It’s the story that’s hit queer media outlets by storm, and for the worst reasons – a gay couple in Georgia burned by boiling water while peacefully sleeping. The culprit? Mom’s homophobic boyfriend. Well in a new twist, no hate crime charges will be applied in this case.

On Feb. 12, Anthony Gooden and Marquez Tolbert lay asleep together when Martin Blackwell allegedly poured boiling water over them, resulting in horrific injuries that required extensive surgery.

Blackwell is on record as saying he was ‘disgusted’ by their relationship and yet he won’t be charged with a hate crime because Georgia doesn’t have a law that addresses hate or bias crimes. He has, however, been charged with two counts of aggravated battery.

The two victims were in hospital for over a week, enduring pain so bad that they couldn’t sleep. Gooden’s mother, Kim Foster, has already spoken out against her former boyfriend. “He’s not human. He got hatred in his heart and God’s gonna deal with him,” she told WBS-TV Atlanta.

“I just woke up screaming, ‘Ah, what’s going on?’ He just threw hot water. It hurt,” Gooden said.

Added Tolbert: “Martin pulled me up and said, ‘Get out of my house with all that gay.’”

Arkansas, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming also don’t have laws on their books that address hate or bias crimes. And while there are 15 states that do have such laws, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says those lack clauses to protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

If you could like to help the two victims, supporters have set up GoFundMe pages for both men. You can find Tolbert’s here and Gooden’s here.