News :: GLBT
Provincetown’s Summer of Hate? :: Richard Hall Fights Back by Sam Baltrusis
EDGE ContributorWednesday Oct 3, 2007[Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a four-part EDGE series on the recent string of hate-related incidents that have occurred in the most unlikely of places, Provincetown.]
It’s exactly three weeks after Richard Hall was brutally attacked by a pack of 20-something men outside of Provincetown’s Spiritus Pizza in the early morning hours of Monday, Sept. 10.
After getting hit with a blunt object and reportedly being dragged in the sand in the private landing next to Bubala’s by the Bay, the only thing the 56-year-old can remember from the trauma-inflicted blackout is being curled up on the beach in a fetal position, sobbing.
"It was like an out-of-body experience and could be totally invented in my mind’s eye," he recalls from his home in New Bedford. "But I have no memory after I was whacked on the back of the head, expect for that image."
Hall, who suffered multiple abrasions to his face and bruises on the back of his head, says he does remember the moments before he was attacked. It was around 1 a.m. and was eating a slice of pizza outside of Spiritus, a popular after-hours hangout for GLBT vacationers. He recalls making eye contact with three young men he says were "of Southern European decent, standing in a row and extremely well dressed."
Contrary to the Provincetown Police report and public speculation that alludes to excessive drinking prior to the assault, Hall only had two glasses of wine with dinner.
The 5-foot-7-inch Hall says the predators called him a "faggot." The victim, who is a self-described scrapper, shot back a snappy retort. The last thing he remembers from the incident, other than being curled up in a fetal position on the beach, is being whacked over the head.
According to the PPD report, police were dispatched at about 2:47 a.m. to Spiritus Pizza after two unidentified men called and reported seeing Hall emerging from the beach access by Bubala’s.
"I’m frustrated because I was allowed to leave the scene," he emotes. "I have no memory of even seeing the police and I was allowed to be let go in the care of two people who identified themselves as my friends of whom I have no recollection or knowledge."
"I was telling myself when I walked through the door that those homophobic bastards weren’t going to get the best of me. But they already had." After the assault, Hall went back to his room, packed his bags, left without his partner Neil and headed home on Route 66.
"I remember seeing the sun come up and looking in the mirror at my face and seeing I had my suitcase in the backseat," he recalls, adding that he was almost in a robotic state while he was going in and out of consciousness.
"I was telling myself when I walked through the door that those homophobic bastards weren’t going to get the best of me," Hall says. His voice is quivering with emotion. "But they already had."
Later that morning, Hall awoke with a pocket full of sand, severe abrasions to his face and an agonizing headache. When he walked into the New Bedford emergency room, the triage staff was aghast that he was allowed to wait as long as he had without medical supervision.
"This crosses orientation boundaries completely," he says weeks after the gay bashing. "I’m not sure if I tipped over some apple cart they didn’t want tipped over. I’m just recounting what I recall. I have no other reason or purpose behind what I’m doing other than to tell people in Provincetown to not go out alone at night until something is done."
While the physical scars have almost healed, the emotional trauma continues to haunt the 56-year-old. He’s suffering from symptoms ranging from catastrophic thinking to the loss of his sex drive to an irrational fear that the assailants will somehow find him and assault him again.
Throughout the ordeal, Hall has remained steadfast in his resolve to warn the GLBT community about his attack in Provincetown and, despite public perception, that the gay-friendly destination has some serious issues in regards to hate-related crimes.
"I’ve always said as gay men growing up we got singled out if we didn’t play sports or didn’t speak the proper way or if they detected a lilt to the voice," he says passionately. "I had my share of that. And at some point when I came out I said if I ever go down, I’m going to go down fighting."
Click here for the second article in the four-part series.
Sam Baltrusis has worked for WHDH-TV, CW56, MTV, VH1, Seventeen, Newsweek and as a regional stringer for The New York Times. He’s currently a full-time freelance editor/writer based in Boston. Check out his blog at loadedgunboston.blogspot.com.
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