By ZACK ROSEN, Washington Blade
Sep 4 2008, 3:31 PM |
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One of three men injured in an Adams Morgan anti-gay attack in July has sparked renewed media interest in the case by releasing photos of his injuries.
In the July 13 incident, three gay men were assaulted by a group of five men who used anti-gay epithets. The Blade covered the attack a week after it happened. This week, the victim released photos of himself that appeared on a blog, thenewgay.net. Since then, local radio station WAMU has covered the story.
The victim in question, who asked to be identified only by his first name Todd, said that he chose to release the graphic photos to raise awareness about homophobia and hate crimes in Washington.
“[I thought] maybe it would help people understand that this was still an issue,” Todd told the Blade. “We can get very comfortable here in D.C. and forget that there is still homophobia and bigotry here and that it's probably even worse outside of our gay enclave.”
Todd's injuries have healed since the attack but he says that he is disappointed in the police response time and unhappy that his case was not referred to the city’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.
Brett Parson, commander of D.C.’s liaison units, said that the GLLU’s officers will assist in the case if assistance is needed, but they do not have enough time or resources to work on every gay-related case that is reported.
"We can't handle every case, that's impossible," Parson said. “It's just more efficient to have a detective who's dedicated full time and has resources available."
Parson also said that the case remains under investigation, but progress has been made.
A meeting to address anti-gay violence in the D.C. gay community is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 8, at The DC Center (1111 14th St.) at 7:30 p.m. The meeting is being organized by local activist Pete Perry, who can be reached at pete4peace@gmail.com.
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