Gay Men Made Me Smile
Admittedly, this doesn’t happen too often. I’m sorry. It doesn’t. Haha. I can often find myself rolling my eyes more than anything, but I digress.
Last week, in DC, a person I know through a friend and have seen at random parties she hosted was attacked and beaten upon emerging from a cab near his home. Anti-gay slurs were yelled before he was assaulted and left on the street. Another group came up and robbed him of his phone, backpack, iPad, wallet, etc. The first group broke his jaw in two places and he had a 5-hour surgery to repair it and has to keep it wired shut for weeks. He was the one who got out alive.
Another gay man was shot and killed near IHOP in Columbia Heights (the same neighborhood where the above attack took place) simply for being gay. A transvestite was stabbed in the head and killed in Northeast. All these things happened in the same week.
So, mutual friends of my aforementioned acquaintance got together and organized a solidarity march through Columbia Heights. It was designed to be a quiet march to speak out against the violence in the area (and the alarming number of gay bashings and killings that have been on the rise in DC – I have another friend who was gay bashed not too long ago). Unfortunately, OccupyNow decided to make a loud scene at the back of the march, apparently, and just wouldn’t shut up and let the march be the march. Aside from those attention whores, the march went well from what I hear of all accounts.
They also had a bar night at Cobalt where proceeds and donations from the evening would go to helping the first victim I mentioned (I cannot mention his name). I hope they reached their $1,000 goal to help with his bills and lost wages. I was impressed that so many people came out for the march. When I left the bar it was filling up, which was nice to see.
To know that I know two people who were heavily involved in organizing the march and bar benefit made me smile to see them using their connections and influence for something so useful. I don’t even know if they knew they had that power. It made me smile to see these gay men reach beyond themselves to do something for a friend (and to an extension, other victims). This is not to say that they’re selfish guys normally. I’m just saying that I was very impressed and proud of them for reaching beyond themselves in such a manner.
Thanks, Oscar and Steve, and everyone else who helped out in this endeavor. I pray that this violence against gays ceases, though. What would DC do if gays (and there are SO MANY in DC) started straight bashing and murdering simply because straight people have started to take over Dupont Circle?
