News :: GLBT
AG obtains injunction against alleged gay-bashers by Ethan Jacobs
associate editorThursday May 1, 2008 Last month Suffolk Superior Court Judge D. Lloyd Macdonald granted Attorney General Martha Coakley’s request for civil rights injunctions against two men accused of assaulting a teenage boy outside a Dorchester pizza shop and using anti-gay slurs against him. The two men, Justin Tompkins, age 23, and Jonathan Braxton, age 19, are forbidden under the injunction from assaulting, threatening, intimidating or coercing either the victims or anyone else based on actual or perceived sexual orientation, and they face up to ten years in prison if they violate the injunction.
According to a release from Coakley’s office the assault took place on February 4, 2005. The victim, who was wearing women’s clothing, and another teenage boy were eating at the restaurant when Tompkins, Braxton, and a group of their friends confronted them. Tompkins allegedly directed anti-gay slurs at the victim and stole his cell phone. When the victim followed the alleged assailants outside to try to retrieve his phone Tompkins and Braxton allegedly attacked him, punching and kicking him. They also allegedly stole $200 from the victim.
The injunction, which prevents Tompkins and Braxton from knowingly getting within 150 feet of the victims or within 500 feet of their residences, schools, or places of employment, lasts for five years.
"We are pleased with this remedy and think it shows that intolerance and discrimination is not acceptable," said Coakley in a statement. "Residents and visitors to the Commonwealth have the right to live free from bias-motivated threats or intimidation."
Ethan Jacobs can be reached at ejacobs@baywindows.com
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