Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 29, 2017

The Hawthorne Bridge during the rally

Hands Across Hawthorne was a rally held at the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland, Oregon, on May 29, 2011, in response to an attack on a gay male couple one week earlier for holding hands while walking across the bridge. News of the attack spread throughout the Pacific Northwest and the United States. According to the couple and the Portland Police Bureau, a group of five men followed Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear along the bridge before they were physically assaulted. The assault was condemned by Portland's gay mayor, Sam Adams, and its police chief, Mike Reese. The attack prompted volunteers from the Q Center, an LGBT community center and non-profit organization, to form street patrols to monitor Portland's downtown area. Several LGBT and human rights organizations sponsored Hands Across Hawthorne in response to the attack, linking hands across the entire span of the Hawthorne Bridge to show solidarity. More than 4,000 people attended the rally. (Full article...)

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