Perceived to be
Gay, Ecuadorean Brothers Bashed in New York City

Two brothers were jumped by a small gang early Sunday morning in New York City, apparently because they were perceived to be a couple. The attack left one of them in critical condition at a local hospital, while the other managed to escape unharmed, the Associated Press reports.

The brothers, immigrants from Ecuador, were walking with their arms clasped after a night of drinking in Brooklyn when four men in a passing SUV spotted them, according to the AP. One passenger set upon the brothers, shouting an antigay slur, followed by the other passengers, who used an aluminum baseball bat on the victim. The other brother called police, the AP reports.

"We believe all of this happened simply because of who these individuals are and who these perpetrators perceived them to be," New York City council speaker Christine Quinn told the AP. "For some reason [they] didn't like the two men they believed were gay ... and felt so emboldened in their hatred that they acted it out in violence."

Both the Brooklyn prosecutor's office and the NYPD's hate-crimes unit were examining the incident, according to the AP. (The Advocate)