NYPD investigates possible anti-gay attack in Brooklyn

The New York Police Department's Hate Crimes Task Force continues to investigate an assault against a 22-year-old man in Carroll Gardens in which his alleged assailants used anti-gay slurs.

Fox 5 and other local media outlets reported last night five men attacked the man shortly after midnight on March 2 near the corner of Luquer Street and Hamilton Avenue. Fox 5 reported the man suffered injuries to his head and face.

"I was appalled and sickened to learn of last week's anti-LGBT hate crime in Carroll Gardens," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said in a statement her office released last night. "New York City's greatest strength is our diversity. All New Yorkers should be free to walk our streets without fear of being attacked for who they are or who they are perceived to be."

City Councilmember Brad Lander [D-Park Slope] also condemned the reported attack, but this incident is the latest in a series of incidents that highlight all too well the fact anti-LGBT attacks remain a serious problem in the five boroughs and elsewhere.

Jorge Steven López Mercado, José Sucuzhañay, Jack Price, LaTeisha Green and Mario Vega are among those on whom I have unfortunately had to report over the last year. This coverage remains an emotional challenge, but it is truly unfortunate -- and quite frankly tiring -- to have to report on yet another anti-LGBT attack.

Enough is truly enough!

Reflecting upon a tumultuous week

October has traditionally provided an abundance of fundraisers, parties and other events that usually keeps this journalist particularly busy in the weeks leading up to Halloween. This month is certainly no exception, but the past few days have proven particularly tumultuous.

I spent last Sunday with a group of nearly 100 Queens activists who took part in the National Equality March. The weather was gorgeous; the energy was certainly palpable and the march arguably energized its participants to return home and lobby for LGBT rights. The sad reality, however, remains many of those with whom I rode the bus to Washington found themselves at a press conference in front of a Flushing hospital literally hours after they returned to Queens to denounce a particularly brutal anti-gay hate crime in College Point.

Daniel Aleman and Daniel Rodriguez, Jr., allegedly beat Jack Price outside a College Point deli around 3 a.m. on Oct. 9. Price suffered a broken jaw, a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen and other injuries. Doctors placed him in a medically induced coma, but local media reports indicate has begun to recover from his injuries.

One of Rodriguez's friends told WABC reporter Josh Einiger earlier this week he felt Price deserved what he described as a "beat down" because he had "propositioned men in the neighborhood" and "even had blown his assailants a kiss."

"I mean I don't want no man blowing me a kiss either," Marcel Gelmi said. "I've been beat up like that too, but you don't see me on the news and my family crying and this and that. Wounds heal."

Those in Queens and from other areas of the city who plan to march along College Point Avenue tomorrow will almost certainly have something to say to Gelmi and others who feel those continue to justify the attack against Price, but here is my own challenge: Look me in the eye and tell me I deserve a beat down simply because I am gay.