A student at Atlanta's Emory University claims he was pulled out of a frat party by the neck this weekend after he admitted to being gay. A fraternity member says it had more to do with the student's "wizard hat."

Yes, a wizard hat features prominently in this story. Take it away, Emory Wheel:

According to the alleged victim, his admission that he was gay instigated his forceful removal from the premises. His ejection was accompanied by anti-gay slurs and followed by what he termed "affirmative cheering" from many in attendance.

The student, who has not yet filed a police report and wished to remain unnamed for this story, attended the party at Sigma Nu's off-campus house with multiple friends after first venturing out to Eagle Row. His particular choice of costume - a lime-green jacket, red pants and a wizard hat - meant that he stood out immediately among the crowd at the house, the student acknowledged.

"At first, when I walked into the party, some people were taking pictures of me and appreciating, if you will, what I was wearing," he said.

About half an hour later, however, another attendee - confirmed by multiple witnesses as recent alum Adam Smith ('10C) - took the student's wizard hat and began questioning him.

"This guy approached me and asked why I was wearing my hat. ... I said that I like the hat, just as you like your pink shirt. He then asked me if I was gay, and I said I was. He then started choking me with his elbow and put me into a head lock, and he dragged me out of the party by my neck."

After the student was allegedly dragged the approximately 10 to 15 feet from the house's common area to the door and thrown onto the front lawn, Smith was overheard telling other attendees "Hey, this kid's a f****t."

Wizard hats: known gay accoutrement.

So the fraternity member in question, recent graduate (and Adam Gopnik profile subject) Adam Smith, says that it wasn't exactly the hate crime it's being made out to be.

"This kid was at the party, and was acting kind of ridiculous. I went over, took his hat and started dancing around," he said.

Smith then said he asked the student: "Why are you wearing this gay ass hat?" According to Smith, the student replied that it was for the "same reason you're wearing your pink shirt."

Smith said that he then asked if the student was implying that he (Smith) was "f***ing gay or something." Receiving an affirmative reaction, Smith then admitted to putting him in a head lock and ejecting him from the party.

Oh. Hm. OK. Fair enough. Again we return to the wizard hat. It was gay (and ass), not its wearer. A person claiming to be Smith jumped into the comments on the Wheel story, further explaining himself.

...chalk this up as me being a drunk asshole, a frat guy with too much testosterone, or whatever you want to call me I really don't care. I just want everyone to know that that's literally all it was, that's the honest truth. I'm not some ignorant bigot looking to bash homosexuals, so please don't think that. I hope the Wheel in the future will find better content to publish, rather than turning something small like this into an inflated and untruthful story in order to spark artificial controversy at the cost of an individual like me.

If that is the real Smith, well good for him for being honest about his drunken stupidity. It should also be noted that in that comment, this "Adam Smith" refers to the gay student in question as "the Wizard."

All this wizard talk has me wondering if something deeper and more sinister is going on here. Is there wizardry on Emory's campus? I mean, like, those bitches at Zeta Beta Tau certainly know something about wizard sleeves, riiiight? Gawd.

(Now, I don't mean to make fun of this story. If that's really what happened, it's very bad. But, c'mon. Wizard hat.)

[Towleroad]