A gay man was
violently bashed in a tourist-heavy area of Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., less than 24 hours after Simmie Williams
Jr., a gay 17-year-old, was shot and killed in
the same city. Melbourne Brunner was beaten outside a
diner by a man who yelled antigay slurs at him and his
partner, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Brunner and his
partner were eating at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning when a
man approached them and began shouting at them, threatening
to break their necks. When the couple attempted to
leave the diner, the man followed them and blocked
them from getting into their car. The assailant
punched Brunner in the face and in fleeing the scene removed
his shirt and used it to cover the license plate on
his vehicle. The assailant has yet to be captured by
police.
Brunner was
treated for severe bruises and marks around both eyes at a
local hospital.
Fight Out Loud,
an activist group based in Broward County, blames the
barrage of recent attacks on conservative group
Florida4Marriage and Fort Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle,
who has waged a relentless citywide campaign
against gays.
Waymon Hudson,
president of Fight Out Loud, said in a press release
Wednesday that he could not help but see the connection
between the recent rise in antigay violence and the
antigay rhetoric: "The dangerous, hate-filled words of
these people have inflamed violence against innocent
members of our community and must not go
unchallenged."
While activists
are calling recent events a trend, Police sergeant Frank
Sousa told the Sun-Sentinel that the events are
anomalies and not crimes they encounter frequently, though
the department is willing to help others who report
similar crimes. (The Advocate)
