Man Beaten With a Beer Bottle: Was it Because He's Gay?

A gay Quebec man took to social media to share an image of his bruised and swollen face after he was beaten in the head with a beer bottle at a rodeo by a man who called him a homophobic slur, according to CBCNews.

Mathieu Gregoire, 21, was taken to the hospital following the Friday attack, which left him with a black eye and a cut and swollen lip, according to the news organization. Gregoire was attending the Festival Western de St-Tite in Quebec's Mauricie region.

Describing what transpired at the country and western event, Gregoire told the CBC he was walking with his sister when a man whistled at her and made unflattering remarks, Gregoire said he wanted to defuse the situation so he told the man, in French, he thought he was good looking.

"I looked at him and said 'you're super hot', said Gregoire, but in French, the language of Quebec, the word "chaud" is used to interchangeably to mean either "hot" or "drunk."

"The guy thought I was saying he was drunk, and that I was insulting him," Gregoire told the network. Gregoire's sister reportedly tried explaining to the man that her brother was complimenting him, but that was when they said the man started attacking. Gregoire told CBC that the man hit him in the face six times with an empty beer bottle and the last thing he remembered was hearing the man use a homophobic slur.

On his Facebook page, Gregoire shared a photo of himself from his hospital visit, clearly bruised and battered, and thanked his friends for their support as he recovers. He told the CBC he's still shaken by the event.

The area police force, called The Surete du Quebec would not confirm with the CBC whether it is investigating the attack.

Canada has long been known for its progressive stance on LGBT issues, providing marriage equality in 2005, well before its American neighbors. Hate crime protections in Canada also extend to include protections against hate speech, which is permitted in American under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, despite these increased protections, hate crimes against LGBT people do still occur across Canada.