On Saturday night, a group of between six to eight men violently bashed John "Jake" Raynard with bricks. The attack has put him in the hospital for reconstructive surgery.

Xtra.ca reports:
(Thunder Bay, Canada) John "Jake" Raynard was smoking outside of a bar with two friends when a man approached to ask for a cigarette. Raynard and his friends walked away when the man became aggressive, and Raynard says they were soon followed a group of men shouting anti-gay comments. "It was like they were waiting in the woodwork," Raynard told tbnewswatch.com from his hospital bed. "The crowd just seemed to get bigger." One of the men grabbed Raynard's friend and began choking him. Raynard says he struck the man in retaliation and he yelled at the group in an effort to scare them off. "What happened that night was a hate crime," Raynard's sister Jackii told the news website. "They broke the whole left side of his face. His face speaks for itself."

Read more at Xtra.ca.