The victim says his injuries will heal, but Jerrid, who doesn't want to give his last name, isn't sure he'll be venturing back to downtown’s Brady District, where the attack happened, anytime soon. He believes this assault was a hate crime, and two men targeted him because of his sexual orientation.
When two men approached 25 year-old Jerrid and a friend outside a club, he felt something was up.
“We asked them if they were going to beat us up because they looked they were, they said no we're just looking for an after party,” Jerrid told FOX23 exclusively.
There wasn't an after party. Jerrid, openly gay, says within seconds, both he and his friend were punched. Jerrid was knocked unconscious.
Less than 48 hours after the incident, it's easy to see his scars, a busted lip and swollen face. For him, it is also easy to see that this was a hate crime.
“They were standing outside of a gay bar, and for them to exit their vehicle, their vehicle to go around the building, for them to pick them up after they punched us both, that's kind of a sign right there that something was going on.”
He's able to remember few details about the men who he says assaulted him.
“(They were) muscular, about 6'2" one looked maybe Asian, one was definitely white , had some tattoos on him, definitely looked like they worked out quite a bit.”
They're still out there, so he's keeping his guard up.
“(I’m) honestly a little scared, it might take me a little while to go back downtown especially after hours per say,” Jerrid said.
Leaders of Tulsa’s gay community say something has to be done.
“If you knock somebody out, that's pretty serious assault and battery that's not just roughin' em up and calling them a few names,” Toby Jenkins, Director of Oklahomans for Equality, said.
Jenkins is mad even though he felt the tide was turning for gay men and lesbian woman who call Tulsa home.
“Just when I get confident, then I have something like this happen,” he told FOX23.
He says it's clear what happened along Boston Avenue around 1:30 Sunday morning.
“The individual set out with the purpose of finding some gay boys coming out of a gay club, and beat them up, just because they're gay.”
He says attacks like this will continue until lawmakers in Oklahoma City make a stand.
“When will our legislators give us a hate crimes law that includes people who were victims based on their sexual orientation or their gender expression?” Jenkins asked.
Until then, he says gay men and women in Tulsa, and across Oklahoma need to take extra precautions. Jenkins says hate crimes happen much more frequently in Tulsa than people would realize.
He says a person is assaulted on average once a week based on their sexual orientation here, but not all of those victims report the crime.
