25 Year Old Lesbian Attacked By At Least A Dozen People Outside Lee County Alabama Bar Saturday Yet Police Arrest And Charge Only Laura Gilbert For Disorderly Conduct And Public Intoxication

From Alabama, a sickening report by WRBL-2 on attack Saturday night that underscores the profound need to amend the state’s law to include sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class. Current Alabama law (Criminal Code Title 13A-5-13) targets crimes motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, and physical or mental ability, but not sexual orientation (despite a 2010 federal amendment by President Obama), nonetheless, according to Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones, his deputies are trained to report bias-motivated crimes, however that is not what happened this past weekend. 25 year old Laura Gilbert, a lesbian, attended a birthday celebration for her high school friend Sheila Siddall at The Villa, a bar off Highway 169, in Opelika. "As soon as we walked in the bar, I felt uncomfortable," Gilbert said. "I felt everybody staring at us, but you know, it was her birthday, I didn't want to ruin it for her." Gilbert and Siddall say as they were about to leave, a woman confronted them and started a fight. The fight grew to include about a dozen people, including two men, and moved outside, according to the women. Siddall called 911. A Lee County deputy arrived, but by then the fight was over. "They didn’t take our side of the story," Gilbert said. "They took their side of the story, and then all of a sudden, they come up behind me and tell me to put my hands behind my back, that I’m going to jail." Gilbert was the only person arrested that night for disorderly conduct and public intoxication, but witnesses insist many people were intoxicated. "The arrest that took place was a result of a law enforcement officer actively and presently observing what he at that moment in time perceived to be a violation of the law," said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones, adding that law enforcement must witness a misdemeanour in order to make an arrest for it. Jones says the women themselves were the only ones reported to be injured, but were not interviewed because they were too intoxicated. As for the other people involved who were intoxicated, yet interviewed by law enforcement, Jones said the responding deputies did the best they could. Both women refused treatment the night of the incident, but later got checked out at East Alabama Medical Center. They have since filed a separate report for their assault. Jones says his department is investigating their injuries, which could lead to the arrest of the true perpetrators. But Gilbert says no law enforcement officer has ever attempted to get her side of the story."I'm an American just like the rest of us are," Gilbert said. "I have rights. I have the same rights as y'all do, supposedly, but people from here don't look at it that way."