Friday, January 22, 2010

Hate Crime Follow-Up - Blake Hayes

I know it's been a while since we talked about the friends-in-law of mine who were attacked out in New York City. (It was in September, in fact.)

If you remember it, this is the story of three young men (one of whom is Blake Hayes, a radio DJ in New York who is also active in the fight for gay rights) who were harrassed and attacked for being gay while walking down the street in Manhattan.

** Sidenote ** Christopher and I actually got to meet Blake -- a friend of our great friend Colleen -- when we were in NYC in October. We even, coincidentally, walked past the same place where the attack to place. It's amazing how much more intense a story like this becomes when you meet the person and see the places first-hand. ** End Sidenote **

The attacker (sorry -- considering that there were witnesses and the guy was caught on surveillance video -- I refuse to use "alleged" even though he hasn't been prosecuted, yet) was in the military and was allowed to just walk away by the police. You can read more about the attack here.

Well. It's taken 4 months, but there is some semblance of an outcome on the horizon. It seems that the military guy was found to be on assignment in Great Britain, but -- with a little prodding -- that isn't stopping the NYC police from following up on the charges.

This leaves me both frustrated (knowing that it took 1/3 of a year just to get the guy charged) and hopeful (knowing that at least something might be happening to him -- and that it might mean that crimes like this will be taken more seriously in future).

If you want to see more details about these latest developments -- and you probably should -- you can find the story in the New York Daily News, or in an interview with Blake from the New York CBS affiliate.

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