One-Man Hate Factory Pleads Guilty to Anti-Gay Attack Spree

An Oregon man who went on an anti-LGBTQ rampage in Boise, Idaho, has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in a deal that will send him to prison for between 37 and 45 months. Matthew Alan Lehigh, 31, of Oregon punched a transgender library worker and tried to run over a security guard; verbally assailed and tried to run over women he believed were lesbians in a parking lot; punched a grocery store worker after calling him a slur; set fire to a Pride flag hanging on a building; and broke the windows of an LGBTQ organization. “This defendant targeted strangers for terrifying attacks for no reason other than his perceptions of their sexual orientation,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.