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Tulsa 23-year-old beaten in hate crime
10.20.2009 2:46pm EDT
Brandon Patrick, 23, was beaten Sunday night because he is gay.
Patrick
was walking to a friend’s house around midnight when he was followed by
two women and a man who he says were yelling homophobic threats.
Patrick ignored the group until they got closer. When he asked them why they were shouting at him, according to Tulsa World:
They started “beating, biting and slashing at Patrick with a blade, leaving him with several cuts on his head and body.
“I’ve
never felt scared or feared for my safety before,” he said. “You brush
it off and walk on. That’s what you’re taught to do.
“This time, it didn’t work.”
Patrick described them as a woman in her early 40s and another woman and man, both in their late teens or early 20s.
Oklahoma’s
hate-crimes law makes it a crime to “intimidate or harass another
person because of the person’s race, color, religion, ancestry,
national origin or disability.”
Jenkins noted that the state law
excludes sexual orientation from the qualifiers for a hate crime. As a
result, police are investigating the case only as an assault and
battery.
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How many more people have to be assaulted before law makers do something about these crimes.
I hate living in Oklahoma. If Tulsa isn’t safe, then what town is in this stpid ass state?
This
is just totally sick! How many more beatings, how many more murders
must we take as a community before something is done in Oklahama City,
Albany, Cheyenne or even Washington, D.C.? This 23 year old man did not
deserve this, sure he was lucky to survive, but now he faces the real
possibility of suffering unforetold trauma for the rest of a long life
– if he lives a long life. What the hell is wrong with you people? Is
this what your religion teaches you to do? Is this what your Jesus
Christ teaches you is love?
In OKLAHOMA, I think it’s a wonder they are investigating it at all. GET MSHepard bill SIGNED!… Hey, Obama are you listening?