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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, October 10, 2008
Two
men
who
identified
themselves
as
Muslims
were
charged
with
assaulting
a
gay
man
in
Georgetown
after
one
of
them
said
gay
people
are
stoned
to
death
in
his
home
country
in
the
Middle
East,
according
to
a
police
report.
A
23-year-old
Georgetown
University
medical
student
was
struck
in
the
face
Oct.
3
with
a
bottle
wielded
by
one
of
the
two
men
charged
in
the
case,
a
police
source
said.
The
alleged
attack
occurred
at
about
3
a.m.
along
the
C&O
Canal.
The
student
was
treated
and
released
from
Georgetown
University
Hospital.
In
a
separate
incident
that
unfolded
at
about
2
a.m.
Sept.
27,
police
arrested
an
off-duty
security
guard
for
allegedly
shouting
anti-gay
names
and
throwing
a
brick
at
two
gay
men
at
15th
and
P
streets,
N.W.
The
men
were
walking
home
from
gay
bar
Halo
while
holding
hands,
one
of
the
men
told
the
Blade.
The
men
identified
the
assailant
as
a
security
guard
who
had
been
working
at
the
soon-to-open
Metropole
Apartments,
an
upscale
condominium
at
15th
and
P
streets,
N.W.,
which
is
located
less
than
one
block
from
Halo.
The
United
States
Attorney’s
office
later
dropped
the
charge
against
the
security
guard.
A
spokesperson
for
the
U.S.
Attorney’s
office
said
he
was
making
inquiries
to
find
out
why
the
office
“no
papered”
the
case,
but
he
did
not
resolve
the
issue
by
Blade
deadline.
Matt
Hagen,
a
spokesperson
for
the
Metropole
condominium,
said
the
security
guard
arrested
in
the
incident
was
“terminated”
by
a
security
company
that
Metropole
retained
to
provide
security
for
the
building.
“He
definitely
no
longer
works
there,”
Hagen
said.
The
two
incidents,
which
D.C.
police
listed
as
anti-gay
hate
crimes,
took
place
after
about
200
people
participated
in
a
Sept.
26
candlelight
vigil
and
march
in
the
city’s
Shaw
neighborhood
to
honor
gay
murder
victim
Tony
Randolph
Hunter.
Hunter,
37,
died
Sept.
17,
10
days
after
he
was
attacked
and
beaten
by
four
unidentified
men
at
Eighth
and
N
streets,
N.W.,
as
he
and
a
friend
left
their
car
to
go
to
gay
club
BeBar
about
one
block
away.
Police
said
they
had
insufficient
evidence
to
label
Hunter’s
murder
a
hate
crime,
saying
the
motive
appeared
to
be
robbery.
Organizers
of
the
local
group
Gays
&
Lesbians
Opposing
Violence
said
Hunter’s
murder
and
the
two
most
recent
incidents
targeting
gays
in
Georgetown
and
at
15th
and
P
streets
followed
about
a
half-dozen
other
anti-gay
bias
assaults
in
the
city
during
the
past
year.
“I
believe
violence
is
disproportionately
impacting
our
community,”
said
Chris
Farris,
a
GLOV
co-founder.
“But
it’s
also
important
to
recognize
that
violent
crimes
are
victimizing
the
GLBT
community
regardless
of
whether
they
are
officially
designated
as
hate
crimes.”
D.C.
police
have
said
crime
statistics
show
that
anti-gay
hate
crimes
in
the
city
have
remained
stable
or
have
dropped
slightly
during
the
past
few
years,
despite
what
some
people
have
described
as
a
flurry
of
new
cases
during
the
past
few
months.
‘Being
gay
is
wrong’
The
Georgetown
attack
last
week
appears
to
be
the
first
known
time
gay
people
have
been
targeted
in
the
Washington
area
by
people
who
asserted
they
dislike
gays
because
homosexuality
is
forbidden
by
their
Muslim
faith.
Avy
Skolnik,
coordinator
of
national
programs
for
the
New
York
City
Gay
&
Lesbian
Anti-Violence
Project,
said
that
while
gay
groups
in
Europe
have
reported
anti-gay
assaults
by
Islamic
immigrants,
he
knew
of
no
such
cases
in
the
U.S.
Police
and
court
records
identify
the
men
charged
in
the
Georgetown
case
as
Saad
Elarch,
22,
and
Ruddad
Abdulgader,
19.
Court
records
list
Abdulgader
as
a
resident
of
Alexandria,
Va.,
and
Elarch
as
a
Michigan
resident.
Both
men
have
been
charged
with
bias-related
assault
with
a
dangerous
weapon.
At
a
court
hearing
Oct.
4,
an
attorney
representing
Elarch
said
the
two
men
have
stated
they
are
foreign
nationals
from
Morocco.
D.C.
Superior
Court
Judge
Frederick
Weisberg
ruled
Wednesday
that
Elarch
and
Abdulgader
would
remain
in
jail
until
tried,
denying
requests
from
their
attorneys
that
they
be
released.
Weisberg’s
ruling
came
after
courtroom
revelations
that
both
defendants
have
prior
felony
convictions
in
Virginia.
Elarch
was
convicted
of
a
drug-related
offense
and
Abdulgader
was
convicted
in
a
mob
assault
case.
It
was
unclear
Wednesday
how
Elarch
and
Abdulgader
came
to
the
U.S.
and
why
the
earlier
convictions
did
not
prompt
their
deportation.
The
judge’s
decision
to
keep
both
defendants
in
jail
prompted
Elarch’s
sister,
who
was
in
court,
to
faint.
Medical
personnel
took
her
from
the
courtroom
in
a
wheelchair.
Elarch
and
Abdulgader
are
next
expected
in
court
Nov.
12
for
a
status
hearing.
The
case
is
slated
to
go
before
a
grand
jury.
According
to
a
police
report
filed
in
court,
the
gay
man
who
was
struck
with
the
bottle
and
a
friend
had
been
walking
along
the
C&O
Canal
near
the
1100
block
of
33rd
Street,
N.W.,
at
about
3
a.m.
Oct.
3,
when
they
were
approached
by
Elarch
and
Abdulgader.
The
report,
which
does
not
refer
to
the
defendants
by
their
names,
said
one
of
the
two
defendants
asked
the
gay
men
if
they
were
gay
and
one
of
the
gay
men
answered,
“Yes.”
Both
defendants
then
began
to
call
the
gay
men
anti-gay
names
and
stated,
“Being
gay
is
wrong,”
the
police
report
says.
The
report
says
the
defendants
added
that
the
two
gay
men
“would
be
stoned
to
death
in
their
country
of
origin,”
with
one
of
the
defendants
stating,
“The
butt
hole
is
made
for
shitting
and
not
fucking,
you
fucking
faggots.”
The
report
says
one
of
the
defendants
instigated
the
other
to
hit
the
gay
men
with
a
bottle
that
the
defendant
held
in
his
hand.
The
defendants
stopped
calling
the
gay
men
names,
the
report
says,
but
“all
of
a
sudden”
one
of
the
defendants
struck
one
of
the
gay
men
“in
the
face
on
the
left
cheek
with
a
glass
bottle
that
he
was
holding
in
his
right
hand.”
In
court
Wednesday,
police
said
the
defendant
struck
the
victim
with
a
Grey
Goose
vodka
bottle.
‘I
know
where
you
live’
One
of
the
two
gay
men
targeted
in
the
incident
at
15th
and
P
streets
said
the
incident
began
when
he
and
his
boyfriend
were
holding
hands
while
crossing
15th
Street
at
about
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