A gay couple was beaten bloody outside a Missouri casino. Police won't say it's a hate crime. [View all]

[Behind the Aegis]

A gay couple in Missouri has gone public with a weekend ordeal that left both bloodied and in need of hospitalization. As the couple walked outside the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, a group of men attacked them while yelling anti-gay slurs. Investigators in the case have yet to rule it a hate crime.

The names of the victims have not been released to the media, though one victim, a 29-year-old man, did agree to speak with local Fox affiliate Fox 2 on the grounds that he remains anonymous.

“I think about it a lot, especially with my boyfriend. He took a real beating for no reason,” the victim told Fox 2. “It felt pretty helpless. It was pretty scary.”

He went on to describe leaving the casino around 1:30am on Saturday. His boyfriend had a bit too much to drink, and one victim had his arm around the other to help him walk as the pair exited the casino into a parking garage. Along the way they passed another group, where one man made a punching motion toward them.

“They saw me with my arms wrapped around him and that’s why they did that [hitting] motion and said [anti-gay slur],” the victim told reporters. “Obviously, when they said that, everything after that was out of hate, so it’s clearly a hate crime.”

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