Man hit naked cyclists with a metal pipe in horrific anti-LGBTQ+ attack

A convicted sex offender in Portland, Oregon, who assaulted a group of naked cyclists while using an anti-LGBTQ+ slur has been sentenced to three years in prison.

As The Oregonian reports, the attack occurred on June 3, when 40-year-old Robert Earl Houchins Jr. encountered a group of nine nude bicyclists in Northwest Portland’s Nob Hill neighborhood. Houchins, who has been described as homeless by multiple outlets, reportedly shouted, “Get out of here,” and directed an anti-LGBTQ+ slur at the group before hitting two of the men in the back with a three-foot-long metal pipe as they passed.

Related: LGBTQ Portland is on edge after a string of alleged bias attacks

The LGBTQ center is offering self-defense classes, people are organizing rides, and victims are telling people to get Tasers.

According to local ABC affiliate KATU2, one of the men told police that he’s gay. Neither victim was seriously injured.

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While the attack happened during Pride Month, the cyclists were not participating in a Pride event, nor were they part of Portland’s annual World Naked Bike Ride, which took place in August this year.

Houchins still had the pipe when he was arrested nearby. He was initially charged with eight felonies, according to Advocate, including second-degree assault and two counts of bias crimes. After pleading not guilty in June, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office announced this week that Houchins had agreed to a plea deal that saw the charges of second-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon dismissed. At an October 23 hearing, he pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault and first-degree bias crime and was sentenced to three years in prison.

According to The Oregonian, Houchins has a long rap sheet including more than 30 felony and misdemeanor convictions. He’s been convicted of sexual abuse, failing to register as a sex offender, arson, theft, and being a felon in possession of a weapon. Houchins received a six-year prison sentence and was required to register as a sex offender in 2005 after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for groping two 12- and 13-year-old girls on two separate occasions as they walked home from school.

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