What the fuck is up with the rise in hatecrimes in the city?

Those thugs need a culture that values other human beings. I don't think a task force will do that.

You know, one would think a city would be either expensive and safe, or dangerous but cheap. Seattle's somehow managing to be both simultaneously expensive and dangerous. Gay bashings, break-ins galore (how many of your friends have had their place broken into?), muggings like it's 1985 in the Bronx.

Don't give me the crime stats malarkey. Because stats say hate crimes aren't rising either, but people certainly attest that it's palpable. This a rougher town than people often want to admit.

As someone who grew up in NYC in the 80's, I'll say this: at least it was cheap. I'm either a fool or a masochist for living here... Haven't decided which yet.

this article is so racist and insensitive. why do they point out the race of the people who attcked this guy? most hate crime assailants are white people.

Trolls gonna troll...

As always, there is more to this story than is being told.

Seriously? What the hell is up with the hate crimes? Really pretty disturbing...

This bullshit has no place in our city, and it never has. If you want to live, work, and party in a place where homophobia and hate crimes are tolerated, then FUCKING LEAVE SEATTLE. I don't care what neighborhood you hang out in, or what you do for a living, or what color your skin is, this behavior is not welcome and should be dealt with in the harshest possible manner, lest it gets worse.

My apologies for being a hater, but that looks more like a modeling shot than "grisly"

One good thing about growing old is that, as a gay man, one is called faggot on the street less often.

Maybe its time for the gay community to start protecting itself with some friends like Smith and Wesson. It takes guts to shoot a person, sure, but thats what cop has to do to secure a community at times - whether the community likes it or not. Thats what a soldier has to do to secure his country at times, whether that country likes it or not. But maybe, if we citizens started growing a pair and started applying force with force, instead of whinning about how an over-extended police force isnt being sensitive enough to their individual needs, crime would go down. Its sheer numbers folks. There are more citizens and crimes in this city than cops to handle them, so you can sit and whine about their insensitivity or grow a pair and take care of business yourself.

Interesting that we move the pride parade off the hill and onto 4th avenue and this publication proudly declares we don't need no gay ghetto in Seattle anymore that we see hate crimes on the rise.

@11: Yes, if Taylor had been carrying a gun and had fired it at his assailants, there would have been a better outcome. This one would have been perfect.

As for carrying and firing a lethal handgun in a densely populated city: As you so well put it, "thats what cop has to do."

@14: I was pretty surprised too, usually you can still tell it is a minority due to the painful twisting the writer has to go through to never mention any racial signifiers. To see them come right out and say it was pretty shocking.

Damn, it was so much easier to blame these hate crimes on white frat boys from the suburbs.

72 hours until this unravels and is revealed to be a hoax he put up to get attention. Isn't that how these stories usually go? This is the endpoint of raising victimhood up into a hierarchy where the biggest martyr gets to speak first.

@19 A hoax? He kicked himself in the face and split his lip? That's not easy to do. You should try it! Repeatedly! I hope you succeed.

For the record. I almost let this entire thing go (and am still thinking of doing so) because of how this makes me look like a racist. Facts are facts, but if I deem that this is doing more damage then good I will force the Police Department to drop this entire thing. This shouldn't be about me any more. This needs to be about Hate Crimes in this city as a whole. But, there are other people this directly affects, and I have to gauge how it will affect them and go from there.

I doubt #21 is actually the victim, but if so, I really hope people do not seriously believe reporting a crime committed by a minority makes one racist. We have not gone that far down the rabbit hole, have we?

Gay lives matter!

What is with the bigots trolling Slog lately? Do y'all not have like a job to go to or friends to hang with?

I don't want to come off like I'm blaming the victim, but as a general rule of thumb, if someone says something like "he looks like a faggot," responding to them - let alone saying "thank you" - isn't the smartest thing to do. Just keep walking, surreptitiously looking behind you to make sure they're not following you. Anyone who just accosts you out of the blue like that is LOOKING for a reason to beat you up.

these stories have pissed me off so much i've decided to start carrying my 9mm around again. have a permit just haven't felt like packing the last few years. going to now. just a little fyi to those of you who think you can assault anybody you want and get away with it. some of us will stop you with force if that's all your ignorant ass can understand.

I thought Georgetown was full of hippies. This sucks and there needs to be something done. This is what the police should be concentrating on.
On a lighter note that is a beautiful boy. (Now I feel creepy, is that creepy?)

If Mr. Taylor had been a straight, ordinary man, one who was not an artist, not a musician nor a student nothing would have been written about the incident. The Stranger would have taken an "oh well, better him than me attitude" about the whole situation.

@26 interesting question... does a potential victim have a "obligation" to not escalate the situation? If I had to pick one, I'd say "no"...

HOWEVER

the victim here will have to understand that they had the option to avoid that scenario. This kid is dealing with the consequences (thankfully, negligible in this case). So, he can talk back, and be "right" to do so - but he also could have erased that scar from his face by doing literally nothing. There are times to stand up for the right thing, but in general, outnumbered, on the street, with nothing meaningful at stake is not one of them.

26 advises that the victim should have just kept walking while making sure he was not being followed. I fail to see how that would have kept the boot from hitting his face. You see, those looking for a reason to beat you up don't need one.
This is just the "it takes two to tango" idiocy we all remember when trying to deal with bullies in school with the idiot principals who recognize no right to self defense.
As for the police being irritated when you report a crime, that is a common reaction among those who man the complaint desks at SPD. And not just Seattle cops I have had interesting experiences with Kenmore Police (King Co. deputy sheriffs rented out to Kenmore).

It's just lip service from the mayor -- as always. I voted him in, but will not be voting for him in the next round. I have been sorely disappointed by his leadership and policies (or lack thereof).