Brandon White, Atlanta Anti-Gay Hate Crime Victim, Comes Forward (VIDEO)
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The victim of a brutal anti-gay gang attack caught on tape is now speaking publicly about his experience.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that 20-year-old Brandon White hadn't planned on contacting local authorities after he was beaten and even hit over the head with a car tire outside a neighborhood grocery store, but said he changed his mind after he learned that video of the attack -- which he described as "embarrassing and humiliating" -- had gone viral on the Internet after being posted to the website Worldstar Hip-Hop.
"By them going ahead and putting it on the Internet, I feel that they wanted the attention," he told reporters at a press conference today. "They wanted to make themselves look like they were brave or strong, but in my opinion, I'm the brave one."
White, who confirmed that he is gay, did not go into further detail regarding what lead up to the attack itself, only noting that he'd since left the area home where he'd lived for eight months prior and hadn't been back.
"The scars run deeper than anyone will know," he said. "The physical pain, I can get over that. My thing is: Who's to say they won't come after me again? Who's to say they won't kill me?"
Among those to condemn the attack was Sharon Stapel, executive director of the Anti-Violence Project, which runs the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP). "This man was just walking out of a corner store, and he was attacked," she told The Washington Post. "It's a really tragic and clear reminder of what the reality is like for some in the LGBT community, and how senseless and incomprehensible it is that someone would attack someone just because they thought they were gay."
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First Posted: 02/ 8/2012 4:32 pm Updated: 02/ 8/2012 4:55 pm