Members And Allies Of Gay Community Rally To Publicly Support Assault Victim, Speak Against Hate Crime [PICTURES and AUDIO]

ST. CLOUD - Sunday's assault of a young man, motivated by a belief that he's gay, inspired a rally last night in Downtown St. Cloud.

Members and allies of the GLBT community gathered along the block of 5th Avenue in front of DB Searles, holding homemade signs and cheering and waving to cars.

Event organizer Janet Cleland-Dullinger says she wanted to rally in order to tell the young man and the city of St. Cloud that hate crimes won't be tolerated.

Plans for the demonstration came about in a matter of hours via word of mouth and Facebook. One of the demonstrators,  Justine Sanborn, says she's pleased with the turnout.

Sanborn says she hopes the demonstration shows that many members of the St. Cloud community will stand up against hate violence.

At one point, some of the 50 plus ralliers made their way down 5th Avenue and across Division Street.