Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 8, 1993 TAG: 9302080123
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
GAY-BASHING VICTIM REGRETS EARLIER SILENCE
Crae Pridgen says he should have stood up for his rights long before he was beaten outside a bar in North Carolina by three Marines."I'm angry with myself. Why didn't I do something before this?" Pridgen told about 100 people who attended the annual meeting of the Hampton Roads Lesbian and Gay Pride Celebration on Saturday.
The North Carolina resident said he was attacked on Jan. 30 by three lance corporals based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The beating came a day after President Clinton ordered the drafting of a formal order by July 15 to revoke the ban on gays in the military.
Pridgen said he was at a gay bar in downtown Wilmington, N.C., when he noticed an argument among a door attendant, several customers and five Marines.
The door attendant reached for the telephone to call police, but one of the men pulled the phone out of the wall, Pridgen said.
While two of the five men blocked the door to keep people inside the bar, the other three threw Pridgen to the ground and began beating him, he said.
Pridgen suffered a small fracture to his skull, cuts and bruises.
Police later arrested three Marines and charged them with assault.
"Here were five individuals who were supposed to protect my rights and freedoms, and they violated them," said Pridgen, who is missing a tooth and has a black eye from the beating.
Since the attack, Pridgen has spent time speaking to reporters, congressmen and Pentagon officials. One North Carolina senator, Republican Jesse Helms, has refused repeated requests to meet with him.
Other gays attending the coalition meeting said they hope Clinton's ban will ease gay-bashing in the military.
"What happened to Crae Pridgen happened to me," said a sailor with more than 10 years of service.
When he joined the Navy, he was beaten so badly for his suspected homosexuality that he had to be hospitalized, the sailor said.
But he said he couldn't press charges because an investigation into the beating would have revealed his homosexuality.
"I grew up in the South," he said. "I knew what prejudice was, not liking it but never realizing I would face it myself."
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.