Karen Pendergrass kept seeing the lanky boy walk by the lunchroom where she taught dance twice a week to eighth grade students in North Philadelphia. He would peer inside, then run away as soon as Ms. Pendergrass made eye contact. “You come peeking in my door one more time and you’re coming in my class,” Ms. Pendergrass told him. At 28, he was preparing to audition for “The Lion King,” one of his favorite Broadway musicals. They were blasting Beyoncé and dancing around the car when a group of about three young men told them to stop and hurled gay slurs at them.

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Persons: Karen Pendergrass, Pendergrass, Ms, O’Shae Sibley, Sibley Organizations: ” Locations: North Philadelphia, Philadelphia, New York, Brooklyn