Man Arrested for Stabbing May Have Been Victim of Gay Bashing

Luke O'Donovan is now in jail following a New Year's Eve melee in Atlanta where he's accused of stabbing several young men, but some believe he was only defending himself from an antigay mob.

The Georgia Voice reports that a man came up to O'Donovan at a New Year's Eve party and called him a gay slur. O'Donovan apparently told him to not use that language and things calmed down. But a witness told the Voice that at the end of the party, "[O'Donovan] just tried to leave." But several men "were chasing him down the hill. It was like they were trying to kill him. It seemed like it was planned and calculated."

Many men were stabbed, including O'Donovan, who sustained cuts to his upper back. The other victims said O'Donovan stabbed them and he was arrested after being treated at a hospital.

The Atlanta Police Department's LGBT unit is investigating whether homophobic slurs led to the fight or whether O'Donovan was simply defending himself. In the interim, a website has been created to help O'Donovan with his prison and court costs. Read more here.