It’s amazing to me that there are people who deliberately go out to attack other people who have a different sexual orientation. I knew Aaron Webster, the fellow who was killed in Stanley Park a few years back and was horrified when I heard his killers got off so lightly. When will we step up put a stop to this?

Yeah, I was very surprised to hear about this and where it happened. Frakin coward oughta try his hateful words on Davie during the day.

To try and directly answer the question “What’s wrong with this city?”, in this instance I’d say it’s angsty douchenozzles from the suburbs who flock into Granville St as their drunken playground and can’t respect Downtown as a neighbourhood where people live.

At the risk of stereotyping, I must agree. People who actually LIVE here don’t behave like that. Even if they wanted to, they know that the guys from the PumpJack could plaster the walls with them at will, so they are constrained.

That was the case with the lesbian bashing of what, two years ago? in Gastown. Guys came in from Surrey specifically to bash gays.

You cant generalize the people of the city of Vancouver/604 as gay bashers because of some people are; there are many who are not.

Although I’m perfectly straight, I was approached by people who wanted to fight someone and were just looking for that as a good reason. It only took a few second before they changed their minds after silently acknowledging a fight with me for them would be disastrous.

I think there are a lot of issues to be brought up, and gaybashing is just one of them. Another could be the spread of disease, by various method, like microbial contamination of aquatic, airborn, residue, biological fluids contact, or other nature.

Also chemical toxins like smoke partials from cigarettes & car exhaust.. bus stops and parking lots could arguably be labled as bio-hazard zones.

[...] can read more on Raul’s post from yesterday as [...]

@ all – I would like to make a point in not stereo-typing as well, just because someone is from a certain geographical region (like the suburbs). We risk being just as intolerant as the other people we just criticized.

I would suggest that SOME people from a variety of places are very hateful. It happens in every city, as Joe indicates.

It is an act of cowardice, very well described by raincoaster and Greg.

I am not generalizing all the people from Vancouver or the 604 area as gay bashers. The point I am trying to make is that we ought to try and find ways to help stop the violence.

@ Joe – Agreed, there are a lot of other problems that should be looked at. I was just irked by this particular one recently, but I’ve written about many other problems (particularly environmental since that’s my area of expertise) in my blog.

Thanks everyone for chiming in.

I hope the guy will get a stiff sentence and teach others a lesson. I have read some news articles but haven’t heard too much details. I think the thing happened at 5 AM? Chances are the attackers were drunk from a night out on Granville street…but still not an excuse to attack someone.

The whole thing just sickens me.

That was a despicable act. We have made great strides in this city, then one numskull ruins it.

With everyone else here on this. Absolutely sickening and inexcusable.

[...] How about focusing on real issues, like ensuring Canadians are safe to walk around our urban centres without worrying about hate-motivated violence like the tragic attack in Vancouver this week (as commented on by Vancouver uber-blogger Hummingbird604). [...]

Ignorant thugs doing ignorant thuggy things. Call me an optimist, but I think you have to scrape pretty far down the bottom of the barrel of our city to find hateful goons like this. That’s why we’re all so horrified by the incident. Or am I being naive?

Coming close on the heels of the guy in the West End who smashed people indiscriminately with a hammer in the evening of the Pride Parade, I hope these incidents aren’t indicative of a trend.

I’ve been persuaded lately that the teaching of “tolerance” in our society is far too shallow a goal. One should not have to be reminded of the positive traits of various cultures and lifestyles in order to avoid smashing strangers in the face. A simple, across the board respect for all human beings, regardless of background, that precludes the stupidity of improvised street violence is really what we’re after.

What will await him in jail when he is convicted?

[...] any kind of bullying or bashing, but he is particularly annoyed and frustrated about the recent gay-bashing on Davie Street. In case you’re not familiar, Davie Street is the biggest home to Vancouver’s gay and [...]

[...] our neighborhood from gay bashing fuckers. [must read posts on this locale travesty Miss604 & Raul]  I think I’d put my first card on West End BIA Executive Director Lynn Hellyar’s car [...]

I’ve got to apologize for and correct my earlier remarks. Obviously, people who live here in Vancouver DO behave like this. I’ve had my own stereotypes shaken, deservedly.

I hope that all justice, and no more than justice, comes down on the perpetrators. Thank god we’re not a country where jailhouse rapes are commonplace. Our system is terribly flawed, but not yet that terribly flawed.