TRAGEDY

NYC Gay Man’s Death a Hate Crime

City has seen spike in incidents in the past year.

A gay man was killed early Saturday in New York City’s Greenwich Village—the heart of gay community and just blocks away from the historic Stonewall Inn—in what police are calling a hate crime. Brooklyn resident Mark Carson, 32, was walking on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village when Elliot Morales allegedly yelled “Look at these faggots. What are you, gay wrestlers?” Morales allegedly yelled homophobic slurs before fatally shooting Carson with a .38-caliber revolver. Morales was apprehended by police just blocks away after attempting to flee on foot. Carson’s murder is the 22nd anti-gay attack in New York so far this year—a 77 percent increase from the 13 such assaults during the same period last year. And it’s part of a disturbing national trend: the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported in 2011 its highest rate of gender bias since its formation in 1998.