Naropa student beaten after telling two men she is gay

Vanessa Miller, Daily Camera

Published February 22, 2007 at midnight

Text size

More Local News

BOULDER - A 21-year-old student at Naropa University was badly beaten early Wednesday near downtown Boulder after telling two men she had just met that she was gay.

The Boulder woman, whose name wasn't released, was assaulted around 3 a.m. near 13th Street and Canyon Boulevard, police said. One of the men attacked the woman after she rejected sexual advances from him and his friend, police said.

The woman was punched and kicked in the face and head, causing serious injuries, according to police. She told officers that her attacker's friend told him to stop but didn't intervene to help her.

The victim has been released from the hospital and is under the care of the Naropa staff, said Blake Weber, executive director of Boulder Pride.

Members of the nonprofit group spent much of Tuesday counseling the injured woman, Weber said during a Wednesday news conference. She wouldn't discuss the woman's injuries, but described them as "horrific."

Police said the woman went to several University Hill house parties Tuesday before going to the Pearl Street Mall, where she met the two men outside Old Chicago.

After learning they were visiting from California and didn't have a place to stay, the woman offered up her couches and the men accepted, police Cmdr. Greg Testa said.

While the three were walking home, the men started making sexual comments, Testa said. The woman said she wasn't interested because she's gay, and that's when the assault occurred, he said.

The woman called police on her cell phone at about 2:50 a.m. - disoriented and unsure of where she was, Testa said. Officers used the global positioning system in her phone to find her near 14th Street and Canyon Boulevard.

Boulder Pride leaders said they're planning a march and rally Friday night to protest violence against gays.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News