Txdigest.com

HOUSTON, TX- Smoke choked the streets of the city of Houston yesterday as Islamic protesters gathered to oppose the Supreme Court’s decision upholding gay marriage. Throughout the day members of the Muslim community prowled the city streets, tearing down LGBT flags from public buildings and private residences. A large pile containing hundreds of LGBT flags was burned later during a massive anti-gay-marriage rally.

Terrified residents hid in their homes and workplaces as a giant mob of over 3,000 Muslim men and women marched through the streets while pointing their fingers in the air and shouting ‘death to the homosexuals,’ ‘Allahu Akbar,’ and other homophobic slurs mixed with praises of Allah.

Susan Griffon, an outspoken lesbian and LGBT supporter, had her nose broken with the heel of a shoe that was used like a club, as she wrestled with a group of protesters ripping an LGBT flag out of her cigar shop window. The assailants who beat her shouted, “you are not a man, stop dressing like it.” They walked off with the flag, leaving her unconscious on the sidewalk.

Muhmar Al-Sajeer, one of the organizers of the rally, welcomed attention of the media. “We have objected verbally time and again to the LGBT people,” he told reporters. “We told them we did not want to see their insensitive rainbow flag everywhere, as it offends our eyes and souls. They ignored our pleas and flaunted that filth in our faces anyway. The only way we could respond to their provocation was to take back our streets by force.”

Prosecutors have charged Cameron Mayfield, 23, with third-degree arson after police arrested him for burning a gay pride flag.

"You know, my client is going to apologize for what he did," Mayfield's defense attorney James Martin Davis said.

The charge carries a maximum of five years in prison.

Davis said in court the charge "trivializes what true hate crimes are."

Davis admits his client was drinking since 1:30 a.m. before the incident.

"His uncle's gay, he doesn't have any animosity," Davis said. "He's just some kid that got drunk and it was a prank. Now all of the sudden they're taking this."

Last month, Davis' client, Gregory Duncan, was convicted of a hate crime for a 2013 assault. Davis said Mayfield's actions would have been a $100 fine if the victims were straight.

"There's a political wind that's blowing pretty hard these days in Omaha, and I want to make sure that wind doesn't blow my clients over," Davis said.

The lesbian couple affected disagrees, saying, "The intent really does make the difference. Watching him run toward our house with our burning flag, seeing him stop and wave that burning symbol of a controversial, and inherent part of our being(s) as a minority, in front of our house as a clear message, made it scary. That made it an attack as opposed to a prank."

A judge ordered Mayfield to have no contact with the victims, Ariann Anderson and Jess Meadows-Anderson.

The Douglas County Attorney's Office said Mayfield's charge of arson was aggravated by a hate crime, making his charge a class four felony. He's back in court on March 27.