Detroit Man Viciously Gay-Bashed While Onlookers Laugh
A gun-toting assailant at a gas station attacked a young gay Detroit man, but the clerk refused to call the police, and bystanders did nothing to help as the beating took place, leaving the victim with a shattered eye socket. "Instead of intervening or calling for the authorities, witnesses laughed", the victim said in a YouTube video in which he recounted the beating.
But Justin Alesna, 23, refused to stay down. He picked himself up after the brutal assault and told his story online, posting a YouTube video in which he described and addressed the attack on his Facebook page.
In the Facebook video, Alesna--his face bruised and swollen--gave a play-by-play of the violent encounter.
"On the evening of March 7, 2011, I was attacked in the convenience store of a BP gas station," Alesna says. "I was walking in to buy cigarettes and stood in line--apparently too close to the guy ahead of me, because he then said, 'Hey, y'all, give me two feet, two feet, dog, two feet.' "
"I then said 'sorry' and stepped back, but he wouldn't let it go. He then continued to barrage me," Alsea continued. "'What's your problem, dog? What are you, a fuckin' faggot? What, are you a fuckin' homo? You're a fuckin' homo. Why the fuck would you stand so fuckin' close?' "
"I tried to ignore it, bought my cigarettes, and proceeded to leave." Alesna went on. "I went to the door where he then stopped me, flashed a gun, and said, 'What the fuck you say to me?' "
Alesna described how he attempted to defuse the situation, telling the aggressor, "Look, dog, I didn't mean anything by it."
The aggressor would not be pacified, however.
"He then went on with the 'Are you a faggot? Are you a fuckin' fag? Are you a homo?' " The situation continued up to "the point where my face decided to collide with his fist," Alesna said, sarcastically, "which happened twice before I ended up throwing him to the ground. He then got up, took another swing, and I got him in a headlock. At this point I asked the clerk to call the police, and he did not. He only told my attacker to kill it. 'Bro, kill because I don't have time to be cleanin' up this mess.' I was then told to leave the store, and I did."
Alesna added, "The amount of cruelty that was shown to me during this whole situation was beyond appalling." Alesna said that there were two bystanders who witnessed the event, but "who did nothing but gawk and laugh" throughout the incident.
"What happened to decency? What happened to... what happened? What the fuck happened?" asked Alesna. "I remember this whole story about seven kids killing themselves because they didn't want to deal with shit like this. Because before they could even start their lives, they were afraid of this happening to them.
"As a result of that, there was a campaign that said it gets better," Alesna continued. "I remember when hate crimes were popular. I remember when it was funny. A shattered eye socket," Alesna added, "I not funny. The fact that no one stepped up to help--the fact that people allowed this to happen--the fact that I stood up to somebody with a gun who threatened my life; a man who thought that it was many to beat on a little faggot--bitch, who a faggot now? I threw your ass to the ground after taking two of your fuckin' fists to my face. Snap!"
"The hate... needs to stop now. The only way that it gets better, the only way we can assure that shit like this does not happen is by standing up, by speaking out," Alesna continued.
A friend of Alesna's, blogging at a site called Ain't No Party Like A Detroit Party, posted the video and wrote, "Sure, hate crimes can happen anywhere, a gay man can get attacked in the Bible Belt just as easily as he can in Detroit, but the main difference there is the motive.
"Anyone practicing hate is evil to me no matter what their motive, but a conservative attacking a gay man has a reason--albeit a twisted, fucked up reason--based on a religion that preaches hate," the blog continued. "The difference in what happened to Justin, here in Detroit, is that there was no reason--no explanation, just the fact that 'Hey, you're different looking from me, you carry yourself differently and that is bad, and you're fucking standing too close. That gives me the right to beat the shit out of you.'
The blogger ended the post with a quote from Alesna's video.
"Remember this the next time you want to make a change, that you want to do better, that you want something more from yourself and society around you. We are not fucking animals. And if you think that we are, then what the fuck is wrong with you?"
The Associated Press reported that Alesna acknowledged to the assailant that he was gay, and said that the FBI is investigating the incident. The article also said that the attack had prompted openly gay Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh to call for the city's police to take action on the case.
Michigan law does not cover GLBTs who are the victims of bias-driven attack. Moreover, a constitutional amendment that denies gay and lesbian families any legal recognition at all--including domestic partnerships or civil unions--places Michigan among a handful of states with the most anti-gay laws.