Antigay Arson Kills Eight Horses

Eight horses perished in a barn fire the Ohio state fire marshal's office is calling a case of arson, while those who know the barn's gay owner have labeled the incident a hate crime.

Brent Whitehouse of McConnelsville awoke Sunday night to find his barn ablaze. Inside were seven grown horses and one foal. Whitehouse immediately called 911, but it was too late.

"I couldn't get the door open," Whitehouse told Ohio's WhizNews.com. "I could still hear the horses kicking and I tried as hard as I could to get them out, and I just couldn't get them out in time."

Afterward the phrase "Fags are freaks" was found painted on one side of the barn.

"I just can't believe somebody would do something like this and do this to poor animals," Whitehouse said.

His friends are shocked and saddened by the event. "They obviously don't know him very well, " said his friend Bobbie Nelson, "because he's a sweet-hearted person and how he lives his lifestyle is nobody's business but his own."

Read the full story here.