The sister of a Lawrence man beaten early Friday outside a downtown bar said her brother was the victim of a hate crime.

“He’s gay, and it’s very obvious,” Lisa Hunt said during an interview Saturday about her 28-year-old brother.

Hunt’s brother, Jeffrey Medis, is recovering from a beating that left him with fractured upper and lower jaws, a broken nose, fractured eye socket, a concussion, two teeth knocked out and a gash on his chin that took six stitches to close. He also suffered a seizure, she said.

“It was pretty horrific,” said Hunt, who flew Friday to Lawrence from Oklahoma City to see her brother. “I’m mortified to know that somebody could be so violent and beat someone like that.”

On Sunday, a weary Medis told the Journal-World he didn’t remember the beating.

“I hope they’re caught,” he said.

His jaw wired shut, he’s not expected to eat solid food for about a month.

The attack took place about 1:45 a.m. Friday after Medis left the Replay Lounge, 946 Mass. Bar patrons found him lying unconscious in a pool of blood outside the bar’s front door not long after, said Hunt, who went to the bar Friday night to try to find witnesses.

Hunt said her brother told her that he had not been harassed by anyone inside the bar.

Several people told Hunt there was a white SUV-type vehicle parked nearby with four or five men in it and they thought they were the suspects, Hunt said. Several people gathered around the vehicle to keep it from leaving until police arrived.

The men later denied taking part in the beating to police and were not arrested.

Jeff Medis, pictured Sunday evening, was savagely beaten Friday as he left a downtown Lawrence bar. His sister says he was the victim of a hate crime.

“Basically, this individual was walking out of the bar, and the next thing he remembers is waking up at the hospital,” said Sgt. Dave Hubbel, a police department spokesman.

Hubbel and Hunt are asking anyone who saw the beating to call the department’s detective division, 830-7430, or the CrimeStoppers tip line, 843-8477.

Hubbel said detectives spent much of the weekend interviewing people known to be in Replay Lounge the night of the beating.

“At this point, we’re not sure what happened, and neither is the victim,” Hubbel said. “So it’s really important for anybody who saw anything to please call the detectives or the tip line.”

Chase Richards, director of Queers and Allies, a Kansas University-based support group for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people, said it’s “entirely possible” that Medis was beaten because he’s homosexual.

“Lawrence does not have gay bar per se,” Richards said. “But I think it’s safe to say the Replay has a sizable gay clientele, which always raises the chances of something like this being motivated by hate.”

He added, “I’ve heard of people – gay people – being hassled coming out of the Replay.”

But Replay Lounge manager Matt Sullivan said he’d not heard of the bar’s gay patrons being hassled.

“This is a friendly place,” he said. “But I can see why somebody would think it’s a hate crime, because, otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. What happened was horrible – I’ve worked downtown, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“This is the most gay-friendly bar in town,” said Jeff Stolz, who was tending bar Sunday evening at the Replay Lounge. “Jeffrey is a regular here; we all love him. He’s a great guy.”

Stolz and Sullivan both said they’ve not been able to find anyone who saw the beating.