Philadelphia has been served yet another reminder that anti-LGBT hate crimes are far from being a thing of the past.
Shortly after 1 a.m. Nov. 1, two women and one man were attacked in Northeast Philadelphia by a group that hurled anti-LGBT epithets at them.
Two people were arrested in the attack: 18-year-old Carlos Jimenez of the 6000 block of Shisler Street and a 16-year-old female whose identity police are not releasing because she is a minor. She will not be charged as an adult, said Public Affairs Officer Jillian Russell.
Philadelphia’s new hate-crimes measure was signed into law Nov. 13 but a law must be in effect when an incident takes place in order for related charges to be brought; so, even if investigators deem this to be a hate crime, the suspects cannot be charged as such.
Straight best friends Jessica Kelly, 28, and Bonnie Moran, 31, were being escorted home from a Halloween party in Mayfair by their mutual friend, Michael Clinton. The two women were walking arm-in-arm on Shelmire Avenue, just off Frankford Avenue, when a female in a nearby group of teenagers said, “Ew, look at those ugly lesbians,” according to Moran.
Clinton then said something along the lines of, “Hey, leave them alone. They aren’t gay.”
The group, comprised of seven males and one female, continued to shout homophobic slurs before proceeding to attack Clinton.
Moran said she dialed 911, told the dispatcher where they were and fled around the corner toward Clinton’s home, but came back for Clinton and saw how serious his injuries were.
The women attempted to help Clinton back to his home but were “sandwiched,” Moran said, by the original group of attackers and a second group.
“Taunted, stalked, followed on the street and then attacked,” Kelly said.
Moran said one woman, who identified herself as the mother of the female teenage attacker who called the girls “ugly lesbians,” claimed Moran had attacked her daughter.
Moran said she replied, “Whoa, we are all mothers here,” but then the unidentified women punched Moran in the face. Violence erupted again with the two groups attacking Moran, Kelly and Clinton.
During the attack, Moran said the unidentified mother was shouting, “Purge! Purge them! Purge!” perhaps in reference to a movie of the same name that depicted crime being legal one night a year without consequences.
Kelly and Moran said they were repeatedly punched, kicked and stomped on for five minutes. One of their pocketbooks was also stolen during the assault.
Moran ultimately managed to get away, call 911 again and throw her phone under a nearby car for fear that the assailants would steal it. She screamed her current location over and over again to the dispatcher. The attackers took off running in all directions.
Several members of the group lingered after the incident, but Moran said police, who arrived shortly after, let them go.
Police drove Moran and Kelly around the neighborhood in an attempt to locate the attackers who ran off, whom they eventually found and positively identified, Moran said. At that time, they could not find Clinton, Moran said.
One of the males in the group was covered in blood “from head to toe,” Moran added. “He was covered in our blood.”
Jimenez and the female were arrested are charged with criminal conspiracy, theft, simple assault, aggravated assault, robbery and reckless endangerment.
Moran and Kelly were taken to the police station that night, and Moran went to the hospital the next day. She said she later received an anonymous call from a neighbor who tipped her off to the identity of the mother involved. Moran said she reported that information to the detective on the case and made a positive ID of the woman in a photo lineup. Moran said she believes the detective on the case is in the process of obtaining a warrant for the woman’s arrest.
Russell, however, said investigators are not looking for any other suspects.
While Moran and Kelly were assisting the search for the suspects, police found Clinton lying unconscious between two cars and had him transported to Aria Torresdale Hospital.
“He was in the ICU for a while after that,” Moran said.
Moran suffered a concussion and injuries to her neck, including two cracked vertebrae, as well as cracked dentures. Kelly suffered two fractured ribs.
“I have old injuries to my neck that are now swollen, and reinjured, inflamed and causing more pain now,” Moran said. “I have severe bruising all over my body, a boot print on my chest and back. I have a hand mark on my arm when they grabbed my arm and yanked me when I tried to get away. A lot of bruises. I had big knots on my head.”
Moran, who has a husband and three sons, is legally disabled with spina bifida.
Moran said she did not know any of the assailants, “not at all.”
She believes her neighborhood is usually very accepting of LGBTs.
“I have a lot of gay and transgender friends. Not one neighbor was ever cruel to them, ever,” she said. “People are very kind about it, even with one of my friends who is gender-transitioning. My community is pretty cool with it, especially the younger crowds. Maybe the older crowd has a problem, but 95 percent of the people are fine with it.”
But the incident has had a significant impact on her life, even as she continues to recover physically.
“I am actually scared to go out in my own neighborhood now. I have never been afraid to do so before. What else can they assume of me and attack me for? Now everyone knows me because I was on the news. It’s scary,” Moran said. “In all my years growing up in Mayfair, with such a tight community, I have never felt this way. I used to walk my son back and forth in the driveway when he couldn’t sleep at 11 at night, and never thought twice about it.”
Moran said she plans to take self-defense classes once she is fully healed.