The Bronx — and much of the country — was left reeling in October, when news broke of a horrific attack on several men and teens in Morris Heights.

Police say the perpetrators, members of a gang called the “Latin King Goonies,” chose their victims because they were gay or perceived to be gay. Among those attacked was a 30-year-old known locally as “La Reina” (“the Queen”). He was burned with cigarettes and sodomized with a small baseball bat, the authorities say.

On Oct. 28, more than 200 Bronx Community College students marched to the scene of the crime, a vacant house on Osborne Place just blocks from the campus, to show solidarity with the gay community.

The Bronx Community Pride Center, a LGBT organization, has also been active. Staff held a town-hall meeting in Morris Heights in early December, during which gay rights advocates and members of the public discussed ways to promote tolerance. (Executive Director Dirk McCall is hoping to schedule similar meetings in different parts of the Bronx in the new year.)

Seven individuals have been charged in connection with the attacks. Charges include unlawful imprisonment, sexual abuse, and assault — all as hate crimes. The authorities now say that two 17-year-olds originally charged in the case were actually victims.

In the weeks leading up to the attacks, there had been several widely-publicized teen suicides, including the Rutgers University student who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge. In all cases, the teens had been tormented for being gay.

And so, while 2010 will be remembered fondly by the gay community as the year the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was overturned, it will also be remembered for a series of homophobic acts; acts that cost lives.