A woman is now charged with a hate crime, after a New Year’s Day stabbing outside a gay and lesbian bar in Buffalo, NY.
Suzanne-Deanna Grover, 21, was charged with assault and a bias-motivated crime — or a hate crime — for a stabbing outside of Roxy’s nightclub. Lindsay Harmon, 29, was stabbed in the eye.
She told investigators the suspect attacked her because she is a lesbian.
“There was an allegation that there were anti-gay epithets or slanders uttered [against Harmon] before or during the alleged assault,” according to Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III.
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The arrest papers filed against Grover say that “the defendant intentionally selected Lindsay Harmon because of a belief or perception regarding Lindsay Harmon’s sexual orientation.”
The district attorney promised an in-depth grand jury investigation.
Harmon’s right eyelid and eyeball were severely cut in the attack.
“I have a long road ahead of me before I physically recover from this attack, but mentally I will never be the same again,” Harmon stated. “My life and the life for my family changed forever on New Year’s Eve.”
Harmon added that her “New Year’s resolution” was to keep the issues of acceptance and “not just tolerance” for gays and lesbians in the public eye as long as possible.
“I didn’t ask for this notoriety,” she said, “But I won’t turn away from it, either.”
Grover claims she was acting in self-defense.
