Punched in the face while attackers yelled homophobic comments.
Craig Ruttle/AP
What is going on in New York? Gay activist Eugene Lovendusky became the latest victim of the city’s sweep of hate crimes on Saturday when a group of teens allegedly punched him in the face outside a nightclub in Times Square. Lovendusky, 28, told DNA Info that a group of men yelled anti-gay slurs at him and his boyfriend, and “by instinct” he told them “you can’t say that to me.” The attackers then allegedly punched Lovendusky in the face and fled. Police arrested 19-year-old Manuel Riquelme just blocks away shortly after the incident. Lovendusky has spent the past few weeks speaking out against the recent spate of hate crimes against gays, including the fatal shooting of Mark Carson, 32, in Greenwich Village and the assault of a gay couple outside of Madison Square Garden.
