MINNESOTA: Gay Man Beaten By Mob At High School Graduation Party

Two men are under arrest after a Duluth, Minnesota gay man was attacked by as many as nine males at a high school graduation party.

Max Pelofske, 21, of Duluth, said he came to a party at the pit to offer his congratulations to a friend’s sister, who will graduate from Proctor High School in several days. The friend, Kelly Johnson, also 21, said she and Pelofske had been at the unsanctioned gathering of about 50 people, mostly current and former Proctor students, for about five minutes when a boy approached her and Pelofske. “He told me to look him in the eyes, and I was really confused because I’d never seen the guy before,” Pelofske told the News Tribune.

“He asked me: ‘Are you gay?’ And I said, ‘Yes. Is that OK?’" After that, Pelofske said he was struck in the head by a flying beer can, and a crowd of boys surrounded him, threw him to the ground and began punching and kicking him. “I tried to get up, but I kept getting knocked back down,” said Pelofske, who described his alleged assailants as “all laughing and smiling.” “They were trying to throw me into the fire,” he said. Johnson said at least nine boys were involved in the attack.

The victim was treated at the hospital for head injuries and released.