This blog originally appeared at LGBTQ NATION.

In Austin, Texas, Joshua Ybarra, a gay man, was attacked by a group of men late at night while walking to his Uber. The assailants hurled an anti-gay slur at him during the assault. Ybarra, who was wearing a purse and black-heeled boots, expressed his frustration to KXAN, saying, “I believe they should all face charges. It started with one person, but they all joined in, especially as I was being beaten and the slurs were being shouted.”

Ybarra was repeatedly punched and beaten while being called a “gay f*g” until he lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

One of Ybarra’s friends tried to protect him during the assault, but she ended up being attacked herself. “She threw her body over me, and I just remember seeing them punch the back of her head,” Ybarra recounted. “I was just screaming at her, saying, ‘You need to move.’”

The Austin Police Department considers this incident a hate crime. Three University of Texas Delta Sigma Phi fraternity members—Alex Saenz, Bhavya Kaushik, and Sergio Martinez, the vice president of the Eta Chapter—were arrested after turning themselves in. An additional woman, believed to have been involved, has a warrant out for her arrest.

The defendants’ attorneys claim that a friend of Ybarra instigated the attack and assert there is evidence that will exonerate their clients, including security footage supporting their claims. Saenz, the only one charged with a hate crime, maintains that he did not use the slur.

Prosecuting hate crimes in Texas is notoriously difficult. Out of over 6,000 reported hate crimes since 2001, only 41 have been charged as such, with most not making it to court due to rare prosecutions.

Activists and lawmakers are pushing back against this lack of enforcement. “Where you live determines whether you’re going to get the help that you need. For many rural and suburban LGBTQ Texans, there is often no local recourse for having these crimes taken seriously,” Equality Texas Executive Director Ricardo Martinez told KXAN. “We need lawmakers to stand up and protect our community because violence, like what happened to Josh, falls squarely on their shoulders.”

Ybarra has yet to be cleared to return to work after the attack. Despite the trauma, he finds solace in a framed drawing from his niece, which quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To be yourself in a world constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ybarra reflected, “It’s funny because I always look at that, and I’m trying to remind myself to be my true, authentic self regardless of everything that has happened.”