There is a lot going on in this country, and it can be difficult to keep up. But things you might think are settled, still have a long way to go.

A man in Taunton, MA says he was attacked for being gay after he hung a Pride flag outside his home.

His assailant ended up knocking out his two front teeth, before getting in a car and driving off.

Tom Anderson and his husband, Jacob, hung a gay pride flag outside their home for Pride Month. An hour later, Tom Anderson was attacked by the assailant.

He told Boston 25 News:

"I was kind of in a state of disbelief, like really, I'm in my own yard."

The man swore at Tom, called him a derogatory name, and punched him in the face. Tom lost his two front teeth and needed several stitches.

Jacob saw the event unfold from inside the house.

"I saw the guy just come up and yell those nasty words at my husband and then hit him two or three times and then took off back into his car and screeched away."

"It's definitely a hate crime just based on the words he used."

A passerby stopped to help the Andersons after witnessing the attack. They called the police and gave a description of the assailant and his car.

While they've been waiting on the police investigation, people have come together to support the Andersons. Friends and even strangers have brought them gifts, including a security system.

This country still has a lot of problems with homophobia, though usually it's less direct violence and more horrible people doing or saying horrible things. And maybe you think you can guess the kind of people who perpetrate these acts because they stick out.

But the violence is still there, carried out by more people than you realize.

Incidents like this can feel like they're rare, and some might even think the country has moved past this kind of darkness. However, hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people have generally risen since the FBI started tracking them in 2013.

In 2018, nearly 20% of all reported hate crimes were based on anti-LGBTQ bias.

It's why we need to talk about these things when they happen.

Despite the pain he had to endure, Tom Anderson was more worried about the kind of message this attack would send if the man wasn't stopped.

"I'm more worried about him getting away with it and thinking, 'Okay this is okay to do.'"

But if the man can't be stopped, at the very least, the Andersons are going to make sure the attacker doesn't win.

They brought up keeping their flag flying beyond the month of June.