him in person when this occured. He was messed up for a while, causing him to drop his classes. Educate before judging. P.s. he was writing his memoir about his fathers cancer before anything evet happened. Grow up people. WE KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE SAD THING IS THIS IS LEFT OPEN.