Police in Lafayette, LA, arrested 37-year old Joseph Menard Jr. after he allegedly assaulted four gay men at a recent showing of the Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogan flick Guilt Trip.
Walt Jamison says he and his boyfriend and two other gay men were settling into the showing when Menard, sitting behind them with his children, began spewing anti-gay invectives and then, when asked to be quiet by them and another patron, attacked them.
The Advertiser has more:
The men took their seats during the previews, Jamison said, and almost immediately a man in the row behind them said, “Oh great,” and called them a derogatory name aimed at their sexual preference.
When one of the four said, “Excuse me?” Menard “stood up and leaned over us and started screaming hate slurs peppered with profanities,” in front of his own child and wife, Jamison said.
A woman about three rows in front stood and asked Menard to stop because she had children with her, but, according to Jamison, Menard insulted her and told her to sit down.
Menard “sat down and stood back up and popped my partner in the back of the head,” said Jamison, adding that he was also struck by Menard.
Before the police arrived, Menard and his family left The Grand in their SUV. Police [pursued] them and arrested Menard on the simple battery charges.
Menard has been charged with simple assault, while his wife was also charged with resisting arrest.
Two very different family outings ruined by the same thing: ignorance and hate.
