A friend of mine, Zachary Davenport, was beaten up in San Francisco by a group of teenage boys after repeatedly being called a faggot. It happened on the MUNI public transit light rail system shortly after midnight on Saturday, August 14th.

My friend sustained a black eye and minor head injury.

What would compel a group of young men to perform such a violent act on another person simply because he is different and even more specific, different acting? Or more specifically,  gay? Here we are in liberal San Francisco and still such acts occur because there still exists in the minds of some that it is okay to treat LGBT individuals like they are less than human.  Like they deserve to be beaten.

I personally believe that a lot of what these young people rationalize in their minds come from the rhetoric they hear in society.  From religious pulpits, to legislative halls and in entertainment,  the LGBT,  and more specifically gay community is demarginalized in both written word and in the spoken word.

This breeds the rationalization in young minds that gay people are open season.

Thankfully, Zachary survived and things could be worse.  He is also a strong individual.  However, this trend is becoming more of a concern because as marriage equality and issues like DADT  become more and more  significant on the national front, the rhetoric from the opposition will reach shrill levels.   I can only imagine the craziness that can occur.

For the sake of our youth, we must not only stop the hate but the violence. We do not need anymore Zachary incidents.

There is an anti-violence procession scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m. at the Castro MUNI Station on Friday, August 27th.

For more on this story click on this link:  Zachary Davenport Gay Beating