Man lost front tooth & got fractured neck in brutal attack while leaving gay bar

A gay man was beaten and robbed after leaving a San Francisco gay bar over the weekend.

“Last night I got jumped when I left powerhouse by two guys,” Barry Miles wrote in an Instagram post earlier this week, along with photos of his injuries. “My wallet was taken? I also had a heart attack. They put in two stents. From high cholesterol. my face hit the sidewalk. also a front tooth was knocked out, and a small fracture in my neck. I’m pretty banged up.”

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A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department confirmed the attack. “On February 5, 2023 at approximately 12:02 a.m., San Francisco Police Officers from Southern Station responded to the unit block of Langton Street regarding a call for a well-being check,” Allison Maxie wrote in a statement provided to The Bay Area Reporter. “Officers arrived on scene and located an adult male being treated by medics. During the initial interaction with officers, the victim was unable to provide details regarding what led up to his injuries.”

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In her statement, Maxie said that officers determined that the attack did not happen at Powerhouse, a gay leather bar on the corner of Folsom and Dore Streets in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.

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“A policeman came by after midnight,” Scott Richard Peterson, the bar’s general manager, confirmed. “The incident didn’t happen at Powerhouse, on the alley or on Folsom [Street] that we could see … Officer didn’t give me any details.”

Peterson added that, “This city is getting rough.”

According to Maxie, San Francisco Police “do not have evidence that this incident was hate-motivated.”

Miles’s friend, activist Gary Virginia, said that Miles had not indicated that the attacked was motivated by anti-gay animus.

“While we might not know the motive for the attack, we cannot ignore the growing nationwide trend of violence against the LGBTQ+ community, from the streets to the statehouses,” San Francisco Pride president Nguyen Pham said. “We remain in solidarity with Barry, as well as other victims of anti-LGBTQ+ hate, and we will hold him in our hearts toward his speedy recovery.”

Earlier this week, Virginia set up a GoFundMe page to help cover Miles’s recovery costs. The fundraiser has already exceeded its $10,000 goal.

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