Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens – Photo: Tdorante10, via Wikimedia
A gay man who claims he was the victim of a homophobic assault in Queens says he received no help from police and doctors in the wake of the attack.
Ronald Albarracin, a 24-year-old originally from Ecuador, says that he was leaving a bar around 3:30 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2019, when he was allegedly attacked around Northern Boulevard and 99th Street in the Corona neighborhood of Queens.
Albarracin claims his assailants began calling him names and homophobic slurs before punching and kicking him repeatedly. The attack left him with a broken nose, bruises, and several visible marks on his hands and face.
Albarracin escaped and called police, who arrived on scene with EMTs. But he claims they did nothing to help him, reports Gay City News.
“The police did not do anything even though they saw me with blood,” Albarracin said in an interview through a translator. “They did not even say anything or explain anything. They did not speak Spanish and did not try at all to understand what was going on.”
NYPD Detective Denise Moroney, a spokesperson for the police department, did not comment on Albarracin’s complaints, but told Gay City News that police responded to the scene, and that the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task force is investigating the case. Police say they have no description of the alleged attackers.
But Albarracin claims his unlucky night continued after he was transported by medics to Elmhurst Hospital.
He says that medical staff did not provide him with any medication for pain relief, and, since leaving the hospital, he has experienced regular nosebleeds and ongoing pain.
Albarracin says this isn’t the first time he’s been attacked because of his sexual orientation, but hopes it will be his last.
He has plans to move to upstate New York, and is too afraid to leave his house, even to go to work.
“I do not dare to go out into the street with the way I am, with the broken nose,” he said. “I cannot even take off my hat because of how my face looks.”
Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud was arrested in West Palm Beach after allegedly trying to run down members of an LGBTQ running group during a meet-up in a local park. The Florida man faces two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of reckless driving.
El Mahmoud could also face hate crime charges or bias enhancements for allegedly targeting the group because of their sexual orientation.
According to West Palm Beach police, El Mahmoud allegedly took offense at what he perceived as a comment about his sexual orientation when a runner asked if he was at Howard Park for the "Night Runners West Palm Beach" group's regular meet-up.
Given how often today's news outlets distort the truth or report outright lies, it's almost comical that E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel Ragtime was once dismissed by The New Yorker's editor William Shawn. Because Doctorow's tale, set in the early twentieth century, wove real historical figures into fictional lives, Shawn refused to publish a full-length review, calling the book "immoral."
Now, the musical adaptation returns with forceful, spectacular splendor at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. And this second revival of the beloved story arrives on Broadway at just the right time.
In what many see as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s agenda, Democratic candidates channeled anti-Trump frustration into a wave of wins -- including key victories for pro-LGBTQ candidates in Tuesday’s bellwether races.
In Virginia, former Democratic Congresswoman and LGBTQ ally Abigail Spanberger cruised to a decisive win over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, defeating her by nearly 15 points.
Earle-Sears, who narrowly won election on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s coattails four years ago, tried to replicate Youngkin's formula by emphasizing cultural issues, but failed to find issues that galvanized voters. She devoted much of her campaign to attacking Spanberger over pro-LGBTQ school policies that allow students to use restrooms matching their gender identity, and over the absence of a statewide ban on transgender athletes competing on female-designated sports teams.
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