A hate crime in my neighborhood. Lesbian attacked. Minneapolis.

[MinneapolisMatt]

W3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUX" target="_blank">http://www.startribune.com/local/38271279.html?elr=KArk...

Uptown woman attacked in apparent hate crime

A Minneapolis woman says she was attacked and beaten by two men who shouted derogatory comments to her about sexual orientation, KSTP-TV has reported.

The woman says she left work in the Minneapolis Uptown district Thursday night and was walking to a grocery store.

She says two men in front of her started calling her epithets referring to sexual orientation. She says before she knew what was happening, she was being beaten in the head and face and kicked repeatedly in the stomach.

She says the attack left her unconscious. When she awoke she called a friend, who called police.

She was taken to a hospital with a severe concussion.

Minneapolis police are asking anyone with information to call them.
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If I ever find out who did this, they're going to have a lot more than a concussion.

[dsc]

1. and so it goes again

Yet we supposedly want special rights.

[MinneapolisMatt]

2. More information:

Minneapolis police are looking for two men who attacked a gay woman late Thursday night.

32-year-old Kristen Boyne said she was walking from her apartment to Rainbow Foods in Uptown when two men called her a derogatory word for lesbian and then began punching her in the face and stomach until she lost consciousness.

"It just seemed really random," Boyne said.

Boyne said she offered her attackers her wallet and cell phone but they didn't want it.

Police say Boyne was treated at HCMC. Police urge anyone with information about this crime to call Sgt. Bruce Kohn at 612-673-2941.

[ThomCat]

7. And yet, people even here insist that all crimes are hate crimes

so hate crime legislation should be repealed.

That wasn't an attack against just her. It was a message to the whole community that they don't like any of us, and they'll attack any of us if they can.

[Zookeeper]

3. That's horrible. I hope they've already got a lead on the perps.

I lived in Uptown many years ago, before it became totally "hip"/gentrified. Doesn't it have a lot of bars and restaurants meant to appeal to overgrown frat boy types now?

[MinneapolisMatt]

4. It's yuppified, that's for sure.

And yeah, 'frat boy' types are all over, but even so, we're a very tolerant city...so I'm guessing these assholes are college students who are from somewhere else or out-of-towners.

[Muttocracy]

10. I lived in Mpls years ago and was surprised to see it and Uptown in particular

but maybe things have changed since then, or as you say, it's not locals involved.

[bluedawg12]

5. Yeah, well gays make straights get divorced, no wonder they are angry.

[foxfeet]

6. Ooo! Ooo! Let's make 'em wear ugly clothes, too!

Oh, wait. . .

[tblue]

8. If it's in your neighborhood, maybe you can host a community get-together

to show solidarity. Would be a really nice demonstration of support for that poor woman and create a sense of unity with the LGBT community.

[MinneapolisMatt]

13. That's a very good idea.

Uptown is an extremely pro-active/progressive area. Yes, we have tons of yuppies, but very liberal ones.

I bet someone has already organized something. I'm going to check around.

[Mike 03]

9. Fucking sickening. Didn't a similar atrocity just happen in Southern

Cal four or five weeks ago? (Not sure of the location, but there was a similar crime, just as revolting. I know the Southern Poverty Law Center will be all over this, and hopefully Lambda Legal too; it is despicable beyond words. This has to end.

ON EDIT:

Does anybody remember the similar case from a month or so ago? If so, where was it, please? I wanted to follow up on it, but just lost track of the location.

[Jamastiene]

16. It was in San Francisco and she was gang raped for being a lesbian.

Here is a link to one article about it.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/0...

I feel for her. I've been raped myself simply for being a lesbian. Those wounds go deep and rip you apart from the inside out.

[kickysnana]

11. This is not snark.

It should not happen to anyone, anywhere.

I am puzzled though. It is damn coooollllddd here right now. Everyone looks the same, gender and race are hard to determine. I have no idea how these thugs identified anyone as being gay.

Not saying this is true but she may have been the target of least resistance and they got lucky in their name calling.

I haven't personally been to Minneapolis at night since a fellow DUer was punched in the face by a rethug in a green suit with a crew cut. There was a Mpls patrol car watching us less than a block a way who's occupants claimed to see nothing. We were protesting Sandra Day O'Connor in the spring after the 2000 (s)election.

[foxfeet]

12. Maybe she had been seen/watched while at work?

Dayum! Let's hope not.

[bluedawg12]

14. I don't question her version of events.

I read the newspaper article and there is nothing to give me any information that her story wasn't true.

It is very concievable that she looked a certain way, walked a certain way, or they said something to her first not gay related and she replied, perhaps her voice, her walk, her tone?

Being gay for many people is not something that is invisible, and even for those who don't "look gay,"
a few minutes of chit chat can reveal that someone is gay, if they speak frankly about their lives, a partner, or being single, or not being "married."

All I know is that this woman was the victim of a brutal beating by not one, but two men, she sustained serious injuries and I tend to doubt she arrived in the emergency room and then, coming out of a state of unconsciousness, while in the ER, confabulated a story of a hate crime and told that to the police.

I do recall the tragic story of two brothers who walked out a bar one night recently, being a little tipsy and being from a different culture one brother held onto the other brother. An SUV pulled up with three males who jumped out, beat one of the brothrs with a baseball bat about the head and that brother later expired.

Here are a few recent DU threads, (I hope the links still work, I am not sure if I knew to save a perma link back then) and of course the story about the lesbian who was recently assaulted, abducted and raped by four men, in California.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Two gay Obama supporters assaulted near white house.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...
A lesbian couple attacked in front of a school, in front of their kids.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Hate crime ends in death, Syracuse, NY
SYRACUSE -- Syracuse Police say a man was shot and killed Friday night because he was gay. Officers have arrested 20-year-old Dwight DeLee. He is facing a charge of second degree murder.

[MNBrewer]

17. Thursday was still in our "warm spell"

before we went back to subzero temps.

[KitchenWitch]

15. This breaks my heart

I used to live in both the Whittier and Phillips neighborhoods, and adored hanging out in Uptown. Even when I moved to the suburbs, I would come to Uptown. I loved the diversity.

[MinneapolisMatt]

18. Quick update!

http://www.new.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52086411372&r...

March Against Hate Crime MPLS

Date: Thursday, January 29, 2009
Time: 9:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Bryant Lake Bowl
City/Town: Minneapolis, MN


Starting at 9 p.m. Thursday, supporters will march from Bryant Lake Bowl on Lake Street to Emerson Avenue and back. The peaceful demonstration will show that our community will not tolerate victimization. This is in response to a hate crime committed last Thursday.

I'll be there!

[struggle4progress]

20. Hundreds march against hate crime in Minneapolis: Uptown

http://minnesotaindependent.com/24974/hundreds-march-ag...

[TheWraith]

19. As always: check the neighbors first.

It's incredibly unlikely that these guys were just wandering around looking for somebody they could identify as a lesbian. Chances are that they knew her somehow, even if she didn't recognize them. Check neighbors and coworkers.

[bluedawg12]

21. Does anyone think she was beaten up for being too pretty? Or too fem?

Gay women get crap for being "too masculine."

It's a topic seldom discussed.