Devin Norman is a 26-year-old gay man who was brutally beaten, simply for being gay.
But now there are conflicting reports. Now, more details are emerging and the FBI is getting involved!!
It all went down in the town of Corinth, Mississippi when James Scott, 23, brutally beat Devin Norman in a Walmart parking lot. That part is not really in dispute. But the ‘why’ is.
He allegedly came out of nowhere and attacked Devin, screaming homophobic slurs at him and kicking him repeatedly.
Police eventually caught and arrested Mr. Scott, who was charged with simple assault. Due to the serious nature of Norman’s wounds, people were outraged the charge wasn’t “aggravated assault.” It was eventually upgraded from “simple” to “aggravated” after police realized Norman had broken bones.
What upset people the most, though, was that LGBT people have no hate crime protection under Mississippi law. So James Scott was going to get off pretty easy compared to what could’ve happened.
That’s when people in the community rallied in support of Norman, and tried to get Scott charged with a hate crime federally, since he couldn’t be charged at the state level.
Problem is, Scott started talking and things took a strange turn…
Corinth Police Chief Ralph Dance said:
“They talked, they texted each other back and fourth. They’d actually sent some photographs of each other back and fourth. It’s my understanding of if it’s a hate crime it had to be based merely on the fact he was homosexual. We don’t have that here.”
Apparently James Scott was a closeted bisexual man.
He and Norman apparently were exchanging pictures of a sexual nature and he claims Norman was planning to out him. Scott said:
“He told me that he was going to take those same pictures of me and those messages that he had saved and post them on Facebook. They’re trying to make it seem that I was screaming ‘f****t’ which was not true. Not at all.
I cannot see how it could be a hate crime. I don’t even have an emotional hatred for him. The only thing I dislike about it was that he took something from me. I should have known better. I should have been more of an adult. I should have thought before I acted.”
Assaulting another person like that, for ANY reason, is just pure awful. Whatever the reason.
Whether or not his attacking Norman constitutes a hate crime is up for the FBI to decide. An FBI spokesperson issued a statement:
“The FBI has been made aware of the allegations surrounding this incident, and appropriate investigative action is being taken to determine whether a violation of federal law has occurred.”
We really hope that justice is served and that Devin Norman makes a full recovery.
It’s 2015! What the hell is wrong with people?! Can’t we just not be c*cks to each other and ditch all the violent stuff?
Hopefully some good will come out of this awfulness and Mississippi will implement some laws to help protect their LGBT community!!
[Image via Imgur.]
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