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Ryan Smith's communications skills earned him an internship in the Clinton White House. He talked his way into jobs with David Letterman and CBS News. But today, Smith, 25, has trouble saying and writing simple words. While he and friends vacationed April 6 on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, a small group chased them down, yelled gay slurs and smashed Smith's skull with a tire iron. Two people were arrested Saturday and are scheduled to appear in court today, Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein told The Miami Herald. He and his boyfriend are living in Miami Beach while he undergoes weeks of treatment for his brain injuries. His parents -- who didn't know he was gay until they learned of the attack -- have come from Ohio to help. The greatest reminder of the near-fatal beating -- not including the surgical scar that circles the left side of his head -- is his trouble speaking and writing. For someone who earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, worked as a page for Late Show with David Letterman and had been working as a production secretary for CBS' 48 Hours in New York, that has been enormously difficult. He still has a lot to say,'' his mother, Patricia Smith, said. Jefferson suffered a fractured skull and had to have a titanium plate inserted in his head, but he was able to return to New York a few days later. His skull was fractured and surgeons needed to remove bone fragments lodged in his brain. There still is a soft spot on the left side of his head where doctors removed part of his skull. He needs at least one more surgery to replace the hole with a plate. Doctors expect Smith to make a full recovery, though they don't know how long it will take. But you can't expect the impossible weeks after a major surgery. ATTACKED As Smith and Swensen left Bamboo Bernie's bar, one of the men tossed a chair at them. Outside, Smith and Swensen met up with Jefferson and a few other friends. Suddenly, a white car with three or four people inside tried to run them down, according to witnesses. From inside the car, a man began throwing paint cans at Smith, Swensen and the others. Maarten police did little to investigate, according to the victims. But after CBS and ABC News ran TV reports, the case moved ahead. Martin residents, were arrested Saturday, and more arrests are expected, said Stein, Dutch St. The attack has caused some activists to question whether gay and lesbian travelers should visit the Caribbean. But these paradises' can no longer be playgrounds for heterosexuals and hunting grounds for homosexuals,'' national gay activist and Fort Lauderdale native Wayne Besen recently wrote on his website blog. The last four weeks have been trying for Patricia Smith and her husband, Raymond, who live in Sandusky, Ohio, and didn't know their son was gay until he was nearly beaten to death. I felt he was waiting to talk to us about it,'' she said. When members of South Florida's gay community heard that Smith was staying in Miami, they moved to help. Finance writer and gay philanthropist Andrew Tobias loaned a vacant Lincoln Road apartment to Swensen, who got a job waiting tables at Cafeteria on Lincoln Road. Ray Breslin and partner Patrick Pecoraro donated two units at the Mantell Plaza in Miami Beach for the Smith family to use the first week, then discounted the units for the rest of their stay. With the support of family and friends, Ryan Smith is pushing himself to recover. I don't want anyone to go through what happened to all of us. There were times I was in the hospital that I didn't know how to talk.
The first release on this incident stated that the two were kissing and fondling one another. American homosexuals need to understand that their perverted public behavior does anger some heterosexuals.
American homosexuals need to understand that their perverted public behavior does anger some heterosexuals. no I don't agree with their lifestyle but I'll be damned if I try to harm anyone over it.
View Replies To: kinoxi Don't think the poster was defending the assault. Do agree that if two men fondle and kiss each other in public and in an heterosexual establishment (if that was the case)they do increase their risk of attack.
View Replies To: FerdieMurphy ''You think your parents are going to hate you,'' Well, it's not as if you were doing any harm to them, is it? After all, you're only cutting off their potential progeny through your line.
View Replies To: FerdieMurphy Homosexuality is not welcome in the rasta culture fer sure. these idjmos need to read up on the culture before publicly getting down. All I noticed was the first sentence "A young CBS News employee". why do I get the feeling working at CBS is a closed process. I suspect a right minded white hetero male would have about as much a chance of catching on at CBS as they would at the melon farm collective.
View Replies To: FerdieMurphy The first release on this incident stated that the two were kissing and fondling one another. If I witness something that's uncomfortable to watch, but otherwise harmless to me personally, I use my neck to turn my head. I do NOT use a tire iron to turn someone else's head into pulp.
I just think homosexuals need to keep their hands off each other in public. Beating the crap out of anyone is not something to be admired. The two should have waited until they returned to their accommodations.
View Replies To: Freedom_no_exceptions I do NOT use a tire iron to turn someone else's head into pulp. No one suggested that you should, but it is important to know that there are people out there who will react in that manner and that one should not do things to provoke them.
View Replies To: kinghorse "Homosexuality is not welcome in the rasta culture fer sure." Maarten and don't know what the locals are like but I'd be willing to bet they should be familiar with public gayness. Personally, I'd just leave and go to another bar, making sure to let the owner know why on the way out.
View Replies To: FerdieMurphy But these two should have known better. Think of any situation where someone should've known better. It doesn't justify it at all and your lame ass attempts at doing so are pretty pathetic.
View Replies To: FormerLib pointing out that certain actions can result in very negative reactions. Like a certain 18 year old girl drinking and taking drugs with strangers in a bar in Aruba...
View Replies To: MikefromOhio There was no justification implied in the statement. If I warn a white guy not to walk through parts of the barrio at night, am I approving of any violence that might be committed against him or alerting him to certain unpleasant realities? Clearly, it is the latter and that's exactly what the original poster was expressing.
View Replies To: FormerLib "I don't see anyone defending the attack but the poster is pointing out that certain actions can result in very negative reactions." Go into a black establishment with a Confederate flag shirt on.
View Replies To: luvbach1 Don't think the poster was defending the assault. Do agree that if two men fondle and kiss each other in public and in an heterosexual establishment (if that was the case)they do increase their risk of attack. Mix booze in with that and it really is a dangerous situation.
View Replies To: kinoxi Great, this suggests that you aren't prone to committing felonies in the Dunkin' Donuts. Perhaps you can say a prayer for the guy who eye'd you up that he should never run into some nutcase who is prone to doing so.
There's nothing "lame" about pointing out that homosexuals need to restrain themselves while out in a public bar in a foreign country. No there isn't anything lame about what happened, THERE IS, however, something lame in how you are trying to find a way to justify it.
View Replies To: FormerLib Wow I wish I was as cool as you are... Go ahead and keep thinking that gay-bashing is ok or acceptable because they were "showing it", but that just proves more about you than me... and there was no surrender, because you haven't brought any logical to the table.
View Replies To: conserv13 Like a certain 18 year old girl drinking and taking drugs with strangers in a ba...
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