June began with celebration for Springfield’s LGBT community, with the return of Pride Week, but ended with sadness, after a man was badly beaten by a group of kids who allegedly targeted him for being gay.
Today, the Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition planned a stand-out in response to the attack, at Barrows Park, where the incident occurred. The event, from noon to 1 p.m., is a public protest of violence against sexual minorities.
According to the Springfield Republican, the victim was attacked on June 28 by a group of nine teenagers while walking by the park. He reported that the teens used homophobic slurs during the attack, with one saying, “That’s what we do to faggots.”
In an announcement of today’s protest, Ward 6 City Councilor Amaad Rivera, who helped organize Pride Week, said, “Hate is not a Springfield value. Only together can we create a community that safe for everyone. No one should have to suffer violence for being who they are.”
The Stop the Hate and Homophobia Coalition formed earlier this year in response to the arrival in Springfield of Scott Lively, an evangelical minister infamous for traveling in 2009 to Uganda to give talks about efforts to outlaw homosexuality in that country, which included a bill that would make it a crime punishable by death. According to organizers, “The coalition deplores hateful messages and actions, and calls for community education about the impact of homophobia on our communities, as well as calling for community leaders, neighbors, co-workers, family members, etc. to speak out against homophobia whenever it is perpetrated.”
Holly Richardson, an organizer with the youth group Out Now and with Arise for Social Justice, said the horrific incident presents an opportunity to consider anti-gay violence within a larger community context. “I believe it’s important to address homophobic violence (and oppression, in general) with a root-cause analysis, starting with asking ourselves what would cause a group of young people to act in such a way toward an openly gay man?” she said.
The attack, said Michael Hall of Out Now, “just really reminded me of how one incident like this, that is motivated by the hating of gay people, can leave us feeling afraid all over again. I just really believe there needs to be institutional education/curriculum that focuses on LGBTQ people, at every level of the public school system, for starters.”
