A bully punched a gay teen in the face for hugging another boy. He just got sentenced. – LGBTQ Nation
A judge has given probation and community service to a 17-year-old boy who attacked a gay teen couple in Utah after they hugged in the street.
In August, Christian Peacock and his boyfriend Jacob Metcalf were standing at the end of Peacock’s driveway as the two were saying a long goodbye for the night. A dark sedan with five occupants rolled past slowly and revved the engine, as one of the group allegedly hissed out the window, “F**k you, fa***ts.”
The car continued slowly down the street and disappeared.
Forty-five minutes later, as the couple continued their goodbyes, the sedan returned, and then came to a stop. Two teenage boys got out.
“We don’t like seeing gay people on our street,” one said, according to Peacock and Metcalf.
The situation continued to escalate until one of the boys allegedly threw a hard punch to the left side of Peacock’s head.
The 17-year-old was taken into custody and charged with assault and a hate crime.
“I appreciate the good report from home detention, it’s an excellent report,” the judge said on Wednesday, according to Fox 13. “So I am going to follow the recommendation from probation and terminate you from home detention and electronic monitoring. You’re still going to be on probation.”
The perpetrator was also ordered to volunteer with LGBTQ groups, write a letter apologizing to Peacock, take a class on empathy, and pay restitution for any material damages.
“The consequences of your actions – that’s what we deal with a lot in juvenile court is kids learning how to take responsibility for their actions and learning to think before they act,” said the judge.
Peacock’s family has continued to speak out as well. They are grateful for the support the community showed outside the courthouse, where a group of people waved Pride flags.
“We have people that we don’t even know coming from California, coming from just around the city, it’s just really nice to know that people are here for my brother,” said Peacock’s sister, Jocelynn Peacock. who was there the night her brother was punched and took a video after the attack to identify the perpetrators.
“It makes me sad that still today in 2022, kids are still going through this kind of thing,” added Peacock’s mother, Stefanie Peacock. “That anyone is going through anything like this, and especially that it happened to my son.”
Peacock’s dad, Kyle Peacock lamented that the neighborhood has always been safe.
“Then to have something like this happen at your home, where you’re supposed to feel safe, it just, it really riled a lot of different emotions that you didn’t know you had inside of you.”