This is an accounting of a beating I took in southern Oklahoma back in the days when I was in the US Army… Violence against LGBT people has always been around and I’m sure we’ll see more of it before it gets better.
The nunchucks silvertips flashed just before I felt the impact across my upper back and shoulders. The darkness was only abbreviated by the moon and the nearby street light. I was in the driveway of my little rented cottage and it was 2 am. I had just left the local gay bar on my motorcycle.
My singular attacker was a muscular man in a light-colored tank top welded the nunchucks with skilled precision. Call Amy faget and warning me that he would kill me if I ever looked at his woman again Evidently at the stop sign just up from my cottage I had glanced over at the woman riding in his passenger seat – innocently and with no intent at all. but the pink triangle decal on the back of my bike sissy bar in my masculine presentation – tattoos and all, which were fairly uncommon on women back in the early 80s when this happened, gave me away. Signaling to him that I was a lesbian and this made me some sort of threat to his masculinity.
I remember four impacts of the nunchucks.the first across my upper body and the 4th winning across the back of my knees, rendering me a crumpled pile on the ground. I could taste a metallic taste of blood in my mouth. All the while this maniac screaming at me vile and disgusting slurs with every blow.
The next vague memory I have wasn’t him kicking me in the head and laughing at me as he got into his car and sped off. Then the world got quiet, very quiet. I was alone, on the ground, beaten and bleeding.
That was my first encounter with serious violence for being lesbian and being Butch. Basically for just existing in his hetrosexual world. I was 21. I never forgot it, not a minute of it. It’s seared into my memory banks quite deeply. It causes me now to be extra cautious.I do things like sit in restaurants in back with my back to the wall so I can see everything coming at me. Stuff like that.
I did end up going to the hospital the next day. I had two broken ribs and some serious bruises that they photographed. You can see the clear outline of the nunchucks across my chest and across my back. Deep purple bruises that even hurt to the touch. But I live through it, which is more than I can say for some people who are attacked in this fashion.
I just wanted to share that story I had it in my drafts and wanted to finish it and get it posted. Violence against LGBT people is no joke.some of us are more prone to it than others due to the way we look or sound. So be careful out there people, be very careful. Protect yourselves.
Peace. — MB
MainelyButch: Private Label 