Police in York, Pennsylvania, have arrested 22-year-old Devin Harbaugh on charges of aggravated assault and strangulation. He is accused of choking a drag performer outside Gift Horse Brewing Company on August 22 in an attack that allegedly targeted three people for their perceived sexual orientation and gender expression.
According to police affidavits, Harbaugh and the victim — identified as drag performer Sible Sible Stackhouse, known to friends as Vayne Disharoon — were both at Gift Horse that night when an altercation broke out between their friend groups.
Later that night on North George Street, Harbaugh ran up behind Disharoon, grabbed their neck, and slammed them to the ground.
“Harbaugh holds [victim] in a choke hold for approximately 11 seconds,” the affidavit reads. “[Victim] appears to go completely limp/unconscious for 17 seconds. During those 17 seconds, [victim] appears to shake or convulse.”
Witnesses broke up the altercation, and both Harbaugh and Disharoon were treated for injuries at a hospital.
Brady Pappas, a friend dining with Disharoon that night, wrote on Facebook that a group of patrons hurled anti-gay slurs as they left the bar, yelling, “If you wanna dress like women, act like women.” He said the group chased them into the street, where one man attacked Disharoon, threw them down, and choked them until they lost consciousness and began seizing.
Pappas said he and another friend tried to pull Harbaugh off Disharoon until a Gift Horse employee restrained him. He added that the attackers blamed the victims, using “because they’re gay” as an excuse, and that officers initially dismissed their account, charging both Harbaugh and Disharoon with disorderly conduct.
Police initially made no arrest, but after Pappas’s post drew media attention, York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow ordered a review of the case, meeting with officers, reviewing surveillance footage, and interviewing witnesses and victims.
Police made no initial arrest, but after Pappas’s post drew media attention, York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow ordered a review of the case.
“ANY incident where ‘Hate-Fueled Violence’ is alleged (in this community) will ALWAYS be a priority to myself, this Department, and York City Government as a whole,” Muldrow wrote on Facebook.
Police later compiled evidence, including surveillance footage, and filed charges against Harbaugh with York District Attorney Tim Barker. The assault is not being prosecuted as a hate crime, since Pennsylvania law does not cover LGBTQ people, according to Clare Twomey, executive director of the York City Human Rights Commission.
“In Pennsylvania, hate crime is classified as intimidation,” Twomey told NBC affiliate WGAL. “It only covers four categories: race, color, ethnicity, and religion. There is no hate crime jurisdiction for LGBTQ or other groups. That being said, it’s not within the DA’s purview to pursue hate crime.”
Twomey is calling on Pennsylvania to expand its hate crime law to cover additional communities, including LGBTQ people.
Twomey has called on Pennsylvania to expand its hate crime law to include additional communities, including LGBTQ people.
“The incident, while regrettable, was not motivated by bias or prejudice toward anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community,” Harbaugh’s attorney, George Marros, told WGAL.
Gift Horse Brewing Company denounced the attack on Facebook, calling it a “disgusting act of hate.”
"It was kind of confusing," David Archuleta says, recalling the time roughly 16 years ago when he was first asked to write a memoir. "What am I supposed to talk about? I'm 18 years old, and I feel like I'm just starting my journey, and you want me to write a memoir now?"
That memoir, Chords of Strength: A Memoir of Soul, Song, and the Power of Perseverance, was written by Archuleta with Monica Haim and published by an imprint of Penguin Group in 2010. He was barely an adult at the time, and it had only been two years since he competed on American Idol, becoming the season seven runner-up.
Police in Paris, France, have arrested a homeless Tunisian migrant accused of killing four men whose bodies were later found in the Seine River. The case began on August 13, when a commuter spotted a corpse floating in the river. Investigators subsequently recovered three more bodies from the same stretch of water.
Autopsies confirmed all four victims were men. At least two had been strangled, though forensic experts could not determine the exact cause of death for the others, according to The Times. Police are investigating the four deaths as homicides.
Grindr, the gay hookup app for men seeking sex with men, reportedly prevents users from adding "no Zionists" to their profile.
404 Media first reported that several users who tried to add "no Zionists" to their profiles were blocked from doing so. Those users were likely signaling opposition to Israel's military campaign in Gaza or expressing support for the Palestinian cause.
When 404 Media reporter Samantha Cole tried adding "No Zionists" to a new Grindr account, she received an error message reading, "The following are not allowed: no zionist, no zionists" -- the same message reported by users who had tipped her off.
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