Boston police are investigating a possible hate crime after a gay couple was attacked while walking in the city’s Mattapan neighborhood on September 13, leaving one man with a head injury.
According to a police report, the couple had been heading to a convenience store on River Street just before 8 p.m. when a group of men began hurling anti-gay remarks at them.
One of the men confronted the group, sparking a “verbal dispute” that escalated into a physical attack on the couple, according to Boston.com.
The group split up to assault both men, with at least two attackers swinging objects while shouting homophobic slurs. During the melee, one of the victims was struck in the head with a baseball bat, according to his partner.
Responding officers found one victim lying in a nearby senior housing parking lot, bleeding from the back of his head. He was treated at the scene before being transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for further care, according to police.
Police did not release the names of either victim.
A Boston Police spokesperson said the investigation is ongoing. The incident is being treated as a possible hate crime, and the department’s Civil Rights Unit has been notified.
Two weeks after the attack, the injured man’s condition remains unknown, and police have not announced any suspects or arrests, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
Neighbors told CBS News they’ve grown uneasy about groups of men gathering in the neighborhood.
“It’s not safe,” said resident Joann Harrington, who avoids walking in the neighborhood at night. “It’s not kids hanging out. These are grown adults. I don’t even like driving [through the area].
A city spokesperson denounced the attack in a statement to Boston FOX affiliate WFXT.
“Hate is never tolerated in Boston,” the statement read. “Our thoughts go out to the two victims, and we ask anyone with information to contact Boston Police. The BPD Civil Rights Division is investigating this incident thoroughly.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Boston Police at 617-343-4633.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating an assault in Logan Circle in which a man allegedly threatened violence against a passerby in what may have been a hate crime.
The incident happened around 10:30 a.m. on September 15 at 14th and R Streets NW. Police say the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Marshall Baxter, jumped in front of the victim -- a neighborhood resident -- and swung his fists, narrowly missing them.
According to an MPD press release, Baxter, who has no fixed address, allegedly shouted a homophobic slur at the victim.
Two pharmacists are suing Walgreens and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy, alleging they were punished for refusing to dispense gender-affirming medications. They are seeking a religious exemption that would allow them to decline filling such prescriptions on moral grounds.
Minnesota law classifies it as unprofessional conduct for a pharmacist to refuse to dispense a valid prescription. Exceptions exist, but only for non-religious reasons, such as doubts about a drug's effectiveness.
State law also permits pharmacists to refuse prescriptions for abortion-inducing drugs. The plaintiffs argue the state should likewise clarify whether pharmacists can decline to dispense gender-affirming medications if doing so conflicts with their belief that gender is binary and fixed at birth, reports Minnesota Lawyer.
Florida officials have placed signs warning against “defacing” a crosswalk outside the former Pulse nightclub and begun arresting protesters who chalk over it, just weeks after the state removed the rainbow Pride crosswalk that had commemorated victims of the 2016 massacre.
Framed as part of a broader national crackdown on traffic “distractions” led by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Orlando residents fought back by chalking -- and even repainting -- the bare crosswalk in rainbow colors.
“The Free State of Florida is now trying to ban *sidewalk chalking*,” wrote local investigative reporter Jason Garcia, who was present at the scene, on X.
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