Pittsburgh police have charged one man for allegedly attacking a gay man, but a defense attorney says the victim wasn’t targeted because of his sexuality.
Benjamin Stoviak
Police charged 24-year-old Vincent Happ on Wednesday.
He’s accused of punching and kicking 26-year-old Benjamin Stoviak, who was leaving a Lawrenceville, Pa., bar early Sunday morning with his boyfriend Aaron MacLachlan.
According to the victims, three men began yelling gay slurs at them before attacking Stoviak.
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MacLachlan, 22, escaped without injury.
But Happ says he and his two friends were speaking to each other when the anti-gay slur was used, and that it wasn’t directed at Stoviak or his boyfriend, according to the complaint.
Defense attorney Charles Gallo says the fight was a drunken brawl, and not anything to do with being gay.
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Meanwhile, KDKA-TV reports that a gay advocacy group has contacted the local FBI, and the District Attorney’s office, in hopes of getting the incident classified as a hate crime, although Pennsylvania’s hate crime law does not include attacks motivated by the victim’s real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
