71-year-old former American Red Cross worker Wanda Derby has been charged with a hate crime for attacking her son’s gay friend with a walking cane and shouting homophobic slurs.

The attack took place in Texas on Wednesday after Derby got word that her son was moving into his friend’s apartment. Derby (pictured below) allegedly hit 25-year-old Lloyd Guerrero (above) with her walking stick and at one pointed attempted to choke him with it. Guerrero’s mother saw the attack and went to help. As she was calling 911, she was hit in the face by Derby.

In a KHOU.com news report Guerrero said that Derby had previously been posting comments about him and his family on her Facebook page, publicly outing him on the social network.

During the arrest the 71-year-old referred to Guerreo with a homophobic slur and told the authorities that the man “has AIDS and is going to kill her son.”

Derby was released on Thursday afternoon on $11,500 bail, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, enhanced as a hate crime, and assault causing bodily injury.

The story is arousing plenty of online commentary in the states about the usefulness and possible limits of hate crime legislation.

Watch an interview with Lloyd Guerrero below.