A gay couple in Portland, Oregon were the targets of a threatening homophobic tirade from a neighbor that is now going viral. Trudy and Wendy Dragoon were searching for the owner of a lost dog in their neighborhood when a man in a truck began harassing them.
The Portland Mercury reports that Wendy began filming the incident after the truck did a u-turn and swung around to a curb and parked, and the man got out and “said something about ‘beating the shit out of f**king dykes.'”
That is when the following video begins, which is laden with homophobic and sexist slurs including calling Trudy a “gay pride-ass bitch.”
https://www.facebook.com/trudragoon/videos/1507515986021077/
Wrote Trudy Dragoon in text that accompanied the video: “So this just happened. After he sped up like he was going to hit is as we crossed the street. And then a ‘good guy cop’ rolled up and CLEARLY did not want to help us. Before he even got out of the car he was telling us to ignore him and just walk away. Then told us he couldn’t do anything. These little f**kers live around the corner. It will take them no time to figure out which house is ours so I guess we wait until we are physically assaulted before we can get help.”
The evening incident continued into the early morning hours, according to the Dragoons. Wendy says that around midnight, she and Trudy were awakened by loud fireworks coming from the same property where the truck had parked. They walked outside to confirm, and discovered another neighbor already outside on the phone, reporting the late-night fireworks show to the police. The neighbor allegedly told the police dispatch that the suspects had been harassing Trudy and Wendy earlier.
Three officers showed up, including the same one from earlier. Again, Dragoon says she tried to explain to the two new officers that they had been harassed by a man on the property earlier. This time, Dragoon says, one of the other officers asked, “But how do you know its a hate crime? How is he supposed to know you’re gay?”
“And that was it,” Dragoon says. “They clearly weren’t there to help us.”
Dragoon believes the owners of the property are new to the neighborhood—she doesn’t recall seeing them before yesterday. She says she often walks by the house with her two kids, since it’s on the way to Dairy Queen.
“I don’t feel safe in my home anymore. It wouldn’t take them long to find out where we live,” she says.
KATU reports: “Portland Police Sergeant Chris Burley wouldn’t say whether the officer involved should have taken a complaint, but said the video has prompted an official investigation and the officer is now writing a report on what happened. That doesn’t necessarily mean what happened is a hate crime, he said. ‘As a police officer, as a member of the gay community, I – it’s extremely offensive language,’ Sgt. Burley tells KATU News. ‘Just because of hateful speech, an officer cannot necessarily take somebody into custody.’The Dragoons’ neighborhood watch chair, Grant Williams, said the officer wouldn’t take his report.”
What takes place in the video appears to be a hate crime under Oregon’s law.
Intentionally, because of the person’s perception of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability or national origin… subjects the other person to alarm by threatening:
(A) To inflict serious physical injury upon or to commit a felony affecting the other person, or a member of the person’s family
Neighbors on Monday evening chalked the street in front of the homophobe’s house to show support for the Dragoons.
Some photos from this afternoon, taken by Mackenzie Taylor: pic.twitter.com/dx0mbYHYdp
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) July 17, 2018