More Knoxville Embarrassment
In addition to racial hatred in suburbia, a man was severely beaten in the old city because the attackers thought he was gay.
A man is recovering from four days in a coma after a group of men jumped him as he was leaving Cup-a-Joe in the Old City.
The Jonathan Rule’s family says the men attacked Jonathan because they thought he was gay.
But the crime can’t be classified as a hate crime because sexual orientation isn’t included in Tennessee’s hate crimes law.
First, this is horrible. I always hear folks (especially folks who just moved here) in East Tennessee talking about how nice people here are. Then crap like this happens. Second, I oppose hate crime legislation. The penalty should be the same for beating up a white guy as it is for beating up a black guy. However, our local news program decided to make it an issue. Homophobia and racism are still the problem, regardless of hate crime legislation.
I heard on the news that three men were taken into custody over this incident.
