Help this ‘Troubled Piece of Fruit’
by Bernard-Charles
Stephan holds his new CD ‘A Troubled Piece of Fruit’ while showing his swollen jaw from Friday’s assault.
Stephan Nance known for his original piece “Song for Losers” on YouTube announced on his blog Sunday that three unidentified men assaulted him for wearing cycling shorts by the Willamette River.
I was sitting by the river across from this little island; three guys and a girl came around the side of it and waded back to the riverbank, where they confronted me about how I needed to “put on some fucking clothes”…
The tension in his story continued to unfold as I interviewed him this afternoon over Facebook. In our brief exchange, he confirmed his sexuality as “queer” and it wasn’t the first time his cycling fashion attracted homophobia.
Interestingly (to me, anyway), I’ve encountered hostility before while riding in cycling clothes, though only verbal. On multiple occasions I’ve been waiting at a light, for example, and someone driving by (or a passenger, perhaps) has yelled “faggot” at me, completely out of the blue.
Stephan shows his back all scratched. Ouch!
It’s sad when it takes wearing appropriate attire to ride a bicycle to unleash so much hate into the world. “I really wonder whether the people who assaulted me did so because they perceived me to be queer… a nancy-boy cyclist or whatever” he said.
Contrary to the irony of Nance’s song, I believe that Nance is not a loser in this situation, just a victim of social ignorance. Because I too have survived the ‘Hunger Games’ in my life and can attest that being different comes with an unneeded price, but nothing to this extent. According to Youth Pride, Inc. “A 2001 study found that LGBQ teenagers are more likely to experience, witness, and/or perpetrate violence than their straight peers,” I will venture to assume that this energy certainly follows into adulthood. Homophobia is ignorant to age.
Moving forward with your help
Unfortunately the way the cards lay, Nance posted that he doesn’t have insurance or seen a doctor since the incident. Not seeing a doctor could be rather risky, but I understand when money is tight and sacrifices are made. However seeking proper medical attention is strongly advised, especially since it was basically a three to one ratio and more than a shove!
They all freaked out, pushed me into a blackberry bush, punched me a few times, and threw a rock at me, as I blew the whistle and screamed for help (screamed bloody murder, seriously) again and again and again.
Rising above the ashes has been a useful reference for this year and so many new changes are abound with this phoenix energy that I ask you to show your support for Stephan Nance by sending him your own words of encouragement to his Facebook or Twitter. Thoughts are things after all. If you wish to give even more, you can buy his new CD entitled ‘A Troubled Piece of Fruit.’ Hopefully, this will put some dollars in his wallet to go see a doctor and heal those bruises.
The bright side in all of this has been the support shown to me by such an astonishing number of people online.
-Stephan Nance
I winced when I saw the photo of his back. Why are people so cruel and heartless. It sickens me that punks would attack him simply for being himself.
My thoughts exactly. Thank you for commenting. Oh the world we live in.
I love you stephan~! Hope you heal up soon. Be safe~
<3 Still your number one fan. :]
Stephan has a Number 1 fan! Awesome!
Reblogged this on Stephan Nance – Tricky to See.
I wish I could have been there to respond to the ‘help’. This saddens me to no end. Angers me too. It seems like I read a news story similar to this a while back.
Awe your heroic gesture will soon come. Don’t you worry! You can still help though!
I can’t believe this gets NO news reporting. Why no press conference?
Well, I don’t know if I should take offense to your comment considering that my place here is very much like “news reporting” lol. Well, it is a blog nonetheless. I appreciate your comment, I am not sure why no concrete news organizations picked it up. I mean it can be done with more promoting so that the story goes web viral as other stories do.