Jan 26, 2011
Gay Man Defending Himself From Attack Outside DC Gay Bar Charged With Hate Crime
Don't Call A Gay Man A "Faggot", He Will Put You Down
Kevin “Jaden” Perry, a Washington D.C. resident and member of the Radical Faeries, was called a “faggot” and violently threatened after leaving JR’s Bar on Sunday night. Rather than ignore the slur and move on, Perry defended himself and confronted the bigot.
Apparently in our nations capitol “faggots” are not allowed to defend themselves as Perry was arrested and charged with a hate crime!
Perry and two friends who were with him dispute the allegations, saying the panhandler started the incident by calling Perry a faggot and raising his fists near Perry’s face when Perry refused the man’s request for money.
“I called him out for calling me a faggot,” he said. “I was on 17th Street on a gay street and I just wasn’t going to take that.”
A police reported filed in court, based on accounts by the panhandler and an unidentified witness, quotes Perry as calling the panhandler a “faggot” at the time Perry allegedly assaulted him.
“I will kill you. You’re a faggot,” the report quotes Perry as saying. “I’m a real faggot, bitch. You don’t want to fuck with a real faggot, bitch. I will fucking kill you.”
“There’s been a lot of gay bashings in this city, and we seem to get attacked because we come across as weak. And now when someone stands up for himself he gets accused of a crime. This is just insane.”
via Gay man charged with ‘hate crime’ outside JR.’s : Washington Blade – Gay News.
Kevin “Jaden” Perry is my new hero.
If you were to walk up to a group of black men leaving a club and call them “niggers” you would rightfully get beaten into the ground. The term “faggot” like the term “nigger” is an unacceptable slur against a minority group and it’s usage should be aggressively discouraged.
It is not acceptable to call a Gay man a “faggot”. As more Gay Americans start reacting like Jaden Perry did to the unacceptable homophobic slurs and violence directed at our community the number of hate incidents will start to decline.
Bullies and homophobes do not react to reason or candlelight vigils for peace. If someone calls you a “faggot” you put them on the ground. By the way, the chain Perry used to beat the homophobe with was part of his “leather drag”, clever and effective.
I was attacked verbally, threatened physically (in a McDonalds) and then called a faggot and queer on the street outside (shouted all over the street) last February (Cork, Ireland).
The police arrived and accused me of causing the trouble. I challenged the police officer to watch all the CCTV footage and he screamed at me “Don’t tell me how to do my job” and when I refused to back down I was arrested.
The charges are still pending and I’m defending myself as I can’t afford legal representation but I’m confident of winning as I have all the CCTV footage and witness statements to confirm my story.
I forgot to mention that I slapped the guy LOL but it was after he assaulted me.
Usually the cops are not friends to the Gay and Lesbian community. There is a deep institutionalized homophobia in most police departments. In America alot of this comes from police officers having served in the U.S. military where discrimination against Gays and Lesbians is encouraged.
That will hopefully change with the repeal of DADT.
Noel, Do you think the man that attacked you will do it again since you struck back?
I don’t think so admin. I gave him a lot to think about with some very sharp retorts to his verbal abuse and he declined to carry out any further attacks there and then.
I accused the cops of being homophobic (the GLBT liaison cop is a nice guy but he’s married with kids (straight…go figure!) and he was no help to me).
Accusing them of being homophobic got included in their statement against me but I won’t go any further with that, I just want to show the judge that they have deliberately left out who caused the ‘incident’ and that they left out why I was upset with them.
Plus on top of all that they’re accusing me of being “highly intoxicated” but I have witnesses to disprove that and medical evidence to show that I was actually seriously ill on the night (acute renal insufficiency = imminent kidney failure) so it was physically impossible for me to be drunk.
The police Inspector knew about all my evidence and still allowed the officer to bring charges against me (because I made a formal complaint against him IMO) and when I spoke to the Inspector (last Monday) he tried to deny all knowledge of this (he knows their case is screwed) but my husband was with me when I told him.
When this is over I’ll be bringing civil and criminal charges against the police. I’m a sociologist btw and doing a PhD but I’m from ‘the projects’ so they think (thought) I would be a push-over. LOL.
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The Circle Keepers of the DC Radical Faeries would like to express our concern over the incident that occurred outside of JR.’s involving one of our newest members. While none of us knows exactly what happened in the heat of that moment, we are concerned over how this incident may be misconstrued to represent the DC Radical Faeries.
We would like to make it known that violence in any form is contrary to Radical Faerie beliefs and practices. We strive to resolve conflicts through building understanding and heartfelt empathy between people. Violent acts, especially hate crimes, often stem from an illusion that another class of people are fundamentally different from the aggressor. When violence is responded to with violence it only serves to strengthen that illusion. It is our belief that by sharing ourselves, who we are and where we come from, we can reach through to the human being on the other side of the conflict.
Hate crimes are a systemic problem in the District. We must strive to find solutions to these crimes that address the root of the problem, not just the individual incidents.
With love from heartspace,
The Circle Keepers of the DC Radical Faeries