Sondra Scarber via WFAA
A lesbian is still recovering from a brutal beating that happened last week while addressing a parent about her girlfriend’s son being bullied.
Sondra Scarber went to the playground at Mesquite’s Seabourn Elementary with her girlfriend, Hillary Causey, and Causey’s 4-year-old son. After other kids began pushing him around, Scarber spoke to a father to address the issue.
But when the father realized Scarber was a lesbian and the two were a couple, she said he became enraged and began to beat her, calling her homophobic slurs.
“When he walked up thinking it was father and mom with the kid, he wasn’t as angry, but then when he figured out it was a female, he got like super pissed, and I don’t know why,” Causey told WFAA. “He was like, ‘Well if you think you’re a man… I’m going to treat you like a man,’” Causey told WFAA. “All she kept saying was, ‘I’m a female. I’m a female.” She never even had time to take her hands out of pockets to try and block herself.”
Scarber’s jaw is wired shut and her face is badly bruised. But Mesquite police haven’t caught the man responsible and told WFAA they don’t consider the assault a hate crime because the bullying among children was the reason behind it.
But the women insist it was hate crime because the father only became upset once he realized they were two women raising a son together.
The father is described as a black man, about 5’7”, who weighs 185 pounds. He was wearing a royal blue T-shirt and jeans and was driving an early 2000’s silver Chevrolet Impala with temporary tags.
Watch the report below and read the statement issued by Resource Center Dallas, calling on Mesquite police to investigate the incident as a hate crime:
“Resource Center Dallas denounces the brutal attack of Sondra Scarber at the hands of a man who assaulted her based on her sexual orientation, as first reported February 28 by WFAA-TV (Channel 8). As reported, the circumstances of this case indicate a hate-motivated crime, and that should dissuade the Mesquite Police Department from lessening the severity of any potential criminal charges.
The incident is another example in which words and thoughts lead to destructive actions against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. The reported violence included anti-gay slurs, followed by violent acts against a lesbian. Had Sondra’s partner not been present, her injuries could have been far more severe.
Anti-gay violence is a serious public health issue. According to the FBI’s 2011 Hate Crime Report—the most recent available—49 of the 152 hate crimes committed in Texas that year were motivated by anti-gay bias. Nationally, nearly 21 percent of the 6,222 hate crimes committed that same year were motivated by sexual orientation.
The Center calls on the Mesquite Police Department and Chief Derek Rodhe to thoroughly investigate and swiftly arrest the suspects responsible. As leaders in the LGBT community, Resource Center Dallas will be closely monitoring the situation to ensure that justice is carried out.”
