by Heather Aronno | Originally posted March 19 at Alaska Commons

I was cycling through some news blogs today, and I saw an article on Gawker entitled “Because Nobody Listened, a Gay-Bashing Victim Takes His Story to YouTube.” And I’m embarrassed to say that I passed it by. It’s not hard to just scroll past something that seems a little too heavy, a little too real for what I was looking for. After all, I’m steadfastly avoiding watching the news right now because I don’t want to hear the sounds of bombs and artillery in Libya. So I read a few other articles, but I came back to that video that I was avoiding. And I hate it when I’m cowardly.

[Warning: contains strong language NSFW]

Here is a direct transcription:

Hi. My name is Justin Alesna. I’m twenty-three years old and a resident of Detroit, Michigan. On the evening of March 7, 2011, I was attacked in the convenience store of a BP gas station. I was walking in to get cigarettes, where I stood in line. Apparently too close to the guy ahead of me, because he said “Hey y’all, give me two feet, dog, two feet.” I then said “sorry,” you know, stepped back, but he wouldn’t let it go and continued to barrage me with, you know, “What are you, a fucking- what’s your problem, dog? What are you, a fuckin’ faggot? What are you, a fuckin’ homo? If you a fuckin’ homo, why the fuck would you stand so fuckin’ close?”

I tried to ignore it. Bought my cigarettes and wanted to leave. Proceeded to the door, to where he then stopped me, flashed a gun and said, you know, “What the fuck you say to me?” I then said, you know dog, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just, I didn’t mean anything.” He then continued to go on with the “Are you a faggot? Are you a fuckin’ fag? Are you a homo if you’re a homo?” Basically the same thing. It’s in my experience that idiots like to repeat themselves, so he did. Up until the point where my face decided to collide with his fist, which happened twice before I ended up throwing him to the ground. He then got up, took another swing, and I got him in a headlock. At this point, I asked the clerk to call the police, and he did not. He only told my attacker to “Kill it! Bro, kill it, because I don’t have time to be cleaning up this mess.” I was then told to leave the store, and I did.

The amount of cruelty that was shown to me throughout this whole situation is beyond appalling. The fact that all because of a altercation in distance, and the fact that I was assaulted and was asked to leave the crime scene. The fact that there were two other individuals aside from my attacker and the clerk who did nothing but gawk and laugh the whole time this was going on. What happened to decency? What happened to…what happened? What happened? What the fuck happened? You know, I don’t understand why this happened to me. I don’t understand why this happened. I don’t understand why this is conceptual, theoretically in this day and age. I remember this whole story about seven kids killing themselves because they didn’t want to deal with shit like this. Because before they could even start their lives, they were afraid of this happening to them.

As a result of that campaign, of that, there was a campaign that said “it gets better.” That it gets better. You know, I remember when Matthew Sheppard and Mike Bird were synonymous with the word “hate crime.” I remember, you know, when hate crimes were popular. I remember when it was funny. A shattered eye socket and seeing a reconstructive surgeon to see if this is fixable, isn’t funny. The fact that no one stepped up to help, the fact that people allowed this to happen, the fact that I stood up to somebody with a gun who threatened my life. A man who thought it was manly to beat on a little faggot. Bitch, who the faggot now?  I threw your ass to the ground after taking two of your fuckin’ fists to my face. SNAP!

The hate stops now. Or at least it need to stop now. The only way that it gets better, the only way that we can assur that shit like this doesn’t happen, is by standing up. Is by speaking out. Is by actually doing something to make our society better. And to those of you who don’t, who think that, you know, that this is stupid, or dislike this, or just think that I’m just talking out of my ass, ‘cause it is kinda a farfetched story if you think about it. You know, if a guy just pummels you for standing too close while two guys watch and the clerk does nothing to help you? Yeah, as farfetched as that a story may be, that’s my story. My rights were not protected.  My life was not valued. Better Made chips and Combo bags that were scattered on the floor were more important to this man than my life.

That’s a sad day.

That is a sad day of realization when you realize that there are four people in a room that can care less about you. So, If you want the hate stop now, because I’m sure a lot of you do. Be it because you’re gay, because you’re black, because you’re Arab, because you’re Asian and get better math scores. You know because you’re white, and you’re the only white kid in school. Because you’re the only person that speaks Spanish in your area…or what, what the fuck ever the problem is now. Hate is fucking hate.

Just remember this. Remember this the next time you want to make change, that you want to do better, that you want something more from yourself and society around you. We are not fucking animals. And if you really think that we…if you think that we are? Then what the fuck is wrong with you?

I really have nothing else to say, aside from “the hate needs to stop.” And if you think it should stop, too? You should share this video, and you should stand up, speak out, and if you want it to get better, make it so. Thank you.

It’s easy to shrug this off as another unfortunate circumstance of a young gay man being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But I ask you this, how many of these instances have to happen before people say “enough”? How many more times are people just going to stand by and watch another LGBT person get attacked? It pisses me off, and it should piss you off, too. It certainly pissed Justin Alesna off. Instead of licking his wounds, Alesna is telling his story and calling people to stand up for what’s right so that these “unfortunate instances” can be a thing of the past. There is no knight in shining armor. There’s only you, seeing something that you know is wrong, and speaking the hell up. I’ll risk a quote from a President who I struggle to support sometimes: “We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.”

There is actually a bill in the state legislature which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Alaska’s hate crime statutes, which would go a long way to protect our own citizens. Senate Bill 11, co-sponsored by Senators Bettye Davis and Hollis French, passed out of the judiciary committee and was referred to the senate finance committee, which is knee-deep in conservative senators who are less than likely to even re-introduce it, let alone pass it.

And if you are  LGBT and you haven’t taken the Alaska LGBT Community Survey yet, please take a few minutes to do it. There are people who will never have their minds changed on the subject of equal rights, but the more data that can be collected can only go to serve the betterment of everyone’s condition. Even if you haven’t experienced direct discrimination yourself, your story, your participation still matters. Like Jusin Alesna told us: if you want to make it better, make it so.