Call or email District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and demand that the culprits are prosecuted for hate crimes in addition to assault and battery. http://www.alcoda.org/about_us/contact_us

Yo, this is Brontez. You SADDEN me Mr. Bynes (whoever you are). We we're unlocking our bikes and these guys stared harassing us. How did you see "everything"? It was only us four outside in the beginning! You act like we just saw these dudes and went in on them and thats a lie. Ive attended the Paradiso since it was Cabel's Reef and have NEVER had anything like this happen. Me cursing, and yelling at them is true like after someone threatens you with VIOLENCE who wouldn't? Sorry im NOT the type of girl whos gonna cross her legs and act fucking nice after some jock tells me im "at the wrong club" two blocks from my own fucking house! FUCK YEAH I YELLED BACK AT THEM. If your such a sensible homosexual why didnt you HELP US when these guys were fucking with us? And also my bandmate who was sitting on the sidelines got his face broken and we did NOTHING to warrant that. WE WERE THE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE, verbal and otherwise. I threw my bike lock AFTER they punched me and Adal (who wouldn't?) I used this tactic to pause them long enough to get their plate number. You call someone a "batty boy" threaten them with violence and then hit someone that didnt provoke you YES THAT IS A HATE CRIME. I was REACTING to being fucked with. How dare you?

Kevin,

One, if you were there and saw the whole thing, I'd like to know exact times, the exact catalyst, the first moment of contact. Did you happen to see a guy riding up and hitting a window, or did you see what preceeded that? Brontez isn't a crazy man who will just go and attack a person's car just for fun. He's not a dude, he's not a jock. He's not an irrational thinker.

Also, I've been verbally harrassed by idiots yelling anti-queer slurs in the Castro, the TL and Polk street. I don't see your point about it being a "gay neighborhood".

Finally, Brontez and his bandmate can corroborate each other's stories. The dudes hurled epithets their way, then attacked them. Where's your sense of solidarity? You ought to be disgusted with yourself. My current running theory is that you may in fact be one of their attackers, who now has realized that he fucked with the wrong people. For the sake of the queer community, I hope the latter is true.

Good for you for fighting back!! On the one hand, I find it totally appropriate for queers to be called "victims" in bashing situations, and on the other, sometimes I think it perpetuates negative stereotypes of weakness. Those dudes who attacked you are absolutely wrong and I'm glad for the example of totally appropriate and bad-ass self-defense!

Why isn't the license plate # in the article?

Post it, spread it and hunt these f/uckers down so they can be arrested (the women, too) and their idiot car set on fire.

It was about 2am the guy Brontez at first was standing outside of their care at the end of the block by the fire hydrant then got on his bike circling back and forth. When I walked up it was only you, the two guys involved, their girlfriends, and your light skinned or white friend. Their was a small crowd that gathered across the street in front of the meditation center (I was among them) when you started yelling Botti Boy and Bumba Clot at the two men and riding your bike back and forth. The whole time your friend stood at a safe distance calling after you begging you to come on. You were not the only people out there but I believe you were so drunk or high that you thought you were. Brontez your friend tried to get you to stop but you wouldn't and you spit on the man did you not???? You went by and hit his window and that is when he ran after you and knocked you from your bike. When your friend tried to help the two women that the Jamaican guy was with pull them off of you one of the guys hit him in the face and he fell to the ground. Even though your friend was hurt you went back over and over again. You squared off with the guy with your bike lock in hand. He ran up on you and you ran away. The only way they were able to drive off was that the guy who the car belonged to stood outside to fend off attacks from you and the friend and the girls got in the car to start it up. He then jumped in the car and they sped off. You threw your bike lock at their back window but it did not break. As they were driving away the people from the bar came out and you started screaming that you had been attacked. But I didn't see an attack. I saw you attack them and their vehicle, spit on them, yell at them and throw your bike lock at them before they ever hit you once. The police showed up about 15 minutes later. Whats funny is that I'm gay and the reason I stopped was because I thought, from your screams of botti boy and bumba clott that there was a gay bashing going on. My intention was to help until I realized what was going on. The bar owner came out because he was worried about his beige car getting hit. It was parked right in front of the Jamaican guys car.

What more for evidence of my being there is that I had my department meeting at work and told the story to my entire department at 10:30 AM before this story was posted. Our volunteer coordinator then forwarded me the story shortly before I replied. My entire staff can confirm that I told the story of what happened to them at 10:30 this morning. I am not a liar and I don't know Brontez to make up anything about him. I've never met him. I hate that this story can be sold as a gay bashing. A simple google search of my name will show that I have been fighting for LGBT rights for 15 years (my entire adult life). I would not lie about something like this. There were others there that I know from the neighborhood and if this goes to trial I will testify to what I saw and encourage those others to as well.

Oh the quote "this is the bay area we do what the fuck we want to do here" ~Brontez Purnell Isn't that what you said before you started spitting on those guys? What kills me is that while you are screaming "gay bashing" I saw you have multiple opportunities to get on your bike and ride away with your friend who begged you to do so. Its almost as if you wanted these guys to attack you so you could say you were gay bashed... But I saw the whole thing didn't I? And it wasn't a gay bashing, was it?

KEVIN BYNES, I do NOT think that FRACTURING SOMEONE'S FACE is a method of SELF-DEFENSE. Even "TASING" by a cop is tamer than that. Brontez, whom I believe, even if he did spit in their direction, hit their car window, was slightly drunk, then HOW is THAT a method of SELF-DEFENSE. Oh, you stepped in my turf, I'm going to fracture your head and make you pay for surgery. What kind of Detroit-drive by shooting mentality are you throwing out? "Oh, he was looking at me, he was asking for it." All the actions you are falsely saying Brontez did are passive aggressive and NOT violent. So whether he was egging it on or not, he and his friend are still victims, and evidence has shown that. In almost ALL cases, intentional or NOT, if struck with violence, that person IS a victim. I've heard rumors that Matthew Shepard was an asshole, and that's why those homophobes in Laramie messed with him. So, did he deserve to die then?

I'm dissapointed that as a queer you choose to hold such a self-centered mentality. If someone "brought it on themselves" to make a point or get dubbed as a "gay bashing" (which of course Brontez wouldn't do because he is in no mind an irrational egoist idiot) it may change how you FEEL about them and their sincerity/character, but it doesn't change the facts: it was A HATE CRIME, they were VIOLENTLY ATTACKED.

I'd think twice about your comments. If anyone is trying to steal the spotlight and get attention about the incident, it's NOT brontez, it's YOU. Go talk shit about gays somewhere else, you're only hurting your own kind. It's not our problem whether you are comfortable or confident with your sexuality, don't take it out on us.

Kevin, you didn't see what happened before you arrived. All you saw was Brontez reacting to something that you didn't see. I don't think you're lying, I just think you're emphatically stupid, jumping to conclusions with half the story.

I´m in Spain, news reached me here, why would Kevin mend up a story like this when his profile is totally open, he´s facing it, not hiding. I guess if there´s a judgement, they both witll declare and end of story. What I see is that A. here are all Brontez friends B. if you´re not with Brontez story then you guys insult people?. What will you say about Spain after you read my comment?. I was 100% with Brontez until I read Kevin´s story. Seems like many of you have so much hate inside. Reading some comments made me think if these guys are friends of Brontez, maybe Brontez really did what Kevin says, their comments spit pure hate for what´s against them!. Let the truth be judged by LAW. Anyways, you say that in case of a possible harrasment from Brontez, is it fair that someone breaks someone face: well, harrasment is a roulette, you can do it with the right or wrong guys. + there are many gays that love the fight, they think that´s cool, then, they end up in a regional newspaper with 15 comments, WOW. Was it worth it?. Guys, opinions and witnessing shouldn´t be harrased.

this thread is crazy.

Hmmm... Something is not right with this "Kevin Bynes".

To crucify Mr. Purnell by presenting a highly questionable misrepresentation of events, all the while slandering Mr. Purnell with accusations of drug use seems a bit out of the norm, ESPECIALLY for someone who is supposedly a gay rights activist and should be showing some solidarity with his fellow brother.

Kevin strikes me as the attention seeking diva, (y'all met 'em before), who wants everyone to know how "queer" and they is by over identifying themselves with their sexual preference (Hey, I'M GAY!) due to a lack of self esteem and personal character.

Kevin, maybe you would run cowardly away with your tail between you legs from someone calling you out for being gay to avoid an (OMG!) altercation, but that's you, and not Mr. Purnell. (Thank God.)

Some of us choose to stand up against prejudice and ignorance, without throwing our fellow man under the bus.

^ Thinking the same thing.

Again, where is the license plate #?

Just as important as it is to spread the word about this to prevent future gay bashing, it's also important to realize that reactionary violence on either side does NOT help. Words are words -- we've all had them used against us, in the queer community, as a person of color, as a woman, etc. I'd like to think we're advanced enough as people to understand how to ignore things that are said to us? We aren't in grade school anymore, correct? What is the ultimate goal here of throwing a bike lock at someone calling you a fag? Nothing. There was no goal. It was, at that point an issue of ego-bashing -- not gay bashing.

That said, I hope Adal recovers speedily.

Um, I would strongly advise the victims to stop telling and re-telling their story on the web. This is all going to end up in court, and the more text available to lawyers, the messier it gets. It doesn't appear that you did anything wrong, but if you're on your way to court, the best thing to do is shut up, especially on the record, and let the lawyers do most of the talking.

Jessica made a good point in wishing Adal to recover soon. its seems divisive for kevin to go out of his way to discredit Brontez when he himself chose not to involve himself in the fight the night before, apparently arriving at that decision after he personally concluded that brontez deserved what ever physical harm that came his (or his friends) way.
in his description of events he even notes that Adal was trying to prevent the situation from escalating, which really sucks because its Adal who caught the brunt of the assault. it seems to me that if kevin really was the upwardly moral activist he's presenting himself to be, he would have involved himself when he saw physical harm befall someone who was activley trying to prevent the situation from getting out of hand, or at least stuck around to give his statement to the officials when they arrive.
if he didn't see what instigated the fight he shouldn't make assumptions about Brontez's involvement, and i agree with max allstadt saying that these sentiments would be better left to be hashed out in a court room.
people should be able to ignore petty slurs and put downs, but i can also understand why someone wouldn't want to tolerate intolerance, and if someone's is being made to feel mortally threatened for hanging out in their neighborhood ('you'd be dead if we were in jamaica') i can empathize with the outrage that person would feel. at the end of all of this, someone is getting surgery, people are NOT as of yet being held accountable and brontez is speaking out about this because he is experiancing indifferance within the sytstem and is taking a proactive role in order to protect his community and find justice for his friend.

I love this thread! Great dialog and where else can it happen but here in the Bay area. I was not there, didn't see a thing yet Kevin's side of the story has more credibility to me. What ever happened I cannot condone gay bashing, being the father of a gay son. Sad that such hatred exists, especially in our neighborhoods which I consider very progressive.

difficult to see anything that transpired to justify getting your face broken.
"Kevin Bynes" if that is you real name, you are a coward for:
1. Not going to the police if you saw this happen
2. Attacking Mr Parnell, when clearly you couldn't have "seen the whole thing" since you didn't see him leave the bar and go to his bike.
3. Even if you don't like Mr Purnell, why do you seem to completely dismiss what happened to his friend who did not provoke anything but was badly beaten?

after reading the comments all i can hear in my head is that En Vogue song...Lies, lies, using lies as alibis. Lie's, lies, just a devil in disguise.

I love how everyone is attacking my character and theorizing about my motivation to protect a lie about a gay bashing that never happened. I didn't intervene because there was no gay bashing their was a gay man riding back and forth on his bike preventing 4 people who were trying to leave from doing so by trying to bust there car windows out, spitting on them, and throwing things at them who decided to scream VICTIM when the violence he initiated came back to bite him in his ass. THe only real victim in this entire situation is the poor friend who got his face broken for his friends stupidity. The beating you all are calling a bashing would never have happened if Brontez got on his bike and rode away (like his friend begged him to) rather than trying over and over again to take sucker punches at these guys from his bike while avoiding their retaliatory blows by speeding off. It wasn't until after he had spit on and swung at the guy for the 4th or 5th time that he fell off his bike and actually got caught and hit for the first time by the other guys. He could have left freely at any time before that because the other guys were trying to leave and he was preventing it by threatening their car every time they tried to get in it. His friend got his face cracked for because he was trying to stop the guys from beating him. No I didn't jump in because I witnessed the situation and was not on mr Purnell's side when it was over... Not because I was scared. LOL Oh and just because I'm gay doesn't mean I have to cosign the kind of divisive anti-hetero Black on Black harassment that Brontez perpetrated. I don't have anything to prove. The police investigators took my statement yesterday. I stand ready to tell what I saw in court. Brontez will not get away with this divisive behavior. Their is enough anti-gay violence in the world without made up fabricated gay bashings. Thank you.

Further I feel no responsibility to blindly and uncritically support every gay person regardless of right or wrong out of some warped, misguided, sense of solidarity. Gay people can be violent too and when straight people retaliate in self defense it doesn't become a "gay bashing" just because the gay guy lost. Brontez or Justin Purnell was wrong. the difference between most of you commenting and me is that I've never met mr Purnell and am not offering my comments out of bias I'm telling the truth about what I saw.

The second victim has corroborated Brontez's account:

http://www.baycitizen.org/crime/story/second-victim-alleged-oakland-gay-speaks/

Kevin--you still want to insist it wasn't a gay-bashing?

Nobody from bay citizen tried to call me and I have no messages. I don't know what this reporter is talking about. Talk about giving back cards? SHould a journalist that makes up attempts to reach a witness give back their press card??? My cell phone has a service that generates an email for every missed call. Didn't happen. The "second victim" is actually the only victim... Those guys may very well have SAID homophobic things but they did not lay a hand on Purnell or Castellon until it was clearly self defense. The so called victim was attacking them!!! So if someone calls me a fag I have the right to break their car windows, spit on them, throw bike locks at them and the like and they can't do anything to defend themselves??? That's BS. If this is the kind of stuff that the gay community here in the bay area wants to "rally" around then I will willingly surrender whatever "queer card" you're talking about. I won't give back all the advocacy awards I've been given for fighting on behalf of LGBT youth though... Sorry. Like I continue to say there is too much real anti gay violence for us to make up gay bashings. Bay citizen should be ashamed and so should most of the commentators. This knee jerk reactionary victimhood is not revolutionary, radical, liberatory or progressive. Don't flatter yourselves.

I am a fellow gay activist who has known the award-winning activist and public health expert Kevin Bynes for nearly 20 years. During that time, I've witnessed Bynes actively and effectively organize youth and adults alike in a range of anti-oppression activities on a host of issues, including gay rights and against racist police practices. He's done this work often at great potential harm to himself and in locations throughout the Deep South as a one-time activist with Southerners On New Ground (SONG). His credentials are impeccable and above reproach. Given his history, politics, and experience, Bynes has EVERY reason to be invested in Purnell's version of the events, but he isn't. So, what that tells me is that Bynes believes his own eyes versus believing the hearsay of someone else, even though it is VERY inconvenient for him to do so (which no one has taken into account--he benefits from stating this version of events how? Going to cops he finds racist benefits him how? Going to court against his brother benefits him how? Be logical, people). Those who are attacking Bynes' character because they don't like his facts about a situation need to ask themselves why they appear more interested in publicly attacking a stranger to them than waiting to hear all of the facts reveal themselves in a court of law. The narrative may not be what you believe it to be, this is always--and often is--a possibility. The narrative Purnell is spinning may conform to your expectations of what "should" or "normally" happens in a gay-bashing, but that doesn't make it so in this instance. This is presumption. The narrative that I'm hearing sounds much more messy and complicated than the alleged victim is making out. In the end, NO one has the right to place their hands on another person; I don't care if the homophobes talked about the man's mother. EVERYONE has the option of walking away from an offensive and uncomfortable situation, and it sounds as though the "victim" made a different choice but doesn't want to be accountable for his part in the consequences. Maybe if my reaction helped to get my straight friend get beat up, I'd be too ashamed to take ownership either, knowing I could have not met these homophobes in their gutter and made a different choice. In the end, if Purnell had the option of not escalating the episode after the slurs were made and chose confrontation, particularly if he made the first strike (and the law recognizes spitting on someone as a form of assault), the justice will go to the homophobes. And, how does that benefit gay rights exactly?

Kevin, this fight is not worth it. Let Brontez and Adal file their reports and look into it, but I'm sure that if you grab the police on your side of the picture that it will backfire on you, because 1)You do not have enough evidence 2)All other sources say you WEREN'T there 3) Why the fuck didn't you go help one of them, even if they were "provocative" "Egging them on." As I said earlier, a crime is a crime. Adal has to have plates put in his face, and you belittle him to a "So-called victim." I am a friend of Brontez and YES I am judging your character. This is a public forum and instead of choosing to take a more positive and sensitive path of advice or opinion to the victims, you chose to make their story look like a petty incident and blur the whole picture into "gays getting sympathy and attention." Well, YOU'RE getting the attention, but NONE of my sympathy. Your MO is NOTHING but selfish (Excuse me) to prove some stupid point about 21st century gay politics. It's not going to work. Be honest and in solidarity or you're just going to look like someone who'd much rather go back into the closet.
I was not there to witness the incident, so MAYBE it isn't LOGICAL. But you are nothing less logical than any of Brontez's friends defending him and his entitlement to empathy and concern as a victim.

I commented as anonymous because I didn't want my identity to interfere with the picture. Being a useless BYSTANDER who then claims "There was no fight to step into", yes is SELF CENTERED. It's like saying, oh, those guys riding their bikes, some guys come up and they yell in their face, oh fracturing his face, we'll, he asked for it. Do people ask for drive by shootings when they stare at someone the wrong way? A crime is a crime, whether we adjust it to be of "hate" crime law is undecided....like I said, the behavior you say Brontez and Adal exhibited may change how you interpret the crime and how you feel about them as victims, but it doesn't change the stats, that the beating was WRONG. Kevin Bynes, you have a lot more "training" to do. I could imagine you at the incident, noticing a fight, hearing a few gay slurs and rolling your eyes immediately assuming "Oh, it doesn't pertain to me. It's just this new age gay entitlement. Tired of them being provocative for the sake of it." That's not going to work, what if I saw you being beaten and I said, "Well, he was asking for it. Let him get surgery. The criminals shouldn't be held." I wouldn't do that, REGARDLESS of how the victims acted.

This THREAD is pissing me off, this is my last comment. Blog culture is abrasive, comments sections are full of self-righteous idiots. I made my 2 points to stand up for Brontez and Adal, and I appreciate some of the other comments. As for Kevin Bynes, I'd like to SEE you put all your time and energy into LGBT activism, not sitting behind a screen creating an elaborate backstory to say the OPPOSITE about gay-targeted violence.

Walking away from any situation is never the answer. It just pro-longs the inevitable by giving the aggressor a false sense of victory. Then, when faced with the same situation in the future, reacts with even more aggressive behavior. It's sad but true, but the only method of defence towards a situation like that would be violence cause it is all our society can get through our thick skulls. If it were me in Brontez's situation I'd probably be facing man slaughter charges right now, and wouldn't feel the least bit sorry for my actions. I am Brontez's buddy so my opinion will always be on his side. But, like it or not, I would've busted those guys skulls if I were there to defend my friend.

Way to be a caveman, Kacy.

It's clear enough at this point that everyone jumping at defending Brontez without bothering to hear the whole story is too invested in being a part of Brontez' social circle to have the balls to call a spade a spade.

Also, I find it ironic that every headline features Brontez's name and picture when he wasn't even the one who was attacked. Perhaps he was just the one who called the newspapers first to cry victim? Perhaps it is because he is more well known in the Bay? Regardless, this is obviously NOT about the issue at hand: homophobia. This is about playing favorites and crying wolf. There are enough ACTUAL gay bashings that happen daily that deserve attention. Can we please move on?

I bought it was interesting to describe Purnell as this Oakland musician when I have lived here my whole life and have never heard of him. I also think that it's interesting that initiating a fight is now classified as self defense.

I also don't understand why Kevin Bynes should feel obligated to jump in on an encounter that didn't involve him. How does his choice to not engage acts of violence an attack on his credibility and queer solidarity?

Let's not assume Byrnes is guilty and would have called the police. I've seen plenty of car crashes as well as fights where people just stand around assuming someone else called the cops. The bottom line is, NONE of us was there, so lets not assume we know best by what is stated. I do agree however that some gays are quick to call out 'basher' when alcohol and drugs might blur the lines of instigation. Its just as easy to walk away from a fight as it is to engage one. These personal choices lie in the hands of ALL parties involved. Perhaps this is a case of 'hate crime against a thrown lock' before it was a 'violence against gays' case. See the difference? And if you doubt Byrnes wasn't there at all, once again, neither were you nor I. What difference is his story, when us outside viewers assume we know best of his actions just because we all happen to sleep with the same sex. He shouldn't have to rewrite his truth to appease everyone here. He is pretty clear about his truth, so stop beating a dead horse. it will all come out in testimony should this come to court.

you know, i've been on this earth for a long time just watching life. really. i don't mean to upset anyone but i have a couple of questions regarding this incideent. is mr. bynes the bottom or the top because he seems to be stalking brontez in a sexually like manner.brontez is victorious and i'm sorry kevin but brontez is not iterested in you. is one of the people who attacked brontez one of kevin's lovers? why is it so important for kevin to discount brontez's account of the gay bashing incident? no one on the face of this earth is willing to take a situation this far unless they have a personal interest or a financial interest pending. why would a complete stranger to brontez want to take so much time and energy to try to destroy brontez's account of the fact that brontez and his friend was victimized? really,to me, it does not matter wheather or not kevin is a gay activist or a palm tree activist, he wants something from brontez. in order for kevin to keep stalking brontez via computer,is kevin hoping that brontez will plan to meet kevin somewhere and say, "kevin lets stop all of this bickering" and just spend the rest of our life together? is kevin expecing for brontez to lay in his arms so that kevin can console him. kevin wants something from brontez. someting is not right with kevin and all of this he-say she-say stuff. SOMETHING JUST AIN'T RIGHT IN THE SUGAR BOWL.i'm just saying.

"Entitled and (sic) privelaged?" Hardly, and clearly you missed my point - Oakland is a
big and growing city with a LOT of people and loads of musicians and artists. It seemed
the poster was belittling the subject of the story simply because they hadn't
heard of him, which came off rudely. But considering the stupidity that has become
these comments, I don't know why I wasted my time. I'm glad the guy got the license
plate number and I hope his friend heals well and isn't in too much pain. I'm done here.

DONT KNOW ANY OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED, BUT IF SOMEONE FROM THE BLOG TRIED CONTACTING BYNES THROUGH THREE OF HIS PUBLIC MEDIUMS, YET THE COMMENT VERSION ISN'T "GETTING THE CALLS" THEN IT WOULDN'T BE TOO CRAZY TO ASSUME THAT SOMEONE IS TRYING TO GET A RISE OUT OF EVERYONE WHILE FUCKING WITH THE BOYS, TO PREVENT THEM GOING TO THE POLICE. THERES A LOT OF DRAMA ON THE INTERNET AND PEOPLE LOVE TROLLING. JUST SAYING.

@Kevin Bynes

So far, the only accounts of what started the argument that night are given by Brontez and Adal.

Mr. Bynes, your accounts of that night do not take place before or during the events that started the altercation, but rather after the situation escalated.

I liken it to a situation where a man has helped to ward off an attacker from a rape victim because he heard shouts from a distance. Several parties have also heard the shouts and also ran to help, but this man was the first to arrive on the scene. When everyone else arrives they don’t see the attacker, actually what they see is the second man consoling the rape victim. Although the second man is trying his best to comfort the victim, to the crowd of late onlookers this is instead misinterpreted as the man continuing to attack the woman, assuming of course the woman is still reacting to the situation as a rape victim would. The crowd believes that the second man is actually the original offender carrying out his act.

That said, there is simply no way you can give a true and accurate description of all the events that took place.

Am I saying, “Don’t go to the police?” No. But I am telling you to not just assume the full truth of the situation simply based on what you witnessed later on.

Brontez and Adal claim that this started when they were unlocking their bikes. According to you, “It was about 2am the guy Brontez at first was standing outside of their care at the end of the block by the fire hydrant then got on his bike circling back and forth.” Your story just doesn’t check out in terms of accountability with regards to the time line. Actually, when continuing to read your comment(s), your story is more of an opinionated interpretation. I am certain that Brontez would not have reacted in such a way without extreme provocation.

Two facts do remain:

One, this is a violent act of brute force. All of the homophobic elements put aside, what we see here is an altercation that lead to a man’s face being brutally battered to the point of him needing a plate for possible skull fracturing. Had this been a normal argument turned physical, the men in the SUV would have still been charged for serious offenses. Beating to this point makes it very questionable whether or not it was in self-defense. The justice system would have more than likely given serious charges for the brutal way they beat Adal, regardless of who said what and who threw the first punch.

Two, I don’t know what could possibly be blinding you to this fact, but brutal violence following the onslaught of bigoted slurs in any circumstance is a hate crime. This is regardless of what Brontez said or how he reacted after the offenders’ initial provocation. If the accused started the fight by making such hateful comments, then this situation is automatically categorized as a hate crime. As stated before there is no way you can prove that the offenders did not provoke Brontez and Adal first with homophobic slurs or violence. Why? Because, simply put you weren’t there. Furthermore, to think that Brontez would react in such a way without serious provocation is irrational.

Keep in mind, this is all while assuming that later in the argument Brontez was the first one to throw a “witnessed” punch as you so claim. Then again, considering that your later interpretation of what took place is influenced by your negative opinion and the fact that you witnessed everything later into the argument from a notable distance (across the street), we don’t know for sure if that is truly the case.

But everything plays out in the court of law.

Adal Castellon, God's speed in your healing process. i don't know exactly what type of healing Kevin Bynes and L. michael Gipson need and it's sad that the both of them probably don't even realize that they are sick and need some type of help. this is a dirty old world,that's why i use lots of soap and water to just wash it off!! I'M THROUGH WITH THIS,THE END!!!

I don't believe for a second that Kevin Bynes does not know Brontez! Maybe he never "MET" him, but I'm sure he knows him, has an opinion about him, and possibly a grudge against him, although Byne's motives are only his motives. If ANYBODY else saw what Byne's REPORTS they saw, one would definitely want to know more about what happened before his/her eyes caught a glimpse of the scene and most definitely would show more respect and compassion for another human being!

The fact that you people don't understand that my motive is to speak the truth as a witness who knows the very real possibility for these young men to face being tried as Hate Criminals when, as I see it, they did nothing more than say something stupid and then defend themselves against the "bad ass" that thought they deserved to be beaten, spit upon, and jailed for their words. Hate crimes laws are serious and they should not be invoked to win an ego contest for a guy who started a fight and lost. Brontez got called a fag (which is messed up) and went crazy on these guys to prove some sort of point. He lost the fight and now after playing billy bad ass and take back my freedom GAY WARRIOR he wants to fall into some sort of victim roll and invoke hate crimes laws. Its just wrong and I felt obligated to speak on behalf of two men who everyone, based on the comments above, is all too ready to send up the river. Well I was there, I saw it and those guys didn't do anything but defend themselves. I've given my statement to the police and if they find the guys there are actually 4 other accounts of the story to be had beside mine. Regarding the Bay Citizen trying to contact me: I have not avoided them and was actually the first to try to make contact. I left a vmail and an email for them. They called my work phone (not sure how they got that) and my cell phone. When I responded to their messages they did not answer and I have yet to hear back from them... I believe that most of the people attacking me n this thread are Brontez's friends. He seems to be very popular in the bay area for his music. I'm happy for him and glad that he has friends that are willing to defend him even when he is in the wrong.