WILTON MANORS — An alleged assault on two gay employees at the Wilton Manors nightclub Boom—in which the assailants themselves are members of the LGBT community—is being called a hate crime.

According to witnesses, in the early morning hours of December 6, Jeff Coons, a bartender at Boom, and Chris Burdekin, the club’s general manager, were allegedly attacked by three men and a female transsexual.

Burdekin declined to talk about the attack, and Coons said he would be willing to go into more detail after the matter is legally resolved. The attack left Coons with cuts and bruises on his arms and back.

“I’m trusting the legal system’s going to take care of it,” Coons said. “We don’t need that around the neighborhood.” Because of the ongoing investigation, a police report regarding the incident was not provided and the Agenda was unable to reach Sgt. Shawn Chadwick, the Wilton Manors Police Department’s public information officer, for comment.

Wayne Taylor, a friend of Coons who didn’t witness the incident but helped bandage his wounds afterwards, is calling the attack a hate crime.

“The tranny was throwing glasses and smashing them at the door,” Taylor said. “Jeff said ‘leave’ and it turned into a scuffle. Three guys jumped on Jeff and the tranny jumped on him and started cutting his back [with a broken bottle]. She said, ‘Die, you faggots with AIDS.’ It was horrible. They must have been on drugs out of their mind or something.”

Taylor, who lives a couple blocks off Wilton Drive, said he’s seen the city over the years take on more of a gay identity and become more gay-friendly, and he doesn’t want to see anything jeopardize that.

“It absolutely 100 percent infuriates me,” Taylor offered. “It’s unacceptable. Especially the way we live in this town. To hear one of our own think of something that disgusting, there has to be something wrong with that person. I don’t want to be afraid to walk home at night.”

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