Michael Carr, president of the Chicago chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, was assaulted in Boystown in the early morning hours of July 29.
Carr, 30, told Windy City Times that he was walking west down Buckingham around 1 a.m. when he was “stopped” by a man on the street. Carr, who lives at Aldine and Lake Shore, said that he was coming home from Minibar.
“Before I knew it,” he said, “I was laying in some bushes with a bloody chin.”
Yelling for help, Carr attracted the attention of two men, who called 911. He said that the attacker did not take anything. Carr was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he received five stitches.
According to the Chicago Police Department, the attacker is “an unknown [B] lack male. A verbal exchange took place after which the victim was struck by the offender. The offender then fled the scene in an unknown direction. The victim was subsequently treated for minor injuries.” The charge is listed as a simple assault.
Carr is in his second year as head of the local chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group. He told Windy City Times that currently the group is embarking on a campaign to educate area GOP leaders on issues like marriage equality.
“They just don’t know the issues,” he said. “It’s not on their radar.”
Carr said that he sees gay-inclusiveness as an effective way to revive the flagging popularity of the Republican Party. “The party’s constituency is shrinking,” he said. “We think that supporting civil unions or marriage equality is a step in the right direction.”