Gay Man Assaulted Outside Salt Lake City Club

A gay Salt Lake City man was severely beaten outside a nightclub last weekend by attackers who, according to the victim, used gay slurs.

Dane Hall, 20, was walking home from Club Sound’s gay night shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday when four men attacked him, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. They punched and kicked him while calling him “fag” and other gay slurs, according to Hall. Six of his teeth were knocked out, his jaw was broken in multiple places, and a piece of bone was shoved into his brain. He is now recovering with his jaw wired shut.

Police have yet to make any arrests in the assault; they are also investigating an incident that occurred the same night, in which a group of men broke into a man’s apartment and beat up the tenant’s boyfriend, who was sleeping on the couch. Club Sound owner Tom Taylor, who is trained as an emergency medical technician, assisted that victim after encountering him in the street and called the police this week to encourage them to see if the crimes were related. Local TV station KSL also reports that another man was attacked outside Club Sound Easter weekend, and he believes that assault was motivated by antigay bias.

Hall’s mother, who is caring for her son as he recovers, told KSL, “You just have to keep a positive, you know. I just want the people to be caught who did this and get punished for it and pay for the crime. You can't go around beating people up like that because of their sexual orientation.”

Because Hall lacks health insurance, his friends have set up an account at Zions Bank to receive donations to pay his medical expenses, and they are planning to hold fund-raising events.