On Oct. 30, in some of the quickest and most efficient action I’ve seen in a while, Philadelphia’s City Council unanimously voted 17-0 to pass an ordinance that imposes elevated punishments for violent attacks based on gender identity, sexual orientation or disability status. This was in response to the vicious antigay attacks perpetrated almost two months earlier, which saw as many as 15 people hurling antigay slurs and physically assaulting a gay couple in the Rittenhouse area of Center City.
Almost a week after the ordinance was enacted, two women, Jessica Kelly and Bonnie Moran, were returning from a party on Halloween night in Mayfair when they were attacked by a mob of teenagers. They were walking arm-in-arm when they heard someone yell, “Look at those ugly lesbians,” according to news reports. Kelly’s ribs were fractured in the attack and Moran suffered a concussion and injuries to her neck. The most interesting part of this particular attack is that while the women were thought to be lesbians, they were just two platonic friends who happened to be walking arm-in-arm.
