New York mother claims daughter was beaten up for being gay
A mother from the Bronx Park East area of New York City believes that her 13-year-old daughter was beaten up for being gay.
The woman—who spoke anonymously to Bronx News 12—said her daughter was attacked by six other students while in a park last Saturday (April 27).
“She just came out recently to everyone letting them know that she is gay,” the New York City mother said.
The girl’s mother said the students called her ‘a fake d**e’ during the attack
“They kept calling her a fake d**e and a fake butch. Her sexuality has nothing to do with her playing ball or even her activities in school,” she continued.
She said her daughter was kicked and hit in the back of the head during the attack and that they used homophobic slurs.
Her daughter does not remember the multiple blows to the head, however the woman was able to show the news station video footage that was recorded and posted online of the attack.
“She was like, ‘Mom I never felt this way, it was a mixed feeling, I was scared, nervous and it was like my life—I’ll have to defend my life.'”
– New York mother who said her daughter was the victim of a hate crime
“She was like, ‘Mom I never felt this way, it was a mixed feeling, I was scared, nervous and it was like my life—I’ll have to defend my life,'” the woman said.
The girl suffered from headaches and neck pain after the attack, but her mother said that she has suffered more from the “internal” damage of coping with the attack.
The family intends to press charges against the six people who were allegedly involved in the attack, and they have said they want police to investigate it as a hate crime.
The attack comes as police report a massive rise in hate crimes in New York City
The news comes as a dramatic increase in hate crimes has been reported in New York City in the last year.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) yesterday announced that hate crimes were up 67 percent, with most of those being anti-Semitic.
There have been 145 reported hate incidents in the city in the last year, compared to 87 in the same period last year.
Hate crimes based on sexual orientation, meanwhile, climbed by 45 percent. Last year, there were just 11 reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation. This year, that number went up to 16.
There has also been a 100 percent increase in hate crime arrests by the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force in the last year, Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said yesterday, according to the New York Post.
“We will not tolerate this in New York City,” he said.