Indictments Brought Against Suspects in Anti-Gay Attacks in Chelsea

Three men were indicted on Tuesday in two separate cases of hate crimes against patrons at gay bars in the Chelsea section of the west side of Manhattan. Matthew Francis and Christopher Orlando, both of Staten Island, were charged with two counts of attempted robbery and one count of assault, all as hate crimes. Francis was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Francis and Orlando allegedly attacked a man in the bathroom of the Stonewall Inn bar on October 3, after asking him if he was gay. Francis reportedly called the man a derogatory slur, yelling ?Get away from me, I don?t like gay people.? After unsuccessfully demanding money from the patron, Francis pushed him to the ground and punched him several times in the face and chest. The attack caused the victim ?substantial pain and a laceration to the head,? according to the district attorney?s office, and he had to be treated at a hospital. Many believe the Stonewall Inn to be the site of the start of the modern LGBT rights movement, during a raid in 1969.Another indictment was brought upon Frederick Giunta of Queens, NY, for attempted robbery and assault as a hate crime. The incident took place a little over a week after the Stonewall attack. Giunta is accused of stealing a victim?s wallet on October 11, the same day he made racist and anti-gay slurs and struck another victim at a gay club called Julius. ?Attacks such as these not only harm individual victims, they also threaten entire communities,? says Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. ?New York City?s diverse populations deserve our respect and protection.?Related Media Coverage:CNN ? November 9, 2010?3 Indicted on Two Separate Hate Crimes Cases?http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/11/09/new.york.hate.crime.indictments/

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