A group of as many as 10 to 15 men and women assaulted a gay man at a McDonald's in Washington, D.C., and called him a homophobic slur, prompting police to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

I get chills recalling the sheer power of art that I felt in this room at the National Portrait Gallery, as if the genius loci of Washington, D.C. was standing next to me like a ghost.