02 May 2014

A Little Close To Home

When I visit my parents, I usually fly into Daytona Airport.  It's about a half-hour drive from their house and next to the world-famous Speedway and beach.  I've been to the latter many times and have shopped in  stores and eaten in restaurants along International Speedway Boulevard, by myself and with my parents and on a bicycle as well as in a car or on foot.  Thankfully, I have never had any problems and, in fact, I have found most people helpful and friendly. 

So it was disturbing to hear about the gender-variant person who was beaten in the Citgo station along the Boulevard.  William Jackson, who was wearing a black and white dress, was jumped by a group of men half an hour after he broke up a fight between his girlfriends and another group of girls.  He says he was attacked because he likes to dress as a woman.

The attack is being investigated as a possible hate crimes because the attackers used slurs while beating Jackson.