A 17-year-old in New York City was brutally attacked by three men who threw food cans at them while yelling homophobic slurs, causing them to tear their knee ligament.
According to Gay City News, the teenager was walking through Melrose Playground in the Bronx on 12 December at around 9pm when they were attacked.
A New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesperson said three men began demanding that the teenager take off their wig.
When they refused, they shouted at them: “Hey faggot, take off your f**king wig. You faggots don’t belong on this block.”
They pelted cans of food at the teen, leaving them with a torn ligament in their knee, after which the attackers continued to call them a “faggot”.
The NYPD is investigating the incident as a hate crime assault, but no suspects have been identified or arrested. The victim said of the three men, one was wearing a red sweatshirt and two were wearing black sweatshirts.
Victor Pichardo, New York state assembly member to the Bronx, wrote on Twitter: “This cruelty and violence shown to our Bronx LGBTQ brothers and sisters is abhorrent. Hate should have no place in the BX.”
The homophobic attack came just a couple of weeks after another New York teenager was punched in the face by a man who claimed to “hate gay people”.
The 19-year-old victim was riding on the bus in Chelsea, Manhattan, when he was confronted by an aggressive older man who started harassing him.
“You have long hair. I don’t like people like you,” the man allegedly said, with his mask lowered over his chin. He then grew explicitly homophobic, adding: “I hate gay people.”
When the teen got off the bus the man pursued him and punched him in the face, the NYPD said. Police have not identified his attacker.