Persecuted: Assaulted gay Harvard student speaks out....

"I am Galo Garcia, and since I first arrived at Harvard in the fall of 2001, I have considered the campus a comfortable and safe place to live. As I was being punched and thrown against a wall Friday night, these feelings were compromised. On our way to the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transsexual Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) “Inappropriate” dance, I had my arm around one of my male friends.

While we were walking by the Lampoon building, a car slowed down, and two men in the car started shouting at us, calling us “faggots.” Somewhat upset, I shouted back that they should not make such remarks here. As soon as I took a step towards them and responded to their verbal attacks, they stopped the car, stepped out, and continued shouting homophobic slurs. It all happened so quickly.

I was shocked and frozen while I was thrown against a wall and punched repeatedly. Luckily, my friend called the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) and officers arrived in under a minute. I have cuts, bruises, and lumps on my chest, my back is sore, and a large area of my head is swollen and throbbing painfully. The day after, as I sat the holding ice packs to my head and popping ibuprofen every four hours to dull the pain, I felt completely disconnected—as if I were watching myself on a theater-sized screen.

Even though I feel physical pain, I am still shocked, confused, and in denial that a hate crime could occur in the midst of campus. Many questions are swirling through my head unanswered: How should I respond to verbal attacks next time? Should I show affection towards my male friends in public? Should I ignore slurs like “faggot” as I walk around on campus, or should I confront them? Which is more important, standing up for my community or preserving my health?

http://www.thecrimson.com/today/article507461.html

by the Science Center.

so shocking that stuff like that happens in this area...

Hate is not an accepted value of us evil liberal northeasterners.

but I thought this area was too progressive for that kind of disgusting activity

Rug's assessment is spot on, the hateful rhetoric of the Republican party is responsible for this escalation of violence.

with his bigoted wedge issue crap.

He's given license to Freepers and fundamentalists and skinheads to act on their own bigoted, violent instincts.

Hey Laura! Wanna look at this guy's bloody face and THEN make a couple of jokes at your fucking press dinner? THIS is what your husband does while you're watching Desperate Housewives.

The preachers of this kind of filth deserve as much blame as the perpetrators.

nor anyone else ever deserved to become a statistic or a 'battering ram' for progress!

... "persecuted."

When the evil erupts so brazenly in Harvard Square, in The People's Republic of Cambridge, in true-blue Massachusetts... you know there's something wrong in America today. :grr: