12/03/2008
Police: Salt Lake City Attack Outside Gym May Be Anti-Gay Hate Crime
The Salt Lake Tribune reports:
"Police say a 50-year-old man was critically injured in an attack with a bottle outside a Salt Lake City bar and gym that reputedly caters to the gay community -- and that may make it a possible hate crime case. The victim told police that he left the 14th Street Gym, near 1400 West and 200 South, after midnight early Wednesday. As he was waiting for a cab ride, the man said someone walked up behind him, swore at him, used a derogatory sexual-orientation slur and hit him over the top of the head with a bottle, police said. The suspect then ran off. The victim, who police said showed signs of intoxication, did not get a good description of his attacker. The victim suffered cuts to his forehead and was 'bleeding profusely,' police said. He was transported to an area hospital in critical condition."
The Deseret News files the same report, adding: "In April, the Utah Court of Appeals reversed a district court's order revoking the gym's license based on reported lewd acts committed by gym patrons. The court ruled there was no evidence that the gym or its employees knew of or condoned the acts being alleged."
Interesting that the Mormon-owned newspaper tries to tie the potentially anti-gay attack to lewd behavior...
Posted 4:22 PM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, Mormon, News, Salt Lake City | Permalink
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I got some awesome news from a coworker last week. She's an ex-Mormon but her Mom and Dad are still with the church. She's told me many interesting and creepy stories about the church over the years, but she said her parents have mostly turned a blind eye to it.
After the whole Prop 8 thing, her parents have been very conflicted because even though my coworker isn't gay, she's been open about her gay friends since high school and her parents have gotten to know gay people over the years. They prayed together on this whole thing and have decided to leave the church.
They're bracing for a big backlash and are a little afraid but I'm confident my coworker can hook them up with some resources.
One of the things her mom told her in explaining their decision is that due to the conflict between the church and the rights of gay people, she knows it'd be easier for her and her husband to change religious affiliations than it would be for a gay person to change who they fall in love with.
I encourage the Mormons to step up their actions of hate and to continue diverting funds for needy people towards anti-gay crap. Their dirty magic underwear is starting to show.
Posted by: Rey | Dec 3, 2008 4:35:47 PM
Another example of the hate tactics used by the gay community, see? Think this will get mentioned in that Becket ad?
Posted by: jomicur | Dec 3, 2008 4:45:53 PM
Let's not kid ourselves. What exactly do we think goes on at a gym/bar that caters to gay clientele at midnight?
Posted by: Brad | Dec 3, 2008 4:49:07 PM
attacks are awful, hate fueled or not.
So this place is a gym and also a bar? strange.
Posted by: Dan B | Dec 3, 2008 4:54:32 PM
Yeah, that's what i was thinking, BRAD. Sounds like a sex club.
Posted by: Dan B | Dec 3, 2008 4:55:43 PM
"Let's not kid ourselves. What exactly do we think goes on at a gym/bar that caters to gay clientele at midnight?"
Margarita curls and vodka squats?
Posted by: crispy | Dec 3, 2008 5:02:04 PM
the type of establishment the victim was leaving does not in any way justify being bashed over the head with a bottle, and shame on anyone who implies otherwise.
Posted by: matt | Dec 3, 2008 5:12:32 PM
Soooo, Brad--because it might not be 24 Hour Fitness people should be beaten up outside it? What a humanitarian you are.
Posted by: db | Dec 3, 2008 5:23:36 PM
I just want to stand up for the Salt Lake Tribune for a second. The paper is actually very anti-LDS social stances. Besides the LAT, the Salt Lake Tribune has probably writen more than any other paper on proposition 8 and gay marriage, and in almost every case takes the opinion that the LDS Church was wrong to get involved.
In fact, on the wikipedia article for the Salt Lake Tribune, it notes that it is known to be anti-LDS and attacks it's social and political stances, despite being founded by a Mormon.
I'm not Mormon and I don't live in Salt Lake City. I'm just your average gay Jewish New Yorker, but I like to be fair in my criticism of media outlets.
Posted by: Jon B | Dec 3, 2008 5:51:10 PM
I don't care if people were getting fisted and fucked while listening to Black Sabbath albums backwards inside the establishment. The man doesn't deserve to have his scalp opened up.
I understand there are a number of gay men who will get their rocks off anywhere and everywhere. If we had to close down the places where this can happen, we'd have to get rid of all of our interstate rest stops, library bathrooms, and American Legion halls. But this homophobic attitude that it's pervasive and mandatory really pisses me off. It's precisely the excuse we were given by my local Gold's Gym when we lobbied to have them expand their hours so those of us who work early or late (or just want to avoid the mad post-5pm crush can get a decent workout in.
So I changed to the 24 Hours up the street and I still get cruised on the floor and in the shower or sauna. It doesn't freak me out though it does disappoint me sometimes. I just simply say "no thank you" and am left alone.
Posted by: Rey | Dec 3, 2008 5:55:39 PM
I don't care if people were getting fisted and fucked while listening to Black Sabbath albums backwards inside the establishment. The man doesn't deserve to have his scalp opened up.
I understand there are a number of gay men who will get their rocks off anywhere and everywhere. If we had to close down the places where this can happen, we'd have to get rid of all of our interstate rest stops, library bathrooms, and American Legion halls. But this homophobic attitude that it's pervasive and mandatory really pisses me off. It's precisely the excuse we were given by my local Gold's Gym when we lobbied to have them expand their hours so those of us who work early or late (or just want to avoid the mad post-5pm crush can get a decent workout in.
So I changed to the 24 Hours up the street and I still get cruised on the floor and in the shower or sauna. It doesn't freak me out though it does disappoint me sometimes. I just simply say "no thank you" and am left alone.
Posted by: Rey | Dec 3, 2008 5:56:56 PM
@ MATT
Of course no one is justifying him being beaten just because he was leaving a seedy establishment.
I don't think that BRAD or I implied that the victim deserved to be attacked, no matter how much you seem to want that to be the case so you can "shame" us. Both were simply calling out that a "gym" that serves alcohol and has patrons stumbling out at midnight probably isn't much of a "gym" at all. In fact, the place had its business license revoked and its doors closed by a judge for lewd activity.
Posted by: Dan B | Dec 3, 2008 5:59:53 PM
And this man couldn't possibly seem drunk/altered due to being bashed on the head with a bottle?
Posted by: Critifur | Dec 3, 2008 6:05:05 PM
it's worth it to point out that in utah, the alcohol laws are very, very strange and the only way you can patonize a drinking establishment is to belong to a club. any club that serves hard liquor requires people to become members. in that context, it's not really too strange that a gym (which requires a membership in most cases) and a bar would be housed in the same quarters.
Posted by: alguien | Dec 3, 2008 6:26:27 PM
I know 14th Street Gym. I've been there (several years ago, but still). At the time I visited, it was right next door to the city's only leather bar. It might still be for all I know, so the alcohol wasn't necessarily served in 14th Street Gym.
Yes, 14th Street Gym is the closest thing in Salt Lake to a bathhouse, but it gets watched so much by police that the staff all but chase anyone out who crosses the line into actual sex. Based on my single visit, I'd describe the place as a naked lounge area with a pool and a steam room and a couple weight benches.
Regardless, I agree that no one deserves to be attacked, even if it was a no-holds-barred orgy in there. I think tensions in my old hometown are on the rise.
Posted by: jere | Dec 3, 2008 7:00:35 PM
The fact that this place may or may not have been a "seedy" place does not justify a head whacking. Maybe if society didnt make us feel like outcasts then we wouldn't feel the need to frequent places that put us at risk. I also feel that any place that caters to gay patrons should try to make security a priority. A few cheap cameras in conspicous places could go a long way to make the world a bit safer for us.
Posted by: just me | Dec 3, 2008 7:01:51 PM
@ JON B
The Salt Lake Tribune just reported the incident.
Deseret News (Also Mormon-owned) is the source Andy is referring to in the last sentence. Just clarifying.
Posted by: Brend | Dec 3, 2008 9:55:44 PM
Just to be clear. This is the sorry Salt Lake equivalent of a bathhouse. It is not actually a gym. The gym equipment dates from the 70s and looks like it has never been touched. Mostly of the patrons pile up in the steam room or smoke in a TV lounge. The church-owned Deseret News is accurately in its reporting. There is no bar there.
That never excuses an attack. Every person, lewd or prude, should be able to walk safely in the streets.
Posted by: BigP | Dec 3, 2008 11:11:19 PM
frankly, it's unsurprising that the DN made the connection. The gym/club/whatever's fight over its business license was in the news three out of the last four times I visited SLC.
Posted by: greg.org | Dec 4, 2008 12:09:53 PM
14th Street Gym used to be an actual bathhouse with individual rooms.
I remember going there when I went to BYU.
In a crappy part of town in an area that only has the gym as a night time business. I remember when I went there after it turned into a "gym" and couldn't figure out what was going on.
Posted by: Chrissypoo | Dec 4, 2008 7:25:51 PM