I have been checking out the "conservative" reactions to the report during the day and they have been climbing over themselves like fevered gerbils to either discredit, diminish, or divert the reporting of the event. Maybe their efforts will make the whole thing go away. But all that energy is an admission that they cannot defend the action as such. It is too cowardly to spin into a virtue. So many of the narratives in our books and films revolve around guys like that meeting their comeuppance in a spasm of rude justice.

The part where Romney says it never occurred to him that the victim was gay is  plausible to me. Having been a young man with long hair in that time period, I remember the Romneys that surrounded me not caring about sexual orientation so much as seeing my "effeminate" appearance as a threat to their sense of privilege. People like me were screwing up the special status males should have.

I remember, while reading it, realizing that the few out kids at our school were incredibly brave.

This comment brings back a memory that I recount to myself occasionally. It has been a beneficial influence in my life like that book was for you. I can't say it has made me a better person but it has helped me notice some of the better people I might have otherwise overlooked.It isn't about a gay person, it is actually a war story, sorta, but I hope you will bear with me while I go off on a tangent about a person standing bravely alone in very trying circumstances. Like most gay people must have to do too many times in their life.   
 I took basic training at Ft. Polk Louisiana in early 1967. That was the time of the biggest buildup for what was soon to become the biggest deployment in what was that period's war that was necessary to save our country from something. I forget what, but never mind that. All our Drill Sergeants had already served a deployment. Of the main five, two were complete assholes, lifers of the worst kind, and although the other three also seemed to be the same most of the time, in retrospect I think they were actually just working hard at doing the job they had been given and probably felt a real obligation to do a good job in preparing us for what they knew we could expect. Their job didn't include any coddling.
 There were quite a collection of trainees and the one featured in this reminiscence was a guy who was two inches taller than whatever the limit was [I forget those details] to fit within the physical parameters for draftees, but he had been drafted anyway. He stood with a big bow in his back though and his spine looked like it would pop through his luminescent skin. Maybe he hadn't thought to strain to stand straight at his induction physical. Maybe he had felt some obligation to answer the call. Who knows? He was extremely skinny and he was, if not actually an albino, very close to one. He was milky white except for his pink lips and pink eyes. Every joint stood out larger than every limb. And, as luck would have it, his name was Dinkins. He was also extremely shy. Dinkins seemed fated to get a world of shit and he certainly did.
 Dinkins could not initially do a correct push-up or even a sit-up and he seemed to have a very hard time screaming,"Yes Drill Seargeant", as loud as they demanded.  "I can't hear you, Dinky. Sound off you weak-ass pussy". "Yes Drill Seargeant". "Drop and give me ten you miserable momma's boy and count them off so that I can hear you".
 Everyone got quite a bit of that, but Dinkins got a lifetimes worth, it seemed, every day. The jerk Drill Sergeants made everything as humiliating as possible and the others were never easy on him. As it went on for weeks I don't remember that many trainees gave him a hard time, just a few and just a bit that I saw, but I didn't ever feel any inclination to defend him, either. If I had I probably would have stifled the urge. I have never been brave and usually didn't even notice when the time for a bit of courage was called for in social situations until the moment has long passed.  
 I could go on with more examples of the physical and mental ordeal that Dinkins went through but I'll jump to the end. Somehow Dinkins passed all the physical tests required to go on rather than to another round of basic designed for those who failed first go-round. And, though I didn't recognize it at the time, he went through the entire ordeal with a quiet dignity.
 The last day we spent in that unit before going on to our next training assignment, AIT for most, and at our last mess hall meal there, one of the Drill Sergeants called us to sitting attention and gave a short speech which I will try to describe in essence if not in exact quotes. He interrupted us about halfway though our meal and told us that he had been observing, for eight weeks, one of the strongest men he had known in his time in the army. If any of you demonstrate half the courage and character that this man has shown, he said, you will have a decent chance of being decent soldiers and coming home in one piece. The soldiers name is Dinkins [Maybe the first time one of them hadn't called him "Dinky"] and I am proud to have had him in my Platoon. Dinkins was glowing red in about a second. "The rest of you pussies sit at attention, look straight ahead, and shut the fuck up while Private Dinkins finishes his meal". The Drill Sergeant stood at parade rest until Dinkins, in a very short time, was finished.  The Drill Sergeant then asked him if he wanted seconds. "NO, DRILL SERGEANT".  "You are dismissed, good luck, soldier' He waited until Dinkins was out the door and then he said, "The rest of you pussies finish up on the double and get out of my sight".
 If I hadn't heard that short speech at the end of basic I might never have  noticed the significance of the way had Dinkins handled his situation. I was pretty wrapped up in my own feelings, I guess. At least that is the only excuse I can come up with.
 I hope  Dinkins made it and I hope life gave Mr. Dinkins some good breaks to balance the extra load it had given him to carry. And, I thank him for the example he gave us and the Drill Sergeant who made sure we noticed.