UK Man Sentenced for Beating Straight Man in Anti-Gay Attack

A straight man from the United Kingdom will have metal plates in his face for the rest of his life as a result of an anti-gay attack last year.Gay Star News reports.

The 24-year-old man, who remains anonymous, was attacked at a nightclub in Leeds, a city in West Yorkshire, England, in 2013. He suffered multiple fractures to his face and jaw and has been permanently scarred.

During a trial for the crime at Leeds Crown Court, the suspect, Adam Betteridge, 28, defended himself by saying he was provoked after the victim tried to kiss him.

"You know what gays are like," he told police on Dec. 13, the time of the attack. "What can you do?"

According to prosecutor Ewan Mclachlan, Betteridge was detained at the scene and admitted to punching the victim.

"He said he had done so because the complainant had come up to him and kissed him on the lips. He said he did not like that," Mclachlan said. "He said it was done in such a way that if it had been a woman who had been kissed him it would have been a sexual matter."

Video footage of the incident was show during the hearing and showed the victim minding his own business at the bar.

"Your reaction was not an instinctive reaction but a considered reaction," Judge Tom Bayliss said, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post. "I have had the advantage of seeing the CCTV which shows you approaching the victim who was simply minding his own business when you approached him and you felled him with a single blow."

Betteridge was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.