Two Arrested After Texas Gay Beat-Down

Texas authorities have placed two men under arrest in connection with a vicious beating that targeted a gay man, reported Towleroad on Nov. 2. Four assailants stabbed the victim, Burke Burnett, with a broken beer bottle and tossed him into a blazing fire, according to reports.

Burnett told the Dallas Voice that the attack was motivated by anti-gay bias, and said that the four attackers hurled homophobic epithets at him as the attack progressed.

The assault took place during a party at a private residence in Reno, Texas, in the early morning hours of Oct. 30. The four assailants called Burnett a "pussy-ass faggot," a "gay bitch" and "cock-sucking punk," the victim told the media.

Reno is located about 100 miles from Dallas, the article noted.

"They knew I was gay," Burnett told the media. "I'm convinced they were trying to kill me."

The attackers stabbed Burnett twice, and possibly more, with a broken bottle, inflicting wounds on his arm and back. The victim also sustained facial injuries. The attackers then threw him into a fire, causing the victim second-degree burns. Burnett's wounds required more than 30 stitches, the Dallas Voice reported.

Anti-gay attacks of late have featured intense brutality and fire. In Scotland, a young bartender was recently subjected to a vicious beating that police described his injuries as "horrific." The young man was also possibly sexually assaulted. The attacker killed the victim by setting him on fire.

Two other British men were recently injured in a fiery attack at an English pub popular with a gay clientele. One man sustained burns to his arms and hands while the other was badly burned on the face and had to be put onto a ventilator in the hospital.

Anti-gay religious conservatives say that gays "choose" homosexuality and will be punished for it by burning in Hell for eternity.

Biblical scholars dispute this, noting that the Bible's few references to gay sex seem to be proscriptions not on homosexuality, but rather on specific sex acts used in cultic pagan worship in the ancient world. Moreover, Biblical scholars note, Scripture is far less ambiguous about condemning heterosexual divorce, which the Bible repeatedly forbids and condemns.

Burnett told the Dallas Voice that he knew one of his alleged attackers, and said that he had been openly gay from a young age.

"I'm scared for my life," Burnett admitted. "I'm scared to go home. These guys have nothing to lose."

Burnett had initially attended the party with several gay friends, but those friends left when the suspects began making threatening anti-gay remarks. Burnett did now know about those remarks, however, and though he also left the party, he returned later with female friends.

The Dallas Voice reported in a follow-up story on Nov. 2 that two suspects had been placed under arrest the day before in connection with the attack. The article identified the suspects as 33-year-old Daniel Martin and 31-year-old James "Tray" Mitchell Laster III.

"Each is charged with one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury--first-degree felonies punishable by five to 99 years in prison," the Dallas Voice reported.

No hate crimes charges have been filed as yet in connection with the assault.