Update: Rally Against Hate In College Point

On Saturday, October 17, outraged members of the LGBT community gathered in College Point, Queens, to march and rally in protest against the brutal beating of gay resident Jack Price. Price, 49, was allegedly beaten into a coma by two local homophobes, Daniel Rodriguez and Daniel Aleman in an unprovoked attack which was captured by surveillance video. The suspects claimed Price "provoked" them by writing his phone number on the wall of a local deli. Price was taken to New York Hospital Queens where it was revealed he sustained multiple broken ribs, the collapse of both lungs, a lacerated spleen, and othewr injuries sufficiently severe that he had to be placed in a medically-induced coma to reduce the swelling of his battered organs.



Determined that this attack against Price and, in fact, the entire LGBT community, not go unanswered, local activists and community groups--myself included--took to the streets, in order to make it clear that homophobic violence will not be tolerated. Organized by LGBT community groups such as Make The Road NY and Queens Community House, the March brought several elected officials, including mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall out to speak. These officials were joined by Rally organizer and City Council nominee Daniel Dromm, LGBT community activist and organizer Brendan Fay, and Generation Q head Marissa Ragonese. Hundreds of gays, lesbians, and their alllies accompanied them on a march up College Point Blvd, past the 18th Avenue scene of the crime, and on to the Poppenhusen Playground parking lot, where the Rally was held.



Although Mayor Bloomberg did not attend the March or Rally, he issued a statement condemning the thuggish attack, and there was plenty of media coverage throughout the afternoon. I spoke alongside many others from city government, LGBT organoizations, and public agencies who will not stand for acts of hateful violence in our streets. We as human beings, New Yorkers and members of the LGBT community have the absolute right to walk our streets free from fear that we will be set upon and attacked because of who or what we are.



It will always be incumbent upon us to make ourselves seen and heard whenever any member of our community suffers this kind of tragic violence. There have been far too many (once is too many) beatings and killings of gays and lesbians in NYC and around the world this past year. Whenever bigotry rears its ugly head and strikes out at us, we must be ready to answer in numbers and with a strong message that homophobia is "socially unacceptable".

March And Rally Against Hate Crimes This Saturday!

In response to the vicious gay-bashing attack against Jack Price, a 49-year-old out, proud gay man living in College Point, Queens, there will be a protest March and Rally on Saturday afternoon. The March will begin at 2 PM at College Point Blvd. and 20th Avenue in College Point, Queens. The March will then proceed up College Point Blvd., past the scene of the attack on 18th Avenue, and contnue to the Rally and Speak Out site at Poppenhusen Playground on 14th Avenue and College Point Blvd.

You can reach the March via the 7 train to Main Street, then take a Q65 bus to 20th Avenue. Please bring signs without wooden sticks, your friends, and your spirit of solidarity with Jack Price. A second suspect has been apprehended by the NYPD and Norfolk, Virginia police, at a relative's home in Norfolk, where the suspect ran immediately following the beating. Watch the shocking video of the attack below, then make your plans to join me and your neighbors at Saturday's March. We will send a message to those who might think their hatred and bigotry will make us run in fear: we will not run and hide, like those who attacked Mr. Price. We will not live in fear. We are who we are, and we will never tolerate atrocities like this. Be there.

OUTRAGE!

 

This is the horrific video footage of gay-bashing victim Jack Price being savagely beaten on 18th Avenue in College Point over the weekend. No one should ever, ever suffer an attack like this because they are LGBT. To watch this video is to be reminded that the day has not yet come when we can be out, proud, and safe in the streets of our own cities and towns.

There will be a march and rally this Saturday to protest this outrage. I'll post the information on that as soon as it becomes available.

Gay Man Of Color Beaten Into A Coma In Queens

While we marched and sang at yesterday's National Equality March, an out, proud gay man of color was fighting for his life after being beaten within an inch of his life by a pair of rabid homophobes who hurled slurs at him during their attack. 49-year-old Jack Price was beaten so severely he suffered a broken jaw, ruptured spleen, every one of his ribs were fractured, and his lungs both collapsed. He languishes in a coma, on a ventilator, in a city hospital as the NYPD hunts down the second of Price's two attackers.

Price's assailants reportedly taunted him in a deli near his home, then deliberately chased him, cornered him, and attempted to murder Price. Witnesses quoted one of the two thugs as screaming "My father's a C. O. [NYC Corrections Officer]! Nothing will happen to us!", echoing similar rants made by transwoman Carmela Etienne's attackers in St. Albans last summer. This prevailing sentiment that people can injure and kill gays and lesbians, and get away with it because we are "less than" our attackers, or that our mere existence is justifiable provocation, is increasing. The Anti-Violence Project's Kim Fountain told ABC News, "It's not just that people are being shoved or punched. It's that their lips are being split or they're ending up in the hospital or they're being murdered."

Public apathy towards these brutal incidents is nowhere more clearly reflected than in the silence of our political leadership, both here and on the state and national level. Another gay man of color hovers near death in the hospital, a victim of his rightful choice to be out and proud in his neighborhood, and I have yet to hear a peep about this from Mayor Bloomberg, his opponent Bill Thompson, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, or even Queens DA Richard Brown. What a way to return from marching in Washington for our right to be treated fairly and decently as human beings.