Charlie Rogers, a Nebraska lesbian who
was attacked in her own home, is speaking out after people questioned
her version of events.
“I'm a person and it very much feels
like I'm being used as a pawn,” Rogers told CNN affiliate KETV.
Fire fighters responded to a Lincoln
house fire early Sunday morning after Rogers escaped to a neighbor's
house and called for help. Three masked men allegedly forced
themselves into Roger's home, attacked her, carved homophobic slurs
into her body and set her house on fire.
Neighbor Linda Rappi told CNN that
Rogers arrived at her home “naked, her hands were tied with zip
ties. All I could see was a cut across her forehead and blood
running down.”
Officer Katie Flood, a spokeswoman for
the Lincoln Police Department, said the incident was being
investigated as a hate crime.
More than a thousand people gathered
Thursday night in Omaha to show support for Rogers.
“I can't adequately express how much
it has meant to me that people are standing with me and people are
standing for me,” Rogers,
33, said.
“For people to think this doesn't
happen here, it does. It did,” she added. (The video is embedded
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