The young woman who slashed a knife across Lindsay Harmon’s eye early New Year’s morning did not just damage one person. She attacked a movement. She sparked a storm of outrage. She touched off an outpouring of sympathy that overwhelmed the rage behind the weapon.

All things considered, I think that hate got a beat-down.

Lindsay Harmon was not thinking about becoming the Poster Woman for Lesbian Rights when she went to Roxy’s, the gay nightclub on Main Street, with friends on New Year’s Eve. The only thing on her mind when they left the place was scoring a sub at Jim’s Steakout. That is when, Harmon said, two young women in a group of passers-by called them “dirty dykes” and “nasty lesbians.” Moments later, she said one of them knifed her from behind in the right eye and arm.

Thursday, I saw the mark left by hate. Harmon, sitting in the living room of her father’s home in West Seneca, pulled off the white gauze that covers half of her face. A black line, about 2 inches long, starts at the top of her right eyelid, cuts down through the eyelid and runs across the top of her cheek.

It will be weeks—and another surgery— before doctors know whether she will regain full sight. The knife cut her psyche as well. Only in recent days could she could talk about the night without shaking.

Lindsay Harmon did not want to be a symbol. But in the days since the news broke, she has seen how this is bigger than one woman, one night, one hate-fueled act of violence.

A Facebook page supporting Harmon —set up Monday—had more than 9,000 members by Thursday afternoon. Messages of sympathy have come from as far as Australia. Flower-stuffed vases stand on tray tables in the TV room. People she does not know are calling.

“It is like the gay community has been attacked,” Harmon told me. “I will not let myself down or other people down. . . . Once I get better, I’ll help with anti-violence rallies. Whatever it takes.”

Harmon is lean and attractive, with black hair falling straight to the top of her neck. I got the sense of a tough, strong-spirited woman. Hey, you have to have iron in your spine to make a living as a debt collector.

“I prefer to say,” she said, laughing, “that I help to repair people’s credit.”

This is not just about the gay community fighting back. Plenty of straight folks are on the Facebook page. Gay or straight, people are not standing silent in the face of an outrageous act. It is, I think, another welcome sign of changing times.

Gay marriage is legal in some states. Harmon and her girlfriend walk not just through gay-friendly Allentown holding hands, but the Walden Galleria—the ultimate communal crossroads. The Gay Pride Parade is an annual celebration along Elmwood Avenue. Many, maybe most, people believe that attractions between adults—of whatever persuasion —is nobody else’s business. Finally, thankfully, being gay is—almost—No Big Deal.

The change, to me, is a sign of enlightenment, not evidence of an impending Armageddon. Gay or straight, people cannot help the way they are wired. It is nice to live in an age where many, maybe most, folks believe that. I am old enough to remember when it was not that way. All of which makes the attack, if not shocking, at least surprising.

“I guess there are still some ignorant people out there,” Harmon told me. “They must be uncomfortable with something about themselves to do something like this.”

The outpouring of sympathy from around the world has given Harmon more than the attacker could ever take away. Hate landed a blow that night. But peace, love and understanding are carrying the day.