“Die Fag!”: Openly gay California vice-mayor accosted at Oktoberfest
“At the time it felt like it wasn’t real. … In hindsight, maybe I should’ve been more cautious, but it didn’t kick in.”
Evan Low, the gay Chinese-American vice-mayor and former mayor of Campbell, Calif. — and one of the nation’s first openly gay Asian-American elected officials — describes the moment when a woman approached him at the city’s annual Oktoberfest celebration, formed her hand into a “pistol” pointing and him and yelled, “Bang!” followed by “Die fag!” According to Low and others at the festival, the woman, identified by police as Lisa Knox-Smith, went on a five minute obscenity-laced rant before jumping into her white Mercedes and driving away.
While police will file charges when they locate Knox-Smith, Capt. Dave Carmichael says the incident would not meet a hate crime classificaiton. Low agreed, noting, “It’s a fine line between freedom of speech, which I think is important, and causing a public disturbance.” (San Jose Inside via Angry Asian Man)
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