08/16/2007
UK: One Man Assaults Another Over Pressure to Join Gay Scene
In the British seaside resort of Bridlington, Christopher Benjamin Needler, a gay man, was sentenced to prison and community service after being charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm for punching Lee Newby, another gay man, because Newby was pressuring him to get more involved with the gay scene there.
Needler allegedly punched Newby in the eye, damaging his vision and destroying his chances of becoming a helicopter pilot.
According to court statements, "The defendant describes having known the victim for two years. He said Mr Newby bugs him and irritates him by always letting him know he has seen him when they are out in town, or getting his friends to have a look at him. He describes him as an idiot who irritates him."
Said Needler's attorney: "[Needler] is a homosexual but is not flamboyant and what he does not want is to be pushed into what is laughingly called the gay community. The victim and his friends have been trying to suck Mr Needler into that scene, which is a very incestuous one in which to live. They will not let it drop and allow him just to be an ordinary guy. He recognises if he had not had a drink, or only a touch more than he normally has, he probably would have controlled himself and left the place."
According to the Bridlington Free Press: "Sentencing, Lord Halifax said: 'We are satisfied the offence is so serious that prison is the only suitable sentence because of the unprovoked assault and the injuries caused. We are sentencing you to four months imprisonment, suspended for a period of 18 months'...Needler was also ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work, with a supervision requirement of 18 months, and ordered to pay compensation to Newby of £1,000, with costs of £55."
Gay pressure led to assault [bridlington free press]
Posted 9:45 AM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, Great Britain, News | Permalink
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What a flash-back this one is for me. I swear, the people who gave me the least amount of acceptance when I was first coming out were other gay people (granted, that was the 80's and things were a lot more militant). Granted, I never punched one of them in the eye and blinded them.....
Posted by: Zlexar | Aug 16, 2007 10:16:07 AM
Ohhhhh. Ahh - I see. That's what all those beatings in high school were about!
All those assholes that called me faggot and fucking queer as they beat me into the ground were actually just frustrated that I wasn't gay enough! Boy, there were a lot more gay guys in my school than I ever imagined.
I love a little morning revelation!
Posted by: BeeDee | Aug 16, 2007 10:28:12 AM
The words of this man's attorney speak volumes. Where did he get this attorney, at FocusOnTheFamily.com? He called his own client "a homosexual". Only homophobes use "homosexual" as a noun outside of a strictly scientific discussion.
I wonder if the man makes it a habit of punching every person in his life that has tried to push, drag, suck him into the "straight scene"? If I had done that I would have had to punch everyone in my family (including my father AND mother), and half the people I have ever met in my life, in the face.
I don't think people should push a person to be anything he doesn't want to be or to do anything that he doesn't want to do but physical violence is not the answer to verbal irritations.
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 16, 2007 10:43:22 AM
Sounds a lot like readers here who "beat people up" in their comments for not following blindly along with their opinions of what being "gay enough" is.
Posted by: Scott | Aug 16, 2007 10:44:27 AM
I think some of you missed the main point of the story, which is that one man who self-identified as gay punched another gay man because he was being pressured to join what sounds like a party scene in a northern English resort town. This speaks loads to what seems like a divide happening in gay culture, with more and more newly out men not wanting to immerse themselves in the bar and part culture of their predecessors.
Posted by: gwyneth cornrow | Aug 16, 2007 10:59:48 AM
Unprovoked? Sounds like he was being harassed for two years by this man.
I have no interest in doing lines off a go go dancer's ass at some tacky theme-night club either, and if you were on my case every time we were in the same room for two years I'd probably want to punch you in the face too.
Posted by: ohmy | Aug 16, 2007 11:34:17 AM
it doesn't matter wether you are gay or straight No means No
Posted by: mike | Aug 16, 2007 11:43:35 AM
"cornrow," we can read. the main point of the "story" is that a man got sentenced to prison for physically assaulting another man for trying to persuade him to do something he didn't want to, which is not only a crime, but stupid. period.
Posted by: nic | Aug 16, 2007 11:46:55 AM
Sounds a lot like equal representation under the law and yet, not really so to me. To Zeke's point, there is nothing in the world more irritating than the relentless cajoling of someone in your supposed peer group, not to mention people on the opposite side of the fence ("oh, I'll turn him straight" blah blah blah). But, in this case, it sounds more like black and white injustice about a not-so black and white incident. Mister Needler didn't seek to intentionally bash Newby (what a chuckle) as has occurred with innumerable gay bashings where the victim has been irreparably damaged or died. So make Needler pay restitution, but prison? That's absurd. People fight, and yes, in their own peer groups and so that I'm never accused of being terribly Zen, some people deserve a good sock in the eye. What if Mr. Newby had been taking that (and you all KNOW what I'm talking about) extra step too far by pushing himself on Needler? What would the judge have said then? Too bad they couldn't have just taken it to an official ring and gotten it out of the way sooner.
Posted by: FizziekruntNT | Aug 16, 2007 12:01:01 PM
"Being gay is not an identity' that's the bottom line. It's a sideline. But through no one's fault and everybody's fault, it's become a subject for identity, so you run away from mainstream culture into a kind of offbeat culture, and then the offbeat culture becomes a little mainstream culture of its own - just as brutal, actually, as the culture you thought you were leaving behind."- Rupert Everett
I will never accept violence as a means to resolve a minor issue, an order of protection or restriction could have been used. The man should have thought more with his head and not his fist.
The term homosexual is used by officials and in legal documents heavily in Britian rather than "gay".
Posted by: Charles | Aug 16, 2007 12:10:26 PM
I take exception to people calling drug abuse, over the top partying, promiscuity and all things hedonistic fringe the "gay scene". It's not THE gay scene. It is A scene. It is a party scene.
For those of you here who constantly insist on perpetuating the myth that ALL things extreme are TYPICALLY gay, I have no doubt why you are so quick to commiserate with Needler and justify his excessive response to an inappropriate, irritating and incessant irritant but I question both his, and your, idea of what it means to be gay.
For the record, I live the MOST boring "gay" life in America if the "gay scene" is defined by drugs, sleeping around and partying. According to some of you I must not be gay at all.
Jeeze, I'd hate to hear what some of you would define the "black scene". Or is it only gays who have a defined "scene"?
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 16, 2007 1:15:19 PM
The guy deserved the punch. I'm "straight acting and straight looking" and if someone tries to get me into the "gay scene" for 2 years. I'll punch him in the face and step in his ass. I'm not prone to violence but enough is enough. How many times do I have to tell you NO?. I think there is more in this, probably Newby wanted to go to bed with Needler and the only way was to get him doped. Dirty little bastard. And a gay person is a homosexual whether top or bottom. Get over it, queens.
Posted by: Oscar | Aug 16, 2007 9:06:57 PM
Oscar, how exactly would you define "straight acting and straight looking"?
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 16, 2007 9:48:13 PM
While I am not a member of any gay *scene* and probably for the only time in my life agree with Rupert Evrette, being gay IS only 1 part of who I am.
There are it seems far to many gays who if you removed the gay *scene* part of them would basically be empty shells....it's what comes of allowing your sexuality define your being.
As to *str8 acting and str8 looking*...well, to me that always seemed a bit silly...since looking and acting str8 with a dick up your bum or down your throat is not an easy task.
Posted by: Joshua | Aug 16, 2007 10:54:15 PM
I'm amazed at how many gay people, in 2007, equate gay with effeminate/un-masculine/unmanly and straight with masculinity and manliness.
I think there is a lot of homophobia in such characterizations and, having personally known a number of people who use the terms, they more often than not have a very negative perception of what it means to be gay; perceptions that seem to come from buying into the most negative misconceptions of anti-gay heterosexuals.
If you have a masculine appearance and masculine mannerisms then say so.
To say that you are "straight looking and straight acting", in my opinion, simply means that you LOOK like you're attracted to women (whatever that might mean) and you ACT like you're attracted to women; NOTHING more.
Why on earth those would be considered positive characteristics for a gay man, I have no idea.
I for one am not interested in being with a person who spends his time trying to look and act like he's straight, or trying to act like ANYTHING he's NOT for that matter.
I prefer people who are naturally and effortlessly THEMSELVES whether they be masculine, feminine or neutral.
Posted by: Zeke | Aug 17, 2007 9:06:24 AM
"Your parents will tell that violence solves nothing. The truth is that violence has resolved more problems in history than any other factor." Can you name that movie? I might be a few words off.
Getting punched in the face is an occupational hazard of being an overbearing fuckbag. Granted, it's not right, but there it is. It certainly doesn't sound like there was a premeditated plan to partially blind this man, but rather an impulsive lashing out, one punch. Prison seems like a bit much.
Posted by: Zlexar | Aug 17, 2007 11:25:24 AM
>
Does that mean anyone who uses "heterosexual" outside of a strictly scientific discussion is a heterophobe?
Posted by: Throbert McGee | Aug 19, 2007 1:44:57 AM