"only one witness has come forward"

Anti-Hate Crime Rally Draws More Than 500
2 March 2005, NBC-17-Raleigh

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- A gay college student who was taunted and beaten in Chapel Hill broke his silence Tuesday night in an interview with NBC 17.

Thomas Stockwell, 21, came forward after a rally and march against hate crime that drew hundreds to the campus of the University of North Carolina.

Stockwell said six men attacked him Friday night on Franklin Street at about 2 a.m.

"Out of nowhere I just hear 'Fag' and all sorts of derogatory comments made towards me," Stockwell said. "At first I didn't realize they were yelling at me."

The six men, all about 20, chased Stockwell down, then broke his nose and knocked him out.

"They just punched me in the face," Stockwell recalled. "I did fight back. I'm not the only one hurting in town tonight."

Stockwell was on the phone with some friends when the beating took place.

"I heard his phone drop and then heard him yell," one friend told NBC 17. "A couple minutes later some girl came on the phone and said 'If you're this guy's friend, come get him quickly.'"

More than 500 attended the rally and march organized by UNC-Chapel Hill's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight Alliance. Several delivered speeches, including Chapel Hill town councilman Mark Kleinschmidt, whose boyfriend is the mayor of Carrboro.

"When I leave for dinner with my boyfriend, I think twice before I reach across the table and hold his hand -- even though I live in Chapel Hill" Kleinschmidt told the crowd.

The rally began at the student center and ended with a march from the school's campus to Franklin Street.

"We're not the same people we were before," Stockwell said. "We're more organized and we're fighting back."

They are fighting back in two ways. One, pushing legislatures to change hate crime legislation to include gays.

Another is asking people who witnessed Stockwell's beating to come forward. His friend told NBC 17 there was a crowd of people standing on the street when Stockwell was attacked.

So far, only one witness has come forward.

---

"if the men are convicted"

3 Arrested In Alleged Gay Beating
1 March 2005, KOAT-7- Albuquerque

SANTA FE, N.M. --A man remained hospitalized in intensive care Tuesday morning after he and another man were beaten in what Santa Fe police said was a hate crime sparked because the men are gay.

According to a report in Tuesday's edition of the Albuquerque Journal, police said James Maestas, 21, and another man were leaving the Denny's Restaurant on Cerrillos with several friends early Sunday morning when they were approached by a group of five males who were throwing rocks at their car and challenging them to a fight.

"They [Maestas and the other man] were in an openly gay relationship-- and that's what sparked off the incident," Deputy Chief Eric Johnson told Action 7 News.

According to the newspaper report, a police officer's statement said that the attackers followed Maestas and his friend to the La Quinta Inn, where the friend was staying. That was when the group began beating up Maestas and his friend, according to the officer's statement.

During the beating outside La Quinta Inn, the attackers were yelling, "Let's [mess] these faggots up," the officer's statement said.

The Journal report said that court records showed one of the suspects, David Trinidad, 17, was the waiter at Denny's for a group that included the victims and several of their female friends.

Court records said that another of the defendants, Gabriel Maturin, 20, told police the altercation started in the Denny's parking lot. Maturin said he "became offended because one of the victims put his hand on his chest while talking to him," and that Maturin thought he was being hit on by the men.

Action 7 News reported that witnesses to the beating told police that the attackers got into a black sport utility vehicle. Police said they were able to track the SUV, and brought in the witnesses, who identified the men inside the SUV as the ones who allegedly beat Maestas and his friend.

Police arrested Maturin and Isaia Medina, 19, and charged them with aggravated battery, simple battery, and conspiracy. Trinidad was charged in Santa Fe Children's Court on similar charges, police said.

But the investigation isn't over. Three more men were in the SUV and more charges could come as Maestas fights for his life at St. Vincent's Hospital, Action 7 News reported.

Santa Fe District Attorney Henry Valdez said because the beatings were apparently motivated by sexual orientation, they could be classified as hate crimes-- which could add a year in prison to each felony charge, if the men are convicted.