Teen Sentenced to Only 60 Days for Gay-Bashing
A teen from Staten Island was sentenced to just 60 days in jail for his involvement in a gay-bashing that took place at a infamous West Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn -- known for being the birthplace of the gay rights movement, the New York Daily News reported in a Jan. 3 article. (
Staten Island is one of the five boroughs that comprise New York City. It lies south of Manhattan and is reachable by ferry to the West Village -- or, as it's usually known, Greenwich Village, which is where the crime took place.)
Christopher Orlando, 18, plead guilty to a felony assault as a hate crime and attempted robbery charges for demanding cash from the victim, Benjamin Carver, 35.
While using the bathroom, Orlando, who was 17 at the time, and his friend Matthew Francis, 21, asked Carver if the Stonewall Inn was a gay bar.
"Get away from me, faggot! Don't pee next to me," Francis yelled. "I don't like gay people."
Francis told Carver not to use the urinal next to him and then allegedly demanded money from Carver. The two men attacked Carver after he refused to give them any money, CBS reported in a Sept. 28, 2010, article.
Prosecutors said that Orlando then held Carver down while Francis punched him in the face until he was able to escape the bathroom.
Francis, who plead guilty to assault as a hate crime and attempted robbery, was sentenced to prison for two years for his involvement.
"He was the minor participant," John Rapawy, Orlando's defense lawyer said of his client's sentencing.
Prosecutors initially wanted Orlando to serve six months in prison but Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Bonnie Wittner overruled the recommendation.
Despite being viciously attacked, Carver, a writer and art director visiting from Washington, D.C., wrote on his Facebook that he still loves New York, DNAinfo.com reported in an Oct. 5, 2010, article.
"Just met with detectives to identify the other guy who gay bashed me," Carver wrote. "New York, I still love you."
Not all teens have received such a light sentence for being involved in anti-gay crimes. Brandon McInerney, a 17-year-old California student, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for shooting his classmate, Larry King, EDGE reported in a Dec. 20 article.
In addition, EDGE reported that John Katehis, 19, received the maximum sentence of 25 years-to-life in prison for the killing of George Weber, 45, -- a man who he met through a Craigslist ad.
In a similar incident to Carver's beating, Frederic Guinta, 25, from Queens was charged with attacking bartender Greg Davis, 38, at Julius Bar -- a venerable gay bar in West Village. Guinta plead guilty to punching Davis and going off on an anti-gay and racist tirade, DNAinfo.com reported in a Feb. 15, 2011 article.
In 2007, EDGE reported of an incident where a lesbian was allegedly kicked out of Caliente Cab Company, a restaurant less than 200 feet from the Stonewall Inn, for being too masculine to use the women's bathroom.
"I was thrown out of the restaurant because of who I am and how I look," Khadijah Farmer, 28, said in a statement. "It was humiliating. No one should be subjected to that type of discrimination."
EDGE also reported in July 30, 2011 of a gay-bashing that took place at a Forest Hills, New York, restaurant. Liza Friedlander was a patron at the Sizzler restaurant when she was allegedly attacked.
According to a suit that was filed by the victim, the establishment's manager accused Friedlander for not paying for her breakfast and knocked her to the floor and started to kick her, while yelling anti-gay epithets.