First it took police in Thunder Bay more than an hour to respond to the 911 call.
John "Jake" Raynard suffered 15 fractures to his cheekbone, a broken eye socket, a broken jaw and a broken upper palate when six to eight men surrounded him near a North Cumberland Street business.
Then they dragged their heels over whether it was a hate crime despite all the evidence.
His attackers, who yelled words like "faggot" and "vagina" at him, chased him into an alley. Raynard grabbed a brick for self-defence. It went black from there.
Now they say it wasn't a hate crime...and they've charged Jake Raynard with assault.
Jake Raynard, 30, is facing one assault charge and two charges of assault with a weapon. The weapon involved,Thunder Bay Police spokesman Chris Adams said, is a brick.
Police chief Bob Herman said at a news conference Thursday that there is much speculation that the larger group targeted Raynard and two of his friends after they left the bar because the three are gay. However, investigations – including interviews with independent witnesses – have determined that it was not a hate crime.
Isn't that great? Talk about beating up on the victim.
I guess the message is gays should not fight back against the thugs that threaten our lives.
Like these two who almost killed a gay man earlier this week...
But my message is FORGET IT. Because when I see something like that I know that I could be next, or my lover, or my friends, or anyone.
And I know what kind of message gay bashings send out to gay kids.
The student union at Fanshawe College has approved a plan to hold self-defence classes for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students following two separate gay bashing incidents in London over the past few weeks.
So until police restrain or cage these violent homophobes that threaten our lives, what choice do we have but to defend ourselves? Any way we can.
Gay people are a peaceful people.
But enough is enough is ENOUGH...
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P.S. If you're on Facebook you can join Jake's support group here.
4 comments:
Just joined that group on Facebook. More than 8,500 members now.
Things like this remind us that we're really not that progressive in Canada anymore.
Becoming more like the U.S.
I'm glad that you posted about this Simon -- I was just about to send you a link to that very article.
Needless to say, I'm disgusted by the London City cops. I also agree with you whole-heartedly that we need to protect ourselves and our loved ones by whatever means necessary. If that means some 'phobes get a busted head, so be it.
And if that means guys like Jake are going to be charged simply because he tried to defend himself, I hope someone takes up a collection to get him a real kick-ass lawyer...
hi CK...yes I'm very disappointed with the way things are going. But there are good people in Thunder Bay who came out in strength for a rally, so I'm hoping they can do something about this very unjust situation...
hi 'berto...yes as I just told CK it's extremely disappointing and sends out a very bad message. To me if you're left stranded, surrounded by a mob that has just attacked your friends, picking up a brick seems like self defence.
It makes absolutely no sense, the people who attacked him should be charged with attempted murder, and as for the cops they should go back to Cop Skool because they're absolutely USELESS...
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