Suspects Sought in Wis. Gay Bashing

By Amita Parashar

Two young men were beaten in downtown Madison, Wis., apparently because they are gay.

"The perpetrators approached and accused them of being gay," police spokesman Joel DeSpain wrote in the incident report . He said one man was knocked to the ground and kicked while the other victim was punched multiple times in the head. Neither were seriously injured, according to police. The suspects are still being sought by police.

The attack occurred around 5 a.m. on May 2. The two men said they were outside smoking when the perpetrators approached them. The victims, 25 and 22, are both of Madison.

According to the report, the first suspect is about 6-foot-4 with a heavy build, has short blond hair, and was wearing a baby blue striped polo shirt. The other is a white male, about 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, aged 20-25, and was wearing a green T-shirt.

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Name: Roger Burr
Date posted: 5/12/2009 2:08:00 PM
Hometown: Marble Hill, MO

Comment:
Gay-bashing is not indigenous to Wisconsin in general, or Madison in particular. It can, and does, happen everywhere. This does not reflect poorly on the beautiful city of Madison or the majority of its residents. A couple of drunkards caused trouble, period. Nor do I think carrying firearms is the best approach. I am a gun owner and well versed in their use. That said, I worry about some other gay man having his gun taken from him, by his attackers. Then he could have some REAL trouble on his hands. The best bet, if you're out late at night is to travel in groups, along well lighted streets and call 9-1-1 if anything looks or feels 'hinky'. Stay safe, brothers. We're moving forward; it frustrates our enemies most, when we WIN!
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Name: gary
Date posted: 5/12/2009 11:17:00 AM
Hometown: waupaca

Comment:
Actually Wisconsin did not threaten to jail people married elsewhare. One small rural county's district Attorney pointed out a discrepancy in the law and Gay groups jumped on the perscution bandwagon. I live in Wisconsin and no one went to jail or was arrested. that said, a progressive city such as Madison still has its share of drunk college butt heads roaming streets eally in the morning looking for trouble.
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Name: Thomas
Date posted: 5/12/2009 9:29:00 AM
Hometown: Tallahassee, FloriDuh

Comment:
Actually Corrie you forgot to add your good old southern state Georgia (and my FloriDuh) to the list. Actually gay bashings can happen anywhere. That said, one can look to each State in terms of their governance and general stance on gay issues. Not sure about Wisconsin but do know that the southern, generally republican states (like your's and mine) tend to have most of the ignorant legislative actions (and general populace) views against gays. Plus look at state polling on gay marriage. New Jersey residents suppport it; southerners do NOT. NJ is likely to have marriage in near future. Georgia and it's regional neighbors are still debating evolution...
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Name: Scott J K
Date posted: 5/12/2009 6:56:00 AM
Hometown: Milwaukee, WI

Comment:
Thanks for the compliment, I think, Corey! Never realized Wisconsin was any more backward than the rest of the South, but it's the thought that counts;)
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Name: Corey
Date posted: 5/12/2009 4:37:00 AM
Hometown: Atlanta, GA

Comment:
Wisconsin is the state that threatened to throw any gay couples who got married in California in prison. Doesn't come as a surprise to me. Wisconsin isn't much more progressive than South Carolina, Mississippi, New Jersey, Texass or any other ignorant/backward state you can think of.
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Name: michael
Date posted: 5/11/2009 10:17:00 PM
Hometown: boston

Comment:
What do you wanna bet that the victims were both much smaller than 6-foot-4/heavy build and 6-foot-1/180lbs?
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Name: Casey Cameron
Date posted: 5/11/2009 10:13:00 PM
Hometown: Chicago

Comment:
I continue to be amazed at the amount of the gay community that opposes conceal carry of firearms. Yes, fight fire with bigger fire! There is NO reason to put up with gay bashing.
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Name: Jimmie Dee
Date posted: 5/11/2009 9:35:00 PM
Hometown: TwinCitys

Comment:
It's nice to see they give a discrption of these bashers this time, other then 2 medium built males wearing leather coats and blue jeans..Heck, they even say their race..I wonder why they did that??

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