An unidentified 28-year-old woman was featured on a TV news segment about same-sex marriages in Michigan. After the show aired, the woman claims that she got off a bus and was walking through an apartment complex parking lot toward her home when she was confronted by three men, one of whom “punched her in the face” and kicked her after recognizing her as a lesbian featured on the program.
According to the Daily Tribune, the victim told police that her attacker yelled out to her,
“Hey [expletive deleted], are you that [expletive deleted] from the news?”
According to MLive,
“Sheriff’s office officials have said they have no reason to doubt the woman’s report and her injuries — which included severe face and eye injuries, in addition to bruising in the torso — are consistent with her description of the assault.”
Her attacker was “described as a heavy or obese white male in his mid 20s between 5 feet, 10 inches and 5 feet, 11 inches tall. He has a low or husky voice. He was wearing a dark gray or black hooded sweatshirt and high-top shoes.”
Yvonne Siferd, the director of victim services for Equality Michigan was quoted by the New York Daily News as saying,
“I was actually surprised it took this long…A lot of times, they are just slurs. Unfortunately, when unchecked, people feel empowered by them and [get physical].”
As much as it pains this author to speculate, everything about this story screams hoax. It is a stretch that three anti-gay men would be hanging out in a parking lot waiting to pounce on a woman that they recognized as a lesbian from the news. While it is certainly possible, there are too many similar stories that turn out to be bogus.
If the story is true, my heart truly goes out to the victim, who deserves to see her attackers prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Only time will tell.
Watch a local news report here:
