North Carolina Chef Body-Slammed, Kicked In Ribs, By Teens Shouting “You’re A Faggot, You’re A Queer!”

Is HB2 giving bigots a license to attack?
From: NewNowNext

 Is HB2 fueling anti-LGBT violence in North Carolina? A chef in Charlotte who was physically attacked and called anti-gay slurs says she believes the measure has given people license to be hateful.

“I’ve never been the type of person to throw my sexuality in people’s faces,” she says. “But for some reason, this past year, something has been in the air. People have been noticing me more than before.”

 The victim, who requested anonymity, was walking with a co-worker on Saturday when they were approached by a group of young women and one man.

“I had seven girls staring at me, looking at me, with hate in their eyes,” she told The Charlotte Observer.

One beckoned, “Hey, are you a stud?”

Sadly used to such remarks, she ignored the comment and avoided eye contact. But the woman continued: “Oh, yeah, you are a stud.”

The chef kept ignoring the harassment. Then her tormentor spewed a string of obscenities, including “you’re a faggot… You’re a queer.” That’s when it became physical.

 “All of a sudden, the guy comes up beside me and said, ‘Let me ask you a question.’ That’s when she attacked me. She screamed, ’You’re f*cking going to die!’ and… she jumped right on me with a hit to the face.”

She hit the ground hard, she added. “She kicked me a couple of times in the ribs.”

 The chef’s coworker managed to pull the attacker off, but then a second women punched the coworker in the face.

“They didn’t say anything about me,” said the coworker, who is straight. “The only reason we got attacked is because she is gay. It’s a straight-up hate crime. They were young girls—too young to have that much anger in their heart.”

 Thomasena Michelle Chisolm (below) and Kiara Marie Johnson (left), both 17, were arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault. Local authorities are consulting with the FBI about filing federal hate-crime charges as well.

After the attack, the chef kept apologizing to her co-worker: “She kept saying, ‘It’s only because of who I am that we got jumped. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.’ It’s terrible to live that way, to live in such fear.”