Gay Bashing in Philly (Republic: college, vs., eat)

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by pcity

What a weird thing to include. The implication here is that if you're from the city, hate is A-OK.

I can't vouch for what the councilman means with this statement, but as a gay man who walks those same streets where the attack occurred, I do feel a bit "invaded" by the suburbanites who committed this crime. They were, after all, not from the city, but came in for a night of partying and beat up two of our fellow city residents in the process. Even if one believes (ahem) that it is the Philadelphians' fault, I think we can all agree on who ended up in Hahnemann.

This is not the first time I have encountered a vicious attack against gay men in a city where I lived. Nearly 15 years ago when living in Houston, two gay men are attacked by a gang of 10 teenage boys. One of them, Paul Broussard was attacked so violently he was killed. All they was was doing was walking from one gay bar to another when they were singled out for attack. These boys were from - you guessed it: the suburbs. One of the convicted even told the police they came into town to "beat up some queers" (Murder of Paul Broussard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Perhaps there is something about city living that makes us more comfortable with differences, because we see them every day. We not only grow accustomed to these differences, many of us learn to appreciate them. If someone grows up in a nearly all-white area and attends nearly all-white schools, however, they are used to inter-acting with a more homogenous group. This may affect their beliefs and behavior toward those who are different from them. A history of homophobia and a little liquor mixed in can lead to some bad outcomes. Just a theory.

We will see over time what the truth is.

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by Clark Park

Oh, c'mon!

Really, dude ... do you believe that???

A group of 15 to 20 jock athletes and their girlfriends were assaulted by two gay guys walking near Rittenhouse Square???

Who ended up in the hospital with serious injuries???

No, that's right ... this was not gay bashing pure and simple. Blame the victims.

I have no idea, but I see no need to hold a public lynching based on media reports, when the facts will soon be known, or determined at a trial. I think often times people are too easily persuaded by the media, which has its own agenda. I highly doubt, however, that it's as simple as this group of people went out for a fun night of gay-bashing.

[Angus215]

Originally Posted by Don163

Maybe they slapped her ???? Well maybe they did. However after this group of 10-15 people, finished protecting themselves by severely beating two people sending them to the hospital, they did not wait for the police to arrive at the scene. They did not attempt to call the police. Instead they left, allegedly taking property of their victims with them. When they realized that they " may have committed a crime" when their faces were all over the news and the Internet they proceeded to remove from their facebook and Twitter accounts anti- gay statements that may have mistakenly led one to perceive them as not protecting themselves from the two gay people they encountered on the street.

I don't think they're completely innocent under any scenario. However, the victim's may not be as innocent as they appear. But who knows, maybe they are . . . .

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

I can't vouch for what the councilman means with this statement, but as a gay man who walks those same streets where the attack occurred, I do feel a bit "invaded" by the suburbanites who committed this crime. They were, after all, not from the city, but came in for a night of partying and beat up two of our fellow city residents in the process. Even if one believes (ahem) that it is the Philadelphians' fault, I think we can all agree on who ended up in Hahnemann.

This is not the first time I have encountered a vicious attack against gay men in a city where I lived. Nearly 15 years ago when living in Houston, two gay men are attacked by a gang of 10 teenage boys. One of them, Paul Broussard was attacked so violently he was killed. All they was was doing was walking from one gay bar to another when they were singled out for attack. These boys were from - you guessed it: the suburbs. One of the convicted even told the police they came into town to "beat up some queers" (Murder of Paul Broussard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Perhaps there is something about city living that makes us more comfortable with differences, because we see them every day. We not only grow accustomed to these differences, many of us learn to appreciate them. If someone grows up in a nearly all-white area and attends nearly all-white schools, however, they are used to inter-acting with a more homogenous group. This may affect their beliefs and behavior toward those who are different from them. A history of homophobia and a little liquor mixed in can lead to some bad outcomes. Just a theory.

We will see over time what the truth is.

Wish I could rep you. This is spot on in my experience as well (having lived rural, burbs and city). Another interesting point is that well-to-do suburbs (not all) are many times more conservative. And while there are many good conservative people out there, as a whole, those types of communities are often-times less tolerant about things like gay marriage.

[pcity]

Originally Posted by Pine to Vine

I can't vouch for what the councilman means with this statement, but as a gay man who walks those same streets where the attack occurred, I do feel a bit "invaded" by the suburbanites who committed this crime. They were, after all, not from the city, but came in for a night of parting and beat up two of our fellow city residents in the process.

OK, but if the perpetrators were from, say, NE Philly, would you feel less invaded? It's just really weird for the councilman to make it a city vs. suburbs thing. Everything points to the accused in this case being really horrible people, but they're not typical of the suburbs, and it isn't as if people in the city are universally tolerant of the GLBT community either. The councilman should stand up against hate, but I don't understand why one would tie hate to the suburbs just because one act of hate was committed by people from there.

Perhaps there is something about city living that makes us more comfortable with differences, because we see them every day. We not only grow accustomed to these differences, many of us learn to appreciate them. If someone grows up in a nearly all-white area and attends a nearly all white school, however, they are used to inter-acting with a more homogenous group. This may affect their beliefs and behavior toward those who are different from them.

Neither the city's situation nor the suburbs's situation is as simple as this though. There is a decent amount of diversity in the suburbs now and there are plenty of places in the city that are homogenous. If you had to pick between, say, a random North Philly neighborhood, and a random Bucks County neighborhood, I would imagine you'd find more GLBT acceptance in the latter.

A history of homophobia and a little liquor mixed in can lead to some bad outcomes.

This, I think, gets to the root of what happened.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Oh, please. Gay men are NOT in the habit of assaulting women. That's what too many straight men do.

I side with the alleged victims, but this statement is ridiculous.

[pcity]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

Wish I could rep you. This is spot on in my experience as well (having lived rural, burbs and city). Another interesting point is that well-to-do suburbs (not all) are many times more conservative. And while there are many good conservative people out there, as a whole, those types of communities are often-times less tolerant about things like gay marriage.

Well-to-do suburbs tend to be more economically conservative. They also tend to be more educated and education correlates highly with support of the GLBT community.

[AJNEOA]

Originally Posted by pcity

Well-to-do suburbs tend to be more economically conservative. They also tend to be more educated and education correlates highly with support of the GLBT community.

I don't believe education has a ton to do with it. It's based on personal beliefs (gay marriage, pro-choice/pro-life). Republican and conservative communities are typically not as high in their support of LGBT in my experience. Btw - I'm not a Democrat either, so I'm certainly not taking any political sides.

[Don163]

Originally Posted by AJNEOA

I don't believe education has a ton to do with it. It's based on personal beliefs (gay marriage, pro-choice/pro-life). Republican and conservative communities are typically not as high in their support of LGBT in my experience. Btw - I'm not a Democrat either, so I'm certainly not taking any political sides.

Opinion polls have clearly demonstrated a direct correlation between level of education and support for gay rights, and same sex marriage. The more formal education a person has the greater likelihood that person will support gay right/ marriage.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by pcity

Well-to-do suburbs tend to be more economically conservative. They also tend to be more educated and education correlates highly with support of the GLBT community.

Like Lower Merion, which passed an ordinance prohibiting sexual orientation/gender identity discrimination.

LM is pretty liberal as a whole anyway. The "conservatives" are almost all pocketbook Republicans.