The Washington Blade is reporting an assault on a gay Georgetown med student early Friday morning (emphasis mine):

The source said the men, who he described as Muslim and being of “Middle Eastern descent,” asked the other men if they were gay. When one of the men answered yes, the source noted that the man and his companion began using “profane language.”

At one point, the source said, the two men told the gay men, “If you were to do this type of behavior back in our country, you’d be stoned,” and that “a man’s asshole is for shitting not fucking, you fucking faggots.”

The source said one of the Muslim men eventually goaded his companion, who held a glass bottle, into attacking one of the gay men. The source noted the man who wielded the bottle struck the Georgetown student’s left cheek with it. The two men then fled.

An hour after the arrest, police arrested the two suspects.

The first paragraph from a story on the possibility of D.C. legalizing gay marriage which appeared in the September 17 Washington Blade (emphasis mine):

If Democrats expand their majority in Congress and California voters uphold same-sex marriage, a gay marriage bill is likely to be approved by the D.C. City Council as early as April 2009, according to activists and City Hall insiders.

The lede from a similar story in The Hoya by Anna Salinas which appeared on September 23:

Same-sex marriage could be legalized in D.C. as early as this coming spring if Democrats gain more Congressional seats in November, according to activists and insiders at City Hall.

Looks a little fishy to me.  “If Democrats expand their majority in Congress” = “if Democrats gain more Congressional seats”, “as early as April 2009″ = “as early as this coming spring”, and “according to activists and City Hall insiders” = “according to activists and insiders at City Hall.” If it weren’t for that last phrase, I wouldn’t have noticed about the similarities—it’s not uncommon for two stories on the same topic to have similar ledes.  I kind of doubt that The Hoya’s writer has inside sources at City Hall, though.

Salinas’s article cites the Blade’s article on mayoral and council support for the bill, so she definitely read it. Hoya editor-in-chief Bailey Heaps declined to comment when I asked him about the similarities.

Update Sept. 29 8:36 pm:  Bailey Heaps responds:

After investigating this matter, it appears that during the editing process, we subconsciously co-opted a phrase from the Washington Blade story into our lead. This underscores the need to always be as thorough and critical as we possibly can be throughout the editing process. It was an unnecessary mistake and readers deserve much better. We regret the error

He added, “This error should not be attributed to Anna, a very capable new writer.”