The attorney for Brandon White, the gay man who was beaten Feb. 4 in an attack that was videotaped and posted on the Internet, denied Monday an allegation that White knew his attackers.
"Brandon White did not know his attackers," his attorney, Christine Koehler, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In his only appearance with the media since the incident, White denied knowing the three men shown on video punching, kicking and pummeling him with a tire while shouting homophobic slurs.
Dorian Moragne, Christopher Cain and Darael Damare Williams have been charged in the attack, which federal authorities are investigating as a potential hate crime.
Moragne’s attorney, Jay Abt, on Saturday cast doubt on White's version of events when asked whether his client and White knew each other.
“Yes,” Abt said. “This is not a hate crime.”
Koehler, on Monday, fired back.
"The thought that we would watch a video that speaks for itself, and somehow flip it so that the men that beat my client are somehow victims of fraud is frustrating," she said. "Brandon stands by his assertion that he doesn’t know these gentlemen. It’s irrelevant because they won’t be prosecuted by a hate crime law that does not exist in Georgia."
The question of White’s relationship with his alleged attackers drew varied positions from those who rallied to his support when the video of the beating went viral online and news of the incident became widespread.
“These are rumors,” Greg Smith, executive director of the HIV Intervention Project, said when reached Friday by phone.
At a forum Saturday organized to address “healing” for all of the individuals involved in the incident, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist Devin Barrington-Ward said the situation called for full accountability, if White indeed knew his attackers.
“If it is indeed true, Mr. White should do the right thing and come forward,” Barrington-Ward said. “The type of crime is now up for question."
Abt agreed, adding legal perspective.
"What matters is the context of the relationship," he said.
But Terik Jackson, national director of National Youth in College, vowed that the LGBT community would continue to support White regardless.
"It doesn't change the fact that he was victimized," Jackson said. "And we are not going anywhere."
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