3 Lesbians Booked for Yelling Anti-Gay Names at Man While Beating Him on Boston Subway

Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.

A gay Boston man was allegedly the victim of a hate crime last week when he was attacked by a group of teenage girls at a subway station, Boston's news station WHDH reported.

Local authorities say that the man had cuts on his face and a bloody nose and that he told police a group of teenage girls physically and verbally assaulted him at the Forest Hills subway station. He also told police that he believes he was attacked because he is gay.

"Some statements were made relative to his sexual orientation and we have conferred with the district attorney and the attorney general who have advised us to pursue that avenue," said Dep. Chief Joseph O'Connor of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) transit police.

Police say that there were at least three teenage girls who kicked and punched the victim, yelled racial slurs, and stole his backpack, which contained a digital camera and an iPod. The authorities questioned an 18-year-old suspect from Dorchester, a neighborhood of Boston, and are currently looking for at least two other female suspects.

"He was on the receiving end of two kinds of violence; one the physical violence against his body, and the other the hate violence against his spirit," said Priscilla Ballou, a passenger.

But the case took a strange turn on Saturday, Feb. 25, when Boston police arraigned three black girls who claim that they are lesbians. The Boston Herald reported that a prominent civil rights lawyer claimed that "no sane jury would convinct them under those circumstances." He saved most of his fire for hate-crime laws which, he said, tries to break people down into categories and "is doomed for failure."

An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts countered that "Someone who is Jewish can be anti-Semitic."

Carolyn Euell, 38, is the mother of two of the defendants, Erika Stroud, 21, of Dorchester and Felicia Stroud, 18, West Roxbury. One of their domestic partners, Lydia Sanford, is also apparently a defendant.

The judge gave a very low bail, which could suggest she doesn't see merit in at least some of the charges.

Meanwhile, earlier this week a Massachusetts college student was allegedly attacked by two people for an article she wrote supporting gay marriage in the Bridgewater State University's newspaper. The school is Massachusetts' largest state university located about 28 miles south of Boston.

A man asked Destinie Mogg-Barkalow about her article titled "Prop 8 Generates More Hate" and then a woman who was with the man punched Mogg-Barkalow, giving her a black eye, according to the victim.

Authorities are currently searching for the suspects.


by Jason St. Amand , National News Editor

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