Pennsylvania Man Set Ablaze by Friends for Being Gay

A man in Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, says he was set on fire by two former friends because he was gay.

WPXI.com published a story today about Steven Iorio, 37, who says after a night of drinking in September, he woke up at a friend’s apartment around 3 a.m. and discovered his leg was on fire. He called another friend who urged him to go to the hospital.

According to the story, an eyewitness told police that Brandon Washington and David Blair poured a bottle of rum on Iorio’s leg and then set it ablaze while he was sleeping — all because he is gay.

“They wrote disgusting things on his pants,” Iorio’s friend, Tina Cook, told WPXI. “They even drew on his face.”

Iorio says he doesn’t remember much because he had been drinking and was passed out at the time of the alleged assault.

Heidelberg police have charged Washington and Blair with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation but, curiously, have not arrested them. According to WPXI, they will receive a summons in the mail.

Iorio says he no longer counts the two men as friends.

Read more and watch a video here.