Man slashed in alleged anti-gay attack in Brooklyn

An unknown individual approached a 21-year-old man in Brooklyn on Aug. 1 and slashed him in an anti-LGBTQ attack, according to police.

The victim was at the intersection of Cranberry Street and Willow Street just before 3 p..m. when the man approached him and voiced anti-gay slurs, according to police. The suspect then allegedly produced a box cutter and slashed the victim’s hand.

The suspect, according to police, fled up Old Fulton Street. The victim was brought to NYU Langone Hospital/Cobble Hill to be treated. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is currently investigating the alleged crime. 

The alleged assault represented the latest example of anti-LGBTQ bigotry during a summer season that has witnessed multiple violent acts of homophobia locally — including the murder last month of O’Shae Sibley, who was stabbed to death in an alleged anti-gay attack at a gas station in the Midwood section of Brooklyn.

At The Flea, a theater in Tribeca, an LGBTQ-inclusive TV display was smashed last month after an unknown individual “came up to a staff member and commented on the screens in front of the building,” The Flea stated.

During Pride Month, meanwhile, there were multiple instances of vandalism targeting Rainbow Flags outside of the Stonewall Inn. And in February, a woman was caught lighting a Rainbow Flag on fire at a Soho Restaurant called Little Prince.