"Springtown police investigate beating as possible hate crime," Carson Wright, 5th Period

In the town of Springtown, Texas, 24-year-old gay man Arron Keahey met who he thought to be an 18-year-old gay or bisexual individual through an app called MeetMe. Later that day (Labor Day of this year) Keahey went over to the teen's house. Upon arriving, though, Keahey was severely beaten and left in the back of a truck. 18-year-old Brice Johnson, who said that he found Keahey, called 911 and drove him to get medical help, was later arrested as a suspect of the aggravated assault Keahey endured. However, neither of the involved individuals recall the details of the event--Keahey most likely due to the severity of his damage. According to Springtown Lt. Curtis Stone, "I've been up here altogether ten years, and this is the first hate crime or possible hate crime that I've investigated." The victim is convinced the incident was indeed a hate crime, asking "why would they have you under the belief that they're gay or bisexual or whatever they say you are, and have them show up and do what they did?" Still, he said he learned a "painful lesson" regarding people met online: "don't trust them."

It saddens me so to know that such may still occur in America. Perhaps I was naive in thinking that we were farther along than that. There will always be hate, even if we consider a case (be it Civil Rights, Human Rights, Social Rights or what have you) closed, but the proximity and brutality of this particular event was startling. It harkens back to the murder of Matthew Shepard of Laramie, Wyoming, a gay youth who was beaten and left to die. I hope that this event, while not as horrendous as Shepard's murder, receives the shock and public attention, for the sake of LGBTQ hardship awareness, it deserves.

This article was published seven days ago on September 23. From what I can tell, the author, Steve Stoller, had no particular bias or intention other than to deliver the mere facts of the story and describe the possible motives of those involved. Through the misfortune is there a lesson, though, as Keahey said: "Just don't meet anybody online. Don't trust them." This is the wise takeaway from this occurrence. Keahey did nothing illegal, and it is no justification for the perpetrators of the crime, but it is an important rule of thumb nonetheless.

Article/video: http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Springtown-Police-investigating-possible-hate-crime-gay-man-severely-beaten-224932742.html