Last Friday night a slightly built 20-year old Salt Lake City resident named Dane Hall was leaving a gay themed nightclub in Utah when he was followed by four men. They began to shout gay slurs at him.
Moments later one of them attacked the young man from behind, punching him on the back of the head and knocking him to the ground.
Another assailants then grabbed his shirt and began punching him repeatedly in the face. When Hall fell to the ground the attacker placed his open mouth over the street curb and stomped on the back of his head, knocking out six of Hall's teeth in a move commonly referred to as 'curb checking.'
It's an action which can result in death in many cases.
A piece of bone from Hall's jaw jammed into his brain. His mouth has been wired shut now. In the ambulance he cried because he knew he couldn't afford the health costs he'd be charged for his hospitalization. The young man who weighs 150 pounds won't be able to eat solid food for ten weeks.
It's the second serious hate crime attack outside the same club since April. So far no arrests have been made in either attack. Why isn't this all over the news? Have a guess.
Utah, by the way, is the home of former Republican Senator Chris Buttars who became famous for telling a documentary filmmaker in 2009 that gay people don't have any morals and for comparing gay activists to radical Muslims, saying they're one of America's greatest threats.
In 2010 a survey found that 44 percent of gay and bisexual Utahns said they have been fired or denied a job or a promotion due to sexual orientation or gender identity.
Everything connects. Create a culture of suspicion and intolerance, mark a minority out for opprobrium, then stand back and let the thugs do the work.
Hall himself has offered a $10, 000 reward for information leading to the apprehending of these criminals.
He should't have to. But that's the country we're still living in.
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