A brutal attack in Surrey on Wednesday afternoon has left Tyler Street with a broken nose, jaw and missing teeth, according to a video he recorded and uploaded to YouTube.
The video, entitled "Gay bashed in Surrey, B.C., again", shows Street talking to camera shortly after the incident, which he alleges was motivated by homophobia - despite the fact he himself is not gay.
"If I seem a bit hazy right now, it's because it's still a bit shocking," he says in the video. "For the second time in my life, I've been gay-bashed... and the catch is, I'm not gay."
Street says he was skateboarding in Guildford when a man suddenly appeared in front of him and punched him in the face, yelling, "Faggot this, faggot that.. Queer...
"Makes me quite literally sick to my stomach, just thinking about it," Street recalls.
"I am lying there in a pool of my own blood, it's getting bigger and bigger, and he just walks away."
Since the attack, Street's brother Robin has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for necessary dental work caused by the beating.
"The attack has left [Tyler] beaten, bruised, bewildered and now it threatens to leave him broke to boot," Robin writes.
"With your assistance I hope to raise enough money to cover his costs so that this heinous act of violence does not cost him any more than it already has in dignity, blood and teeth."
The campaign hopes to raise $5,000, and any monies collected over that amount will be donated to groups that are "against violence and discrimination toward the LGBT community and people in general."
According to the Vancouver Sun, Surrey RCMP are looking for a white male suspect in his late 20s or early 30s, with short cropped light brown/dark blonde hair.
Police have spoken to four people who witnessed the incident, Global News reported.
“Certainly not a hidden spot where you expect these kinds of attacks to take place,” Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet told the news organization. “What our officers learned speaking to the victim was that this was a non-provoked assault. There were no words exchanged or very few.”
The attack is the second Street says he has suffered because someone thought he was gay.
"When people say gay people aren't discriminated against, that's a bunch of shit," he says. "Because he thought that I might potentially like guys, he thought that was a good enough reason to leave me bleeding in the middle of the street.
"He didn't like my face, so he decided to rearrange it."
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