Lesbian Family, Children Attacked by Anti-Gay Mob

A Kentucky lesbian family says that they were attacked by a mob that beat and threatened them with a firearm. Equality group the Kentucky Equality Federation has filed with the Justice Department on behalf of the women to request a federal investigation, local newspaper the Lexington Herald-Leader reported on Aug. 25.

The attack took place in Pathfork, a coal mining community in Harlan Country in southeastern Kentucky. On July 4, Misty Turner and Brandy Standifer, their children, a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, and other relatives were targeted by a crowd of more than 50 people who shot fireworks at them.

The women and their children had lived in the community for three years with no problems prior to the incident, the newspaper said.

Turner and Standifer's family were gathered in a church parking lot for the July 4th festivities. The crowd of over 50 people shooting fireworks at them was congregated in the yard of a nearby private residence.

After one firework exploded close enough to Turner and Standifer's family to injure their children and other relatives, Turner, 28, asked them to stop firing pyrotechnics at them.

At that point, according to the account Turner provided the Kentucky Equality Federation, the crowd became verbally abusive, with one individual yelling the threat, ""We'll set every one of the little Mother Fuckers on fire!"

Turner's father started over to the crowd, which was gathered in the yard of a private residence. Turner followed him, but was attacked, she said, by a woman from the crowd. When Standifer attempted to come to Turner's aid, 15 men assaulted the women, with Standifer being kicked and stomped, and suffering contusions and a broken rib. Turner received such a blow to the head that she suffered bleeding inside her sinus cavity.

The assailants struck and beat Standifer and Turner, but not any other members of the women's family.

The physical assault was not the only abuse the women suffered, according to Turner's account. The crowd hurled anti-gay invective at them, calling them "pussy licking whore" and "dykes," and one male assailant told them, "If you wanna look like a man, then fight like one!"

One man, identified by the women as pointed a gun at the women and threatened to "kill your dike [sic] asses," Turner's statement added.

"I feel like it made them upset that we were there as a family," Turner told the Herald-Leader.

The women pressed charges against Rodney Howard for assault, the newspaper article said, and plan to press charges against a third man as well.

But the women's first court appearance in the case was a further exercise in humiliation and badgering, Turner's account said. While the defendants' families were permitted to be in the courtroom, Turner and Standifer's family members were denied access.

The defense lawyer, Otis Doan, quizzed Turner on her lesbian "lifestyle" and insinuated that the women did not belong in the community.

"[H]e was very discrimating and ask[ed] me 'do you promote this kind of life?' and made the comment 'your [sic] a lesbian and live in Harlan county' then ask[ed] me if I still had 'custody' of my children being a lesbian!!!" Turner wrote in her complaint.

"I did my job as a lawyer representing my client," Doan told the newspaper.

"I was outraged but told him that it was called equality and I was not against any lifestyle," Turner's account continued of her exchange with Doan. "The judge did not stop his comments.

"One of the men was convicted to be sent to a grand jury for a felony, the other was dismissed, but we have to try and convict according to the county attorney," Turner's account added. "This has been a long process with a lot more to go. We need support for the gay community in this area. Otherwise, the court will use our sexuality against our case. PLEASE help us.. this was a hate crime and I believe the evidence should speak for itself."

The newspaper noted that Kentucky does have a law against bias crimes that target victims because of their sexual orientation.

Turner told the Herald-Leader that her children have been fearful since the attack took place. "Every night, I have to explain there are mean people in the world ... but mommy's not going to let anything happen to them," she told the newspaper.

Federal investigators would be empowered to look into the matter under the Matthew Shepard Act, a hate crimes law and the only federal statute that extends protections to GLBT Americans.

The full text of Turner's account was posted at Towleroad on Aug. 25.