Local
Gay man recounts ‘vicious’ hate crime
‘I was on the ground bleeding’
A 29-year-old gay man said he was knocked to the ground and beaten by two male attackers who called him anti-gay names while punching and kicking him as he was walking home this month from a Georgia Avenue bus stop.
Francisco Martin, a makeup artist who describes himself as openly gay, said one of the two attackers struck him in the face and head July 6 with a nine-inch wide sheet of plywood while the other knocked him to the ground and kicked him in the head and body.
D.C. police have listed the incident as a bias-related crime and are seeking the public’s assistance in identifying suspects. The department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit is assisting in the investigation. Police said the attack took place along the 600 block of Emerson St., N.W.
“I just tried to cover my face; I just started yelling, ‘stop, stop,’ and they just wouldn’t stop,” Martin told the Blade in a phone interview. “They just [kept] beating me until they ripped my shirt off. I was on the ground bleeding.”
Martin said he managed to walk about three blocks to his home after the attackers stopped beating him and left the scene.
He said he called 911 and police and paramedics arrived at his home within minutes. According to Martin, he declined an offer by the paramedics to take him to a hospital after the paramedics examined him and determined his injuries were not life threatening.
Martin said the attackers made no attempt to rob him, a development that leads him to believe they singled him out because they believed him to be gay.
“They were saying like ‘faggot’ or all these derogatory things,” said Martin, who is Latino.
Capt. Edward Delgado, commander of the police’s Special Liaison Unit that includes the GLLU, said Latinos have been targeted in a rash of street robberies in recent weeks in Petworth, the neighborhood where Martin was attacked.
Delgado released information about the incident involving Martin in an e-mail to community activists, calling it a “vicious” attack that appears to be the first LGBT-related hate crime in the Petworth area in recent years. He did not disclose Martin’s name.
Martin later contacted the Blade about the attack, saying he wanted to speak out about the “terrible problem of hate crimes” in D.C.
Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence has pointed to statistics showing D.C. having the nation’s highest rate of reported hate crimes against LGBT people in a major metropolitan area.
Martin said he is cooperating with police and is hopeful that the investigation will result in the arrest of the two men who attacked him.
He said the incident began around 8:30 p.m. when he noticed a group of young men staring at him and laughing as he was walking along Emerson Street from the Georgia Avenue bus stop.
He said he began running after he noticed two men were following him. The two chased after him and caught up to him on the 600 block of Emerson Street where they started beating him, he recalled.
Martin described the man who struck him with the plywood board as black with a dark complexion, and appearing in his mid to late 20s, about 5 feet, 7 inches, weighing about 150 pounds, having an athletic build, a light mustache and goatee with short hair, and wearing a yellow Polo shirt and jeans.
Martin said the second attacker was black with a dark complexion and appeared to be in his mid 30s. He described him as being about 5 feet, 11 inches, weighing about 180 pounds, having an athletic build, a short haircut and no facial hair, and wearing a white tank top with large blue shorts.
Anyone with information about the incident should call the Fourth District police detective’s office at 202-715-7506 or the police department’s hotline at 1-800-673-2777.
District of Columbia
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
Congresswoman notes Congress controls local court system
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Friday, June 20, reintroduced her bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ D.C. residents in the process for selecting people to serve as jurors in D.C. Superior Court.
“The bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the local D.C. trial court, the D.C. Superior Court, based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Norton said in a statement.
“Specifically, this bill would clarify that the term ‘sex,’ which is a protected class under the nondiscrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court includes sexual orientation and gender identity,” Norton said.
She points out in her statement that under the D.C. Home Rule Act approved by Congress that created D.C.’s local government, including an elected mayor and City Council, the federal government retained control over the local court system.
“Therefore, until D.C. is given authority to amend Title 11 of the D.C. Code, which one of my bills would do, an act of Congress is required to clarify that LGBTQ+ jurors in the D.C. Superior Court are protected from discrimination,” according to her statement.
A spokesperson for Norton couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Norton is aware of specific instances where residents were denied jury service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Online records of congressional action on Norton’s juror nondiscrimination bill show she had introduced it in 2019, 2021, and 2023, when it died in committee each year, except for the 117th Congress in 2022, when it was approved by a committee but died in the full House.
“During Pride month we are reminded of the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” Norton said in her June 20 statement. “Nobody, including D.C. jurors, should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and D.C. juries should not be deprived of the service of LGBTQ residents,” she added.
The Washington Blade’s second day of Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC ended with a fireworks show on Saturday, June 7. The fireworks show was presented by the Leonard-Litz LGBTQ Foundation.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) will face John Reid in the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.
Hashmi won the Democratic primary with 27.49 percent of the vote. She defeated former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach), Babur Lateef, Victor Salgado and Alexander Bastani.
“Tonight, Virginians made history,” said Hashmi in a statement. “We didn’t just win a primary, we sent a clear message that we won’t be bullied, broken, or dragged backward by the chaos in Washington.”
Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, in April won the Republican nomination to succeed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The incumbent governor days after Reid secured the nomination called for him to withdraw his candidacy amid reports that a social media account with his username included “pornographic content.” Reid, who would become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Virginia if he wins in November, has strongly denied the reports.
Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in Democratic attorney general primary. Jones will face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in November.
Youngkin cannot run for a second, consecutive term.
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will face off against Earle-Sears in November. The winner will make history as the first woman elected governor in the state’s history.
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