On Thursday a friend of mine was gay bashed during the short walk from the area downtown Stark Street area to his apartment in NW Portland. He had left a gay bar, which he went to after a work event in the same area (he works for a firm that has it's offices in a swank building nearby). The attacker came up from behind him and yelled "fucking faggot" before striking my friend. Said friend was knocked out and the rest of the story is hazy to him because of the injury he sustained to the head, which left him disoriented, but he somehow managed to make it home, take a shower (he doesn't remember this, but found a lot of blood in the bathtub in his apartment and on a towel) and passed out. When he woke up a short time later, he was still bleeding and felt ill, so he called 911. He vomited a large amount of blood. At the hospital he had stitches to several parts of his face, then a dentist gave him a temporary bridge (he'll recieve a permanent one later) to replace the teeth that were knocked out.

I could go on a rant about how awful it is that in 2007 this could happen in one of the countries most progressive cities. Such rant would take a few jabs at the influence of our biggoted religious leaders and more than a few politicials out there, but I think we're all aware of all of that. But incidents like this have to wake us up for the stuppor that many of us live in. Many of us choose to live in denial and with ambivolence about the prejudices that we live with in our society. It seems callous to say that my friend is lucky, but it definitely could have been worse because he walked away from the incident, but I don't think he will feel safe walking in his own neighborhood at night anymore. Especially since the criminal has not been caught. Let's hope that his next "victim" is more prepared and more successful at fighting back.

Here is a link to info on some other gay bashing that has happened in Portland:
images.google.com/imgres