A Chicago area man said three men yelled gay slurs at him and beat him on a CTA Red Line train about 3 a.m. Sunday near the Argyle stop.
Daniel Hauff, 33, said he tried to quell a dispute between two men on the train when one of them, joined by two other riders, began yelling gay slurs and other taunts at him.
Hauff said he pressed the emergency intercom, and the conductor came. But the conductor soon left, Hauff said, and the train started moving again.
Hauff said the men beat him while the train was between the Wilson and Argyle stops. "And I never once threw a punch," Hauff said. "It's just not in my nature." Hauff said he got away by wiping some of his blood on the attackers and telling them he was HIV-positive, which was not true.
Police said three men were arrested in the 1100 block of West Argyle Street for misdemeanor battery and "making disparaging comments," though the report had nothing specific about anti-gay comments. Police said the suspects were released Sunday on bail.
Hauff said he was released from a hospital around 6 a.m. He said his face, chest, back, knee and foot were in pain, but nothing was broken.
Hauff said the conductor should have stayed at the scene before the altercation escalated and the police should have been called earlier.
CTA spokeswoman Katelyn Thrall said "the operator appropriately called the police" promptly.Story Chicago Tribune
St. Louis Police are investigating an attack early Saturday outside a nightclub on Chouteau Avenue. And while police say it's too soon to tell whether this will be categorized as a hate crime, the victims believe they were targeted because they're gay.Jacob Piwowarczyk says, "I have a soft tissue bruise on my elbow. I have six stitches in my eye and I have a mild concussion."These are the physical reminders, of a night Piwowarczyk won't soon forget. He and two friends were leaving the Complex Nightclub when it happened.Piwowarczyk says, "They came up out of the car and they start calling us faggots".He says there were four of them, men who had just left another bar that shares the parking lot.He says, "We kept telling them please leave us alone, we're fine. From there, the one kid didn't like what we told them and decided to punch me in the eye and I fell to the ground. And at that time my friend was laying on the ground and they started kicking him in the face." First security responded, then police. But by the time they arrived, the suspects were gone. Police say they are searching for the men and call this an on-going investigation.According to the victims, the suspects drove off in a black SUV with Illinois plates.Gay rights advocates say existing state and new federal laws on hate crimes could mean harsh penalties. Darin Slyman, publisher of the alternative magazine Vital Voice says, "These people could be facing local, state and federal charges."He calls this shocking, but says it's an opportunity for a community dialogue.Slyman says, "I think it's something we can all learn from and hopefully heal and move forward."Piwowarczyk agrees. And he says that healing process has already begun.He says, "Healthwise we're all fine. We're just lucky to be alive. Could have turned out worse."The other victims suffered a broken nose and fractured cheekbone.
Marine reservist Jasen Bruce (and All American Guy Website Model) attacked a Greek orthodox priest with a tire iron in Tampa, Florida last week after the priest asked him for directions:
“The Rev. Alexios Marakis, visiting from Greece, had performed a blessing of a retired Greek priest in the West Shore area before accidentally exiting I-275 into downtown Monday evening, police said. Marakis followed cars into the Seaport Channelside Apartments on Twiggs Street and got out to ask for help. Bruce, a reservist with a West Palm Beach unit since March, had his trunk open so he could get dry cleaning out, police said. Bruce, who lives in the apartment building, was not in uniform. Bruce grabbed a tire iron from the trunk, hit Marakis four times over the head and chased him about three blocks before pinning the priest, police said. In a 911 call, Bruce made a derogatory comment about a man he said was a terrorist and was trying to rob him and had grabbed him in a sexual manner, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. When officers arrived, police say, Bruce told them he heard the man say ‘Allahu Akbar’ – Arabic for ‘God is great.’ ‘That’s what they say before they blow you up,’ Bruce said, according to police.”
Bruce has since changed his story and says the priest hit on him and grabbed his genitals.
Alex Myros was, until recently, a player with a Canadian semi-pro American football team, the London Silverbacks; his heroic efforts earlier this year helped save the lives of two children. Now police are looking for Myros in connection with the brutal anti-gay attack that left an Ontario man with multiple injuries.
The London Free Press reported in an article that was posted to Web site CNews on Sept. 16 that Myros may face an array of charges in the case, including assault and forcible confinement.
A story at EDGE from Sept. 15 recounted how 22-year-old modeling agent Brandon Wright was reportedly contacted through a text message by a man who later assaulted him.
The man, who identified himself as Alex, sought a career in modeling, but was told by Wright that he "didn’t have the looks."
The attacker subsequently lured Wright to his vehicle, a black Ford pickup, and then drove off with Wright in the passenger seat. Wright then suffered numerous blows from a metal object as the driver screamed anti-gay epithets and death threats at him.
Wright leapt from the truck, hitting the pavement in front of a number of witnesses who then stepped forward to offer him their assistance. Wright was treated for lacerations, a broken arm, and other injuries, according to media reports.
The attack took place in London, a city in Ontario. The assailant, Wright said, mentioned being from Thunder Bay, another Ontario town where, only four days previously, another gay man had been attacked and badly beaten by a mob of up to eight men.
The London incident is being treated as a hate crime, the Free Press article said.
Wright was quoted as saying, "I’m happy about the warrant [on Myros], but I’ll wait and see what happens now.
"It’s not very reassuring in terms of my safety," Wright added.
The article filled in some of the suspect’s background, noting that last June 21 his football team were on the way back to London from a match that had taken place in Indianapolis when another vehicle slammed into the team’s bus and caught fire.
Myros was one of several team members who rescued two minors--the 16-year-old driver and her 12-yer-old brother--from the burning wreckage.
The children’s mother was also in the vehicle, but was killed.
Myros and the others were acclaimed as heroes for the rescue.
But on Sept. 1, Myros lost his spot on the Silverbacks. The team’s owner, Al Lazar, called Myros’ suspected involvement in Wright’s beating "a shock," the article reported.
"He’s always been a good member of the team and we were certainly proud of what he did in the crash," the articl quoted Lazar as saying.
"But [the anti-gay assault allegation] comes as a shock. Alex isn’t that kind of person."EDGE- BOSTON reporting post
A man was beaten and robbed of his cell phone in an attack on Halsted Street near Buckingham Place in the Boystown neighborhood. Police are searching for the suspects who robbed and beat a man as he walked early Monday in the Boystown neighborhood.The 24-year-old man was walking at 3341 N. Halsted St., near Buckingham Place, around 4:50 a.m. Monday when four men attacked him, police said.
"They began punching him about the face and body and they took his cell phone,'' police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said. The assailants didn't take any money, he said.
The man was able to get away and went home. He suffered swelling and declined to go to a hospital, according to the officer. One of the attackers was wearing black clothing, and clothing on the other three was not known, according to Perez. All the attackers were between the ages of 20 and 30, Perez said.Since Thursday, there have been at least five similar attacks in the Lincoln Park neighborhood about a mile and a half south. In those incidents, a group of at least four attackers sneaked up on the victims from behind and beat them savagely as they robbed them.Those attacks happened Thursday in the 600 block of West Fullerton Parkway and the 2100 block of North Stockton Drive; Saturday in the 2000 block of North Cleveland Avenue and the 300 block of West Webster Avenue; and Tuesday at Fullerton and Cannon drives. All of the victims were young men walking alone.The address where the attack occurred is outside Minibar, one of many gay bars and nightclubs that line the Boystown strip on Halsted Street. It is not known whether police are investigating if sexual orientation could have played any role in the motive for the attack.
A 23-year-old man is in jail in San Diego after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting a gay-rights leader during an event in the suburb of Lemon Grove. Kenyatta Mitchell was arrested Saturday after allegedly slapping Ron DeHarte, who was carrying a gay-rights banner during the Equality Torch Relay event. Mitchell is said to have yelled, "There's no place for that here!" and slapped DeHarte twice. Mitchell was arrested moments later hiding in a store. He is charged with assault and violation of civil rights through force, both misdemeanors. He is being held without bail on three outstanding warrants for trespassing, violation of a restraining order and weapons possession. The case is being reviewed by the San Diego County district attorney's office.The Equality Torch Relay is a daylong march through numerous cities in San Diego County to promote equal rights for gays.More On The Story Click Here
Two people say they were the victims of a brutal hate crime in Ogden, Utah. They think they were targeted because they are gay. According to the Standard Examiner, Whitney Goich, 20, and Wil Phillips, 24, were assaulted early Tuesday morning in separate attacks at 3455 Harrison Blvd. Goich and Phillips didn’t know each other, but both say the suspect shouted anti-gay slurs during the attacks. Goich was walking into the apartment complex around 2:30 a.m. to visit a friend when a man approached her and hit her in the face, breaking her nose. A short time later, Phillips was attacked inside a friend’s apartment in the complex. Phillips said his friend knows the suspect, who also lives in the complex. Phillips said the suspect kicked and stomped on him. His injuries did not require medical attention.Read the full story from KSL.com.
A Winthrop, MA man charged in an alleged gay-bashing attack in Provincetown this weekend was described in his well-heeled, waterfront neighborhood yesterday as a “good kid.” Eric Patten (pictured left), who’s slated to be arraigned on felony assault and hate crime charges Wednesday in Orleans District Court, is a 23-year-old Boston College High School graduate known as a do-gooder among neighbors in his Winthrop enclave. “I was surprised. I just can’t believe it,” one neighbor said of the violent charges levied against Patten. “But alcohol is a crazy drug. It does crazy things to people.”Read the full story from the Boston Herald.
Police in Ft Lauderdale have confirmed that two men have been arrested for the brutal beatings and robberies of two gay men last month; the attacks were so vicious that one man remains in a coma. Pargu Leandro (left) and Victor Gonzalez (right) have been charged in the beatings and robberies of two men in Oakland Park, FL. Sheriff's investigators say Craig Cohen, 47, (pictured below) was walking from the Peter Pan Diner on Oakland Park Boulevard to his home a few blocks away when he was attacked. Cohen, who was robbed and brutally beaten, has not regained consciousness.A close friend of the victim has made a statement to a local television reporter that if Cohen does survive he will be on a ventilator for the rest of his life, and that the front lobe of his brain is dead," said Cohen's friend Arthur Arndt. David Villanova, 27, from Pompano Beach was also attacked after a night out in Wilton Manors. He told police he was walking to a nearby 7-11 in the 1500 block of Northeast Fourth Avenue when he was jumped him from behind.
"He said that he was walking, he was struck in the back of the head was the initial blow," said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Kathy Collins. "He went down. He believes a total of 4 guys beat on him."
A reward offered for information leading to an arrest in the beatings of two gay men in Oakland Park, Florida has been boosted from $1,000 to $4,000 as investigators work to determine whether the attacks were hate crimes, Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said Thursday.Lamberti made the announcement at the grand opening celebration of the gay-themed Stonewall Library and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, where dozens of gay activists -- as well as residents and elected officials had gathered.
''It could be a hate crime,'' Lamberti told the crowd. ``We are exploring that.''
Investigators have been hunting for suspects who robbed and brutalized Craig Cohen, 47, and David Villanova Jr., 27, April 6.Cohen was walking in the 800 block of East Oakland Park Boulevard, near the Peter Pan Diner, when he was attacked by robbers and beaten unconscious. A passerby found him and called 911 about 1:20 a.m., BSO spokeswoman Dani Moschella said. Cohen remained in a coma at Broward General Medical Center on Thursday, she said. A short time later, Villanova was robbed and attacked in the 3000 block of North Dixie Highway. He made it home to Pompano Beach, where a roommate rushed him to Holy Cross Hospital after seeing him bloodied and beaten. He was transferred to Broward General Medical Center, where he was treated for a serious head injury and later released.Investigators believe the attacks are connected because they found the men's wallets and cellphones together after the attacks, Lamberti said.Fliers announcing the reward circulated among the crowd in the parking lot of the library. Lamberti emphasized the importance of the community providing tips -- as recently happened with someone suspected robbing at least 28 convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.If authorities determine that hate was a motive, the charge would rise from a third-degree to second-degree felony and include more prison time, Lamberti said. Anyone with information can call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
Several hundred people gathered at UVA’s amphitheater last night for the Stand Against Hatred. The vigil and public forum was in response to the April 4 attack on a UVA student that was apparently motivated by anti-gay bias.
Addressing the crowd, Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Allen Groves said he’d received e-mails asking why an attack motivated by perceived sexual orientation should be considered differently than other assaults. “Any assault on a UVA student is one too many,” he began. Crimes of hate, however, “strike at the most cherished values of society. If I am assaulted solely because of who I am, then I come to fear I will never be safe, for how can I change who I am?”
Groves also read a letter of support written by the Seven Society, a secretive and influential philanthropic organization on Grounds, and drew cheers by condemning the “not gay” chant at UVA football games, which has been an unofficial and controversial tradition for years. Finally, he told of confronting his own parents’ racism as he exhorted the audience to “talk to people who don’t see things the same way. It’s a very small step between a derogatory slur and a brutal assault in the middle of the night.”Other speakers reiterated this message. Seth Kaye, president of Queer and Allied Activism, helped organize the event: “We hope that you call out hatred wherever you see it in your life. It’s not just enough to attend vigils like this.”UVA has experienced intermittent racist and homophobic attacks and vandalism in recent years. Many student organizations and other support structures have arisen in response. One event, Proud to Be Out Week, strives to increase awareness and understanding around issues of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community at UVA, and it happened to coincide with the Stand Against Hatred. Edward Warwick, Coordinator of the LGBT Resource Center at UVA, noted after the vigil that “the attack on April 4th unfortunately provided a very real-life example of the unacceptable behavior Proud to Be Out Week tries to address.While faculty and staff members are still highly concerned about including gender and sexuality in our non-discrimination policy and securing domestic partner benefits, and students work diligently toward the establishment of a Queer Studies minor and greater awareness, horrific events like these shift immediate concerns to very basic human needs like health and safety for all members of the LGBTQ community.”
UVA police continue to investigate the attack, in which five men assaulted a UVA student and shouted anti-gay slurs at him.Source: Charlottesville News 13
A Chicago area man said three men yelled gay slurs at him and beat him on a CTA Red Line train about 3 a.m. Sunday near the Argyle stop.
Daniel Hauff, 33, said he tried to quell a dispute between two men on the train when one of them, joined by two other riders, began yelling gay slurs and other taunts at him.
Hauff said he pressed the emergency intercom, and the conductor came. But the conductor soon left, Hauff said, and the train started moving again.
Hauff said the men beat him while the train was between the Wilson and Argyle stops. "And I never once threw a punch," Hauff said. "It's just not in my nature." Hauff said he got away by wiping some of his blood on the attackers and telling them he was HIV-positive, which was not true.
Police said three men were arrested in the 1100 block of West Argyle Street for misdemeanor battery and "making disparaging comments," though the report had nothing specific about anti-gay comments. Police said the suspects were released Sunday on bail.
Hauff said he was released from a hospital around 6 a.m. He said his face, chest, back, knee and foot were in pain, but nothing was broken.
Hauff said the conductor should have stayed at the scene before the altercation escalated and the police should have been called earlier.
CTA spokeswoman Katelyn Thrall said "the operator appropriately called the police" promptly.
Story Chicago Tribune
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Alex Myros was, until recently, a player with a Canadian semi-pro American football team, the London Silverbacks; his heroic efforts earlier this year helped save the lives of two children. Now police are looking for Myros in connection with the brutal anti-gay attack that left an Ontario man with multiple injuries.
The London Free Press reported in an article that was posted to Web site 
The man, who identified himself as Alex, sought a career in modeling, but was told by Wright that he "didn’t have the looks."
The attacker subsequently lured Wright to his vehicle, a black Ford pickup, and then drove off with Wright in the passenger seat. Wright then suffered numerous blows from a metal object as the driver screamed anti-gay epithets and death threats at him.
Wright leapt from the truck, hitting the pavement in front of a number of witnesses who then stepped forward to offer him their assistance. Wright was treated for lacerations, a broken arm, and other injuries, according to media reports.
The attack took place in London, a city in Ontario. The assailant, Wright said, mentioned being from Thunder Bay, another Ontario town where, only four days previously, another gay man had been attacked and badly beaten by a mob of up to eight men.
The London incident is being treated as a hate crime, the Free Press article said.
Wright was quoted as saying, "I’m happy about the warrant [on Myros], but I’ll wait and see what happens now.
"It’s not very reassuring in terms of my safety," Wright added.
The article filled in some of the suspect’s background, noting that last June 21 his football team were on the way back to London from a match that had taken place in Indianapolis when another vehicle slammed into the team’s bus and caught fire.
Myros was one of several team members who rescued two minors--the 16-year-old driver and her 12-yer-old brother--from the burning wreckage.
The children’s mother was also in the vehicle, but was killed.
Myros and the others were acclaimed as heroes for the rescue.
But on Sept. 1, Myros lost his spot on the Silverbacks. The team’s owner, Al Lazar, called Myros’ suspected involvement in Wright’s beating "a shock," the article reported.
"He’s always been a good member of the team and we were certainly proud of what he did in the crash," the articl quoted Lazar as saying.
"But [the anti-gay assault allegation] comes as a shock. Alex isn’t that kind of person."
Two people say they were the victims of a brutal hate crime in Ogden, Utah. They think they were targeted because they are gay. According to the Standard Examiner, Whitney Goich, 20, and Wil Phillips, 24, were assaulted early Tuesday morning in separate attacks at 3455 Harrison Blvd. Goich and Phillips didn’t know each other, but both say the suspect shouted anti-gay slurs during the attacks. Goich was walking into the apartment complex around 2:30 a.m. to visit a friend when a man approached her and hit her in the face, breaking her nose. A short time later, Phillips was attacked inside a friend’s apartment in the complex. Phillips said his friend knows the suspect, who also lives in the complex. Phillips said the suspect kicked and stomped on him. His injuries did not require medical attention.
A Winthrop, MA man charged in an alleged gay-bashing attack in Provincetown this weekend was described in his well-heeled, waterfront neighborhood yesterday as a “good kid.” Eric Patten (pictured left), who’s slated to be arraigned on felony assault and hate crime charges Wednesday in Orleans District Court, is a 23-year-old Boston College High School graduate known as a do-gooder among neighbors in his Winthrop enclave. “I was surprised. I just can’t believe it,” one neighbor said of the violent charges levied against Patten. “But alcohol is a crazy drug. It does crazy things to people.”
Police in Ft Lauderdale have confirmed that two men have been arrested for the brutal beatings and robberies of two gay men last month; the attacks were so vicious that one man remains in a coma. Pargu Leandro (left) and Victor Gonzalez (right) have been charged in the beatings and robberies of two men in Oakland Park, FL. Sheriff's investigators say Craig Cohen, 47, (pictured below) was walking from the Peter Pan Diner on Oakland Park Boulevard to his home a few blocks away when he was attacked. Cohen, who was robbed and brutally beaten, has not regained consciousness.
"He said that he was walking, he was struck in the back of the head was the initial blow," said Fort Lauderdale Police Detective Kathy Collins. "He went down. He believes a total of 4 guys beat on him." 
To View The News Report Video Click Here
A reward offered for information leading to an arrest in the beatings of two gay men in Oakland Park, Florida has been boosted from $1,000 to $4,000 as investigators work to determine whether the attacks were hate crimes, Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said Thursday.
Cohen was walking in the 800 block of East Oakland Park Boulevard, near the Peter Pan Diner, when he was attacked by robbers and beaten unconscious. A passerby found him and called 911 about 1:20 a.m., BSO spokeswoman Dani Moschella said. Cohen remained in a coma at Broward General Medical Center on Thursday, she said. A short time later, Villanova was robbed and attacked in the 3000 block of North Dixie Highway. He made it home to Pompano Beach, where a roommate rushed him to Holy Cross Hospital after seeing him bloodied and beaten. He was transferred to Broward General Medical Center, where he was treated for a serious head injury and later released.
Several hundred people gathered at UVA’s amphitheater last night for the Stand Against Hatred. The vigil and public forum was in response to the April 4 attack on a UVA student that was apparently motivated by anti-gay bias.
Addressing the crowd, Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Allen Groves said he’d received e-mails asking why an attack motivated by perceived sexual orientation should be considered differently than other assaults. “Any assault on a UVA student is one too many,” he began. Crimes of hate, however, “strike at the most cherished values of society. If I am assaulted solely because of who I am, then I come to fear I will never be safe, for how can I change who I am?”
Groves also read a letter of support written by the Seven Society, a secretive and influential philanthropic organization on Grounds, and drew cheers by condemning the “not gay” chant at UVA football games, which has been an unofficial and controversial tradition for years. Finally, he told of confronting his own parents’ racism as he exhorted the audience to “talk to people who don’t see things the same way. It’s a very small step between a derogatory slur and a brutal assault in the middle of the night.”
While faculty and staff members are still highly concerned about including gender and sexuality in our non-discrimination policy and securing domestic partner benefits, and students work diligently toward the establishment of a Queer Studies minor and greater awareness, horrific events like these shift immediate concerns to very basic human needs like health and safety for all members of the LGBTQ community.”
UVA police continue to investigate the attack, in which five men assaulted a UVA student and shouted anti-gay slurs at him.
