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Price had gone to a 24-hour deli on College Point Boulevard and 18th Avenue around 3 a.m. on Oct. 9 when he was attacked. He told police two Hispanic men made reference to his homosexuality, calling him “faggot” and other names, before beating him up. Price, who is still hospitalized, had all his ribs broken, suffered collapsed lungs and underwent surgery on his spleen and jaw.
Police have arrested two men, Daniel Aleman and Daniel Rodriguez, both of College Point, in connection with the incident.
Organized by a collection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups, Saturday’s rally was meant to show that hate crimes aren’t acceptable, and that those who would carry them out are in the minority.
“Hands off our community,” said Danny Dromm, one of the event’s main organizers and a candidate for City Council, who is gay. “Nobody deserves this type of attack. ... We are going to fight back.”
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is also gay, said Aleman and Rodriquez aren’t representative of the city as a whole and said hate “will not be tolerated by the minority, but more importantly it will not be tolerated by the majority.” She said perpetrators of hate crimes aim to push gays back into the closet, so it’s important that “the response is to be out, to be visible, to be public and to be united.”
City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who is running for mayor, echoed those sentiments, saying, “Those of you who hate, keep it to yourselves. ... We’re not going to let you act out.”
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), who chairs the Public Safety Committee, had even stronger words for those who commit anti-gay violence: “We will find you and we will put your miserable self in jail for as long as the law allows.”
Several members of Price’s family spoke at the rally, expressing outrage at what happened to him.
“He never did anything wrong to anybody,” said Price’s niece, Christine Guarneri.
As the rally proceeded at the playground, a small group gathered across the street wearing tags that said, “Free Danny Rodriguez.”
Describing themselves as friends of one of the individuals who attacked Price, they insisted the incident wasn’t a hate crime.
“What [Rodriguez] did was wrong, but people need to understand that he didn’t do it because Price was gay,” said Camelisse Kiana of College Point, who said she was with Rodriguez on Oct. 9 before the incident. Kiana alleged that Price was drugged up and had been blowing kisses at Rodriguez, which offended him. She added that Rodriguez has gay friends and family and “is not known for hating.”
Another friend of Rodriguez’s, who identified herself only as Eleni, agreed that Rodriguez isn’t homophobic.
“I’ve known Danny for so long,” she said. “He says ‘faggot’ for everything.”
Back at the main rally, community leaders urged the crowd not to pay attention to the group across the street and called on politicians to take measures aimed at curbing hate crimes.
Marissa Ragonese of Generation Q, one of the groups organizing the rally, complained that the Federal Hate Crimes Act, proposed in 1998, has still not been passed and that a state anti-bullying initiative has been languishing in Albany for five years. Ragonese called on lawmakers to pass those bills and added that schools should better educate students about homophobia.
“It’s kids who determine the tone of our streets and our homes and our schools,” she said. “Just as we teach kids basic grammar ... so we must teach them basic respect for humanity.”
