Love, Scott

ÖZET

A profile of openly gay Nova Scotia musician Scott Jones is presented, it centered on he being a victim of a gay bashing outside a nightclub in New Glasgow which left him paralyzed from the waist down. His story is told in three themes, with specific details of his life associated with those themes told. First, he visits for the first time on the first anniversary of the assault the location where it happened. Second, he was asked one month after the assault what he wanted the world to know, his answer being, "don't be afraid", which became a brand upon which much positive occurred, especially within the realm of LBGTQ issues. And third, he deals with the assault and the effect of it on his life in relation to the fact that in the public record there is no mention of him being gay or of it being a hate crime. As an epilogue, the state of hate crimes in Canada in relation to the LBGTQ community is told since 1996, when the Criminal Code of Canada was amended to recognize hate crimes based on sexual orientation.