Openly bisexual 16-year-old Max Aistrup and his friends were called anti-gay slurs, beaten and robbed in a public park in Elk Grove, California but local police are dragging their feet and are refusing to call a hate crime.
16-year-old, Max knows what it’s like being bullied. Only this time, it wasn’t just words, but punches.
“They called us “faggots” Anything you can think of they pretty much said,”
Aistrup says he and his friends were attacked in broad daylight walking through a quiet, well-kept Elk Grove Park. He says seven guys came up to them and started making anti-gay comments
Two of Aistrup’s friends were jumped while he and a third friend ran off to dial 911. By the time police arrived, the attackers were already gone with Aistrup’s Xbox — taken from his friend’s backpack.
“When I found out about the slurs, I had smoke coming out of my ears like the cartoons,” said Earl McComb, Aistrup’s father. McComb is furious, convinced his 16-year-old was targeted simply for who he is.
“I have no room in my life for hate or intolerance,” he said.
But Elk Grove police are treating this as a robbery, not a hate crime — saying it remains unclear what the motivation was.
However, Max Aistrup says homophobic slurs leave little doubt. “That’s the moment you cross the line,”
Now if only the Elk Grove Police were as smart as a 16-year-old boy and could realize that.
Hate crime laws and legislation does absolutely nothing if the authorities refuse to use it.