So Sad

I know I sometimes can get on my high horse at times and I don’t intend to turn our blog into my soapbox – I would be more than happy only posting pictures of family and my cats. But there are some things that are so wrong in this world that not saying something would be worse.

I know Todd Metrokin through my dear friends Amanda and Jen. When Amanda told me Todd was attacked and beaten my heart dropped – immediately I recalled seeing my brother in the hospital after getting jumped at UVA by a bunch of frat boys. No one should have to see a loved one go through such a brutal event. Like Tim, Todd is easy to like and fun to be around. And like Tim, Todd is going to watch a movie or TV show and something will trigger a sense of helplessness and panic that only a victim of an act of violence can know.

But unlike Tim, Todd knows that what happened to him could happen again or to any of his friends because Todd was attacked out of ignorance and hatred based only on the fact that he is gay. Also unlike Tim, the police did little to nothing to track down the attackers even though Todd accidentally ended up with one of the attacker’s cell phones. Even with this hard evidence, and the severity of the attack (days after the attack an imprint of the shoe of the attacker was still visible on Todd’s face), Todd was victimized again, this time by the police and the lack of interest in bringing the attackers to justice. It was only after Todd’s friend posted about the beating on his blog and the story grabbed the attention of local papers, did the police follow up and make an arrest. Another terrible turn to this story is that his attacker is all of 16 years old and a charge that should be attempted murder brought against an adult will instead be assault against a juvenile.

In the few months since Todd’s attack there have been 5 attacks on gay men in DC and while Todd was very lucky to survive, 37 year old Tony Randolph Hunter wasn’t so lucky. So I will continue to push for equal rights for my friends and discourage the use of slurs in conversation in the hopes that in my lifetime humankind can be both human and kind.

If it was me, I would probably get a little bitter - but not Todd - instead he and some friends reformed an advocacy group they started a few years back and Todd has been speaking up, educating about the dangers of hatred and reaching out to help others that have been victimized. If you would like to help, you can make a donation by visiting www.glovdc.org or you can send a check to:
GLOV c/o The DC Center
1111 14th Street NW, Suite 350
Washington DC 20005