Gay activists want Houston police to deploy undercover officers after an attack on a New York dancer who was beaten as he walked down a residential avenue during the Thanksgiving holiday. The attack on Allan Tibbetts, who was in Houston to perform at an AIDS Day event, has been classified as a possible hate crime.
The attack, in which Tibbetts was struck on the head repeatedly with a metal pipe, galvanized the gay and lesbian community.
Chris Arasin of Q Patrol, a citizen group that patrols Houston’s Montrose entertainment district, said the gay and lesbian community has been worried about violence since June’s U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Texas’ sodomy law. “We’ve had a lot of backlash politically and from the pulpit and were waiting for it to hit the streets,” Arasin said.
Tibbetts was attacked shortly before midnight on Nov. 28 as he walked to a bed-and-breakfast. He was released from Methodist Hospital after receiving 36 stitches. “The doctor said the intent was to kill me,” he said. “This was not just a mugging. … I believe this was a bias crime, a gay bashing.”
Link: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/2280960