Story at a glance
- A Florida man attacked a group of three gay men in Miami and was injured when a victim struck back in self-defense.
- The man has been arrested on charges of battery, and police are submitting the incident for review to a hate crime prosecutor.
- Hate crimes against LGBTQ+ Americans are on the rise after spiking last year.
Three gay men from Alabama were visiting Miami Beach when a Florida man approached them about their sexuality.
“‘Are you gay? Ugh, I don’t like gay people,’” the man said, according to the first victim who spoke to a local news outlet, saying that he feared for his life. “He ended up spitting at me, and then, that’s when he threw the beer at me.”
Glenford Rhule, 24, then allegedly hit the 18-year-old tourist, who did not want to share his name, in the back with a chair and threw a punch before the victim stabbed the attacker, who pulled out the implement and wielded it.
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The three friends, the others 19 and 20 years old, took off and police arrived at the scene. Rhule was arrested and taken to the hospital, now facing charges of three counts of battery, police said.
“It looked like a knife in his hand,” Sherbrooke Hotel owner Mitch Novick told WSVN, whose surveillance cameras captured the incident. “People were turning around with fear in their eyes.”
While Miami Beach is often considered friendly for LGBTQ+ residents and visitors, Florida’s Republican governor has taken several anti-LGBTQ+ stances and recently enacted a law targeting transgender and gender nonconforming youth.
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“It’s a hate crime,” the third victim told WSVN about the incident. “You know, no one should be treated like that.”
Police are reportedly investigating the case and submitting it for review to a hate crime prosecutor. LGBTQ+ Americans are among those targeted by hate crimes, which spiked last year to the highest level in more than a decade. The third- and fourth-most motivations were sexual orientation and gender identity, according to an FBI report, and the number is likely to be higher, as it only accounts for crimes both reported to law enforcement agencies and by those agencies to the FBI.
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