Leaders of Queer and Allied Activism
(QUAL) at the University of Virginia are planning an anti-hate rally
Thursday in response to a recent gay-bashing incident on the
university grounds.
An unidentified male student and a
friend were attacked by five young men on April 4, police report.
Police allege the pair were jumped
walking home from a friend's house around 3:30AM outside the
university's Scott Stadium by five white males between the ages of 16
and 20.
The men snatched a cell phone being
used by one of the men to call for help and smashed it as they yelled
anti-gay slurs. The two attempted to escape but the pack chased down
the UVa student and hit him in the back of the head. The
eighteen-year-old student was treated at the university's medical
center for minor injuries.
University leaders called the attack an
instance of gay bashing.
“Based upon the facts as we currently
know them, we believe this to be a bias-motivated crime, in that the
perceived sexual orientation of the two victims appears to have
motivated the assault,” wrote UVa Associate Vice President and Dean
of Students Allen W. Groves in a statement.
Virginia does not include sexual
orientation in its hate-crime law.
QUAL President Seth Kaye said he was
outraged that gay-bashing would occur on the grounds of a university
that felt gay inclusive. “They were kinda shocked that something
like this could happen here, but I think hatred is everywhere ...
what we're hoping is, people can change their language ... stop
saying things like that's 'so gay',” Kaye told WCAV, a
Charlottesville-based ABC affiliate.
Hundreds of student are expected to
gather tomorrow at 6:30PM at the university's Amphitheater to rally
against hate.
“We're just hoping the community can
come together and say this is not OK, we can't have that on grounds
or really anywhere in our society,” Kaye said.