The victim of an alleged hate crime in Lincoln, Neb., Charlie Rogers, an out lesbian, is speaking out for the first time since Sunday’s attack when she says three masked men barged into her home and attacked her, scrawling they word “dyke” into her arms and stomach and set her house on fire.

In an interview with KETV, Rogers, a former University of Nebraska basketball star and a local business owners, addresses detractors who have accused her of fabricating the crime. Rogers says in the interview  that “doubters are making her a victim all over again.” She says she was attacked to send a message of hate adding, “"For people to think this doesn't happen here, it does. It did."

Following the attack Rogers’ best friend Erin Thompson, told Omaha World, “three epithets, including the word ‘dyke,’ were carved on the woman’s (Rogers) arms and stomach.”

“The woman said she was attacked early that morning by three masked men who barged into her house, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, cut her all over her body and carved homophobic slurs into her skin before dumping gasoline on her floor and lighting it with a match,” according to the Journal Star, which reported on the crime earlier this week. 

The victim crawled naked and bleeding to a neighbor’s home. The flash fire started by the invaders failed to spread and damage to the home was limited.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, Nebraska has a hate-crimes law that covers crimes motivated by a victim’s sexual orientation. Federal authorities may have jurisdiction over this crime because of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. HRC has alerted the FBI and the Justice Department to the crime. “The accounts of the violence inflicted upon this woman are truly horrific,” said Fred Sainz, vice president of communications for HRC.

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