Hate-Fueled Attacks Rattle Florida After Trump's Election
Vagner Dapresa walked into the West Flagler convenience mart looking for justice. He'd been pumping gas the night before when another customer had shouted at him: "You've been looking at me a lot — and I don't like faggots looking at me."
The remark stung Dapresa, a 31-year-old genderqueer Cuban-American with bleach-blond hair and a penchant for chunky gold jewelry. Accustomed to being harassed, he quickly shot back: "I'll look at whatever I want."
A cashier came outside to intervene, but to Dapresa's surprise, he sided with the other customer. Looking Dapresa up and down, both men jeered at "this faggot." After the other customer threateningly pulled out a broken beer bottle, Dapresa drove away in a panic, vowing to come back to make a complaint.
But when he returned to the Valero station the next morning, December 11, 2016, the day-shift clerk was even more combative. Dapresa says his repeated requests to speak to a manager were refused. As a crying woman looked on, the two lobbed insults at each other until the employee finally told Dapresa to leave.
Read more: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/hate-crimes-on-the-rise-in-florida-under-president-trump-9432845
