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Loading ...Gay man fights for life after homophobic attack
09.04.2008 4:19pm EDT
(London) Three teenagers are in police custody following a vicious unprovoked attack in East London that has left a gay man in hospital fighting for his life.
The 20-year old victim, whose name is being withheld by police for his protection, was stabbed seven times.The attacked occurred as the man and his female friend were walking towards a gay-friendly bar. Police said five teens swarmed the victim and the woman. They yelled homophobic taunts at the man, before beating him over the head with a bottle and then stabbing him in the back and torso.
He was rushed to Royal London hospital where he underwent emergency surgery and was listed Thursday in serious condition.
Investigators are continuing to search for two other teens involved in the attack. They said that the teens could be charged with attempted murder, but that could be upgraded to murder if the victim succumbs to his injuries.
“What we’re concentrating on is tracking down and bringing to justice the people who committed this evil crime,” Det. Insp. Howard Way told the local newspaper The East London Advertiser.
It was the 47th homophobic attack in East London in the past 12 months.
Local politicians appealed for calm in the area’s substantial gay community, as demands for greater police protection rose on Thursday.
“This is a sickening and vile assault,” said George Galloway, the Member of Parliament for the area.
“A near fatal knife attack on a defenseless man is horrific enough. The fact that this also appears to be a homophobic hate crime compounds the evil.”
Jon, you’re the one living in a US-centric world–an anti-US centric one. You see a cow suffering in Ireland and you automatically think that cows have it much worse in the US. Your point are completely wrong.
A) I said more gays can marry in America meaning taking the populations of California and Massachuesetts (I should also take NJ and CT since gays get 100% the same recognition but a different name) that’s more than 50 million people.
B)Let me name just a few of what gay Americans have contributed to the gay world: the modern gay rights movement, gay pride, rainbow flag, gay resorts, gay cruises, gay vacation events, Internent, gay bar concept, and as much as I hate to admit it, techno, which came out of Detroit and embraced by homos everywhere!
C)Gay are NOT “much” safter in Canada. I suppose no news is good news for people like you too ignorant to understand the big world around. Canada has had 2 serial killers targeting homosexuals just inthe past 1.5 years. Statistically, there are more gays bashed in canada than the US. Toronto’s crime rate is 18X higher than New York City’s. Britain, of course, tops even Canada.
D) Everytime you see some forienger waving a rainbow flag dancing to rock n roll and girating in a gay pride parade, they are emmulating US culture since those things came out of the belly of the beast itself. Sorry if your hatred for Bush gives you a blind eye to America’s greatness.
E) Sorry to break it to you, but a friend and I actually tallied up the gay bars listed in France and Ohio, and Ohio leads by 4 extra gay bars.
F) As of 2006, France has banned gay marriage (allowing domestic partnerships) and banning gay adoption. In fact, when it comes to gay adoptions, europe is far behind the US (woops, did I say something negative about Europe in favor of the Great Satan??? Bad is me!!). There are only 2 states which ban gay adoption. Even sweden does not permit gay adoption. And although France permits gays to openly serve in its military, they are NOT allowed to serve in positions of authority. Do you think gay Americans would settle for that? Not in a million years.
Please endeavor to get your head out your butt, jon boy, and open your eyes to the big world. Not everything evil happens only in the US. You might try to educate yourself and use the Internet for more than downloading porn. Thanks!!
david Said: “tiger tzu…move to cuba, pleaese, we all beg of you. Hop on your inner tube and sail away……”
I think you would be more comfortable in a Communist country than I. I can at least allow for a difference of opinion without making a personal attack or telling someone they should move just because they don’t buy into your rose-colored view of the USA. How un-American is it to try and limit freedom of thought and expression. Typical Communist ideaology…think as I do or not at all. You have proven my point once again. Thank you.
Blaming the victim is as old as hate crimes, and bespeaks a deep, deep internalized homophobia on the part of the one doing the blaming. The REAL test of free speech comes when we’re called upon to defend speech which we find obnoxious, radical, distasteful, etc. NO ONE, no matter HOW outre, deserves to have the piss beaten out of them simply for existing.
Bud Clark
San Diego CA USA
I truly hope that this man finds the courage to survive this horrifying violation to his person.
On another note Mark, with all due respect, you truly have blinders on.
A) More gays can legally marry in 6 countries, no matter where they live…the US has only two states which allow it.
B) Contrary to your US-centric thinking, not all trends in the gay community came from the US.
C) Gays are much safer in Canada or the Netherlands than the US.
D) Gay culture in the US is NOT the envy of the world…..although your production of porn probably is.
E) Sorry to break it to you, France actually does have more gay bars than Ohio.
F) As for France “banning” gay marriage and adoption, not quite honest on that one are you. France has not “banned” anything, they merely have not passed any laws allowing it. Banning is one thing, not having a law in place is another.
You have now been told, in the future, please endeavor to educate yourself appropriately prior to making wild and frankly, blatant statements of questionable value.
I don’t condone violence toward anyone, but gay people seem to ask for it a lot of the time. They can be very obnoxious and radical and often confrontational. I wonder if these “gay attacks” aren’t so much gay bashings but people beating the crap out of irritating thugs who are always in your face.
Why does everything, and I do mean everything, turn into a reason to bash America. I just don’t get it. It’s a stroy aboug brutal violence against gays in britain and once again these stupid message boards turn to whats wrong with the big bad great satan. I’m so over it!!
tiger tzu…move to cuba, pleaese, we all beg of you. Hop on your inner tube and sail away……
Mark Said: “JD, I realize the left cannot pass up any reason to bash the US, even when the story is about hate crime in euroland, but how is it the US is “backward” with gay rights? More gays can legally marry in the US than any nation on earth.”
In many countries gay people can serve openly and proudly in their respective militaries but that is not the case in the USA. Several countries have extended full rights, including marriage, to their gay citizens whereas we have only 2 states (one quite recently) that permits gay people to marry. Even the leadership of Cuba has made mention of extending full rights to its gay citizens. Bashing the USA might be disagreeable, but blatant falsehoods defending our country is no better.
JD, I realize the left cannot pass up any reason to bash the US, even when the story is about hate crime in euroland, but how is it the US is “backward” with gay rights? More gays can legally marry in the US than any nation on earth. American gays started every gay trend celebrated around the world. Factually, people are safer on US streets than anywhere on earth, unless you sell drugs or are a member of a gang. Gay culture in the US is the envy of the gay world. There’s more gay bars in Ohio than in France, which, btw, bans both gay marriage and gay adoption. Yes, your precious france bans gay adoption and marriage.
Heather’s comment that we are somehow in the wrong for pointing out that some conservative Christians make a career of demeaning LGBT people misses a very important point. Criticism of “Christian bigotry” has not resulted in innocent Christians being stabbed, shot, and bludgeoned with baseball bats and tire irons.
The hatred spewed from the pulpit and from the mosque, however, has only served to demean the basic humanity of GLBT people. By demeaning our very existence, these people pave the way for others to feel justified in taking the next step of acting out violently on this hatred. Let us not forget that before there were concentration camps, Nazi leaders denounced Jews, Poles, Gypsies, gays and the mentally and physically disabled as human vermin. This paved the way to justify discrimination and then violence against these people. We are not “bashing Christians” – we are calling bigots and hate mongers into the light of day.
I don’t think it’s religion it the UK as it practically doesn’t exist.
It’s basically a drunken, thug culture in which innocent people are not permitted to defend themselves and the police spend more time peering at the vast array of spy cameras than out on the beat catching crooks.
I’m liberal on most issues except gun laws. I think all (non-convicted)citizens should be able to protect themselves from crime.
I used to live in the UK but after two house burglaries, where the police basically considered it an “insurance matter”, I left for Los Angeles. This is supposed to be one of the world’s crime capitals but I feel much safer here than in any major UK city.
Shame the US is so backwards on gay rights though.
A year ago or so an American gay couple was attacked by Muslim youth in Amsterdam, Netherlands while holding hands walking down the street. The local gay community actually came to the defense of the Muslim youth. Sometimes I wonder where the priorities of gays are. We say we want things better for us, yet we are embracing the very people who are trying to kill us.
sounds like hatred is a two-way street. We’re condemning a hate crime by bashing christians (but, oddly, not Muslims). Most of the devout Christians I know would never condone such violence. They are very nonjugemental, unlike the posters on here.
First of all, the UK has the highest incidence of hate crimes against gays in the western world. I doubt it has anything to do with religious convictions. It has to do with a society that has been destroyed by socialist doctrines that render people into nothing less than zoo animals. In the UK today, it’s even illegal to degend oneself. Don’t understand or believe me? Well, google: britain, self defense, crime, violence. Britain due to its soft on crime PC marxist laws now has the destinction of having the highest violent crime rate in the west, according to the UN and several other reports. And the British authorities probably underestimate their crime rates! It is not religion which has created a festering violent society in which minorities are often the targets, it’s socialism which takes individual repsonsibility and tosses it out the window. Just another way of looking at things….
As long as I live, I will never understand the senseless, ignorant, intolerent behaviour of some males towards homosexuals, gay men in particular. Why must these men continue to nurture and carry out such viciousness towards an already marginalized community. Does it make them feel like macho he-men or are they products of a even more evil, sinister group of religious fanatics that are so warped with their twisted views of righteousness that they have lost all sense of reality towards human dignity. Who gives them the right to make judgement calls against another human being? I have often thought throughout my life, how interesting it would be to witness a person who has been so hateful and hurtful towards a gay man or a lesbian to come back in another life as a gay man or lesbian (meanwhile maintaining their former consciousness of who they were and what they did) and to suffer as they have made others suffer by their ignorance.