3 Marines Booked in Attack on Gay Man

Three Marines showed no remorse as they were booked on charges that they beat a gay man apparently because of President Clinton’s push to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military, police said Monday.

“They were saying . . . they wish (homosexuals) were all dead and they’re not ashamed of it,” said Ed Gibson, the Wilmington police desk sergeant when the Marines were brought to the station after the attack early Saturday.

Three Marine lance corporals--Colin C. Hunt, 20, Patric G. Gardone, 23, and Walter G. Watkins, 26, all of Jacksonville, N.C.--were each charged with four counts of assault and freed on $400 bond each. They are all stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The victim, Crae Pridgen, 28, suffered cuts and bruises. He lost a tooth and suffered a black eye, swollen lip and cut ear.

He told police that the attackers mentioned Clinton.

Three other people who tried to break up the scuffle received minor injuries.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers called the incident deplorable and said it lends no credence to military leaders who warned that lifting the ban would lead to violence against homosexuals.

“There have always been instances of bigotry against not only homosexuals but against other racial and ethnic minorities,” she said Monday. “The President deplores it, but I don’t think that is a reason not to take a step forward on a civil rights issue.”

Pridgen came to Raleigh on Monday to meet with representatives of Democratic Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., saying he would do whatever it takes to prevent more gay-bashing. Hunt was at the meeting of the National Governors’ Assn. in Washington.

Pridgen credited three witnesses for saving him.

“I believe I would have been dead. I’ve never felt anything like that before. I mean, I’ve been in fights before, but nothing like this,” said Pridgen, adding that he had never been attacked because of his homosexuality.

Police Sgt. M. J. Woods said local officials would turn the case over to the FBI because the incident is a hate crime.

Pridgen apparently was dragged out of the Mickey Ratz bar. Woods said there was no evidence the attack was provoked.

Bar owner Bill Rawls, whose business has been open three years, said he had never had problems with fighting before.

“They (the Marines) made some remark to some gay people about the President and the military,” and the fighting started, he said.