Gjeesterphlunnie

The lack of an answer is your answer right here.

Big funding is only bad if it's going to your political enemies after all, right?

I am not ruling it out as a hate crime, but OP himself even stated that the guy did not know anything about his sexuality.

Considering the prevalence of mental illness and the comorbidity of paranoid schizophrenia and alcoholism (as well as alcoholism and bar patronage) should we immediately throw out that motivation?

Now, I am not trying to defend a viscous criminal; I am only hoping to advance the discourse beyond assuming that everything bad that happens to a homosexual is due to their sexuality.

Let's make some assumptions of our own. Let's assume the attacker suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was drowning his sorrows. Suddenly, as he began to experience alcohol induced auditory hallucinations he hears someone yell obnoxiously across the bar. Maybe his name was the same as OP's friend?

Who knows? It may not have been paranoid schizophrenia, but it may not have been a hate crime. But to immediately make assumptions and jump to a conclusion may advance an agenda but it won't advance honest discourse that leads to real progression.