The victim of a brutal anti-gay attack (left) underwent two surgeries
in which his badly severed jaw was reattached with two permanent
titanium plates. He spoke to the Blade this week on condition of
anonymity and is pictured here at home with his partner. (Washington
Blade photo by Michael Key)
A 29-year-old gay man spoke to the Blade Tuesday through jaws wired
shut to facilitate the healing of facial injuries brought about by a
brutal beating that extended over several streets near his home in
Columbia Heights on March 12.
"It happened so fast," said the man, who asked not to be identified
out of fear of retaliation from his unidentified attackers, who remain
at large.
"I remember being dragged. I remember being kicked. I remember being
yelled at and being called faggot," he said. "And my mind wants to say
there were three of them, but it's all flashes."
Sitting beside his partner at the kitchen table of the couple's home,
the two said they decided to grant a series of news media interviews
this week to draw attention to a rash of violent incidents against
members of the LGBT community.
Both said their spirits were lifted when they learned one day earlier,
on Monday, March 26, that D.C. police arrested a 27-year-old woman in
connection with the March 11 shooting of a gay man at the
International House of Pancakes restaurant in Columbia Heights.
They say police have told them investigators are hopeful they will
soon identify the attacker in the 29-year-old gay man's case and will
make one or more arrests in the case.
The IHOP restaurant is about seven blocks from where the 29-year-old
gay man was attacked at Georgia Avenue and Irving Street, N.W., one
day later.
The man shot at the IHOP, said to be 31, suffered a non-life
threatening gunshot wound to the abdomen. Witnesses said the shooting
took place after the woman in custody, LaShawn Yvonne Carson, and two
men with her called the victim anti-gay names and a scuffle broke out.
Similar to the incident involving the 29-year-old gay man who spoke to
the Blade, police listed the shooting incident as a hate crime related
to the victim's perceived or actual sexual orientation.
The victim's jaw was broken in two places, requiring the insertion of
two permanent titanium plates. (Courtesy image)
On the same day the 29-year-old gay man was beaten and robbed, a
transgender woman was knocked unconscious at about 11:45 p.m. at West
Virginia Avenue and Mt. Olivet Road, N.E. Police said they had
insufficient evidence to list that incident as a hate crime, but they
were looking into the possibility that it was.
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The 29-year-old gay man and his partner said the two were also buoyed
by a silent march organized by their friends that took place March 20,
the day the 29-year-old beating victim was released from the hospital.
As many as 700 people marched past where the attack against him took
place after beginning the procession at the IHOP.
The victim said he was too weak to march after having spent eight days
in the hospital. He underwent two surgeries in which his badly severed
jaw, broken in two places by attackers who kicked him in the face, was
reattached with two permanent titanium plates.
"It was stellar. It was reassuring," he said of the march. "It makes
me proud to be where I'm at — friends who I have in my life. And it
gave me a lot of strength. It gave me a lot of security. It
re-instills my faith in people."
Although the attack against him began at Georgia Avenue and Irving
Street, police said they found the victim four blocks away at Georgia
and Morton Street. The victim said he recalls being dragged through an
alley a short distance from Georgia Avenue after the initial attack.
The alley where the victim was allegedly dragged before being attacked
by a second group and robbed of his iPhone and iPad. (Washington Blade
photo by Michael Key)
He said minutes after the attackers appear to have left him alone, he
called his partner on his cell phone to tell him he had been attacked
and needed help. But the partner said he sounded dazed and couldn't
say where he was.
Seconds later, the partner heard other people speaking to the victim.
The victim told the Blade he believes another group of attackers beat
and robbed him, taking his iPhone and the iPad he had in the briefcase
he was carrying.
"It was really hard to be attacked the second time and think that
someone would do that," he said.
"I just want to give thanks for the amazing support and outpouring
that we've had from everyone lately," he said. "It makes me proud to
be part of the community that I belong to."
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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