Michael Auker is in a coma.

Exactly one month ago, Auker was beaten and left for dead at his trailer in Middleburg. Police said they found him bleeding and unconscious with every facial bone broken.

The two brothers charged with assaulting Auker may have been motivated to attack him because they thought he was gay, thus classifying the incident as a hate crime. State Trooper Frederick Dyroff testified that one of the brothers said the beating came after Auker made a sexual advance toward the brothers.

The men are invoking the so-called "gay panic" defense, in which suspects say a same-sex sexual advance causes emotions to run so high that the resulting actions are uncontrollable.

Last night, a group of 30 concerned members of the Penn State community held a candlelight vigil in front of Old Main, reflecting on the attack and offering prayers for Auker and his family.

The vigil began at 9 p.m., the same time that a group of students at another university were having a similar gathering.

"Bucknell University is having a really large (vigil)," said Jennifer Storm, social director of the Lambda Student Alliance and organizer of the vigil at Penn State.

Todd Clinger, 18, and Troy Clinger, 20, are charged with attempted murder in Auker's attack. The two men, both of Middleburg, were bound over for trial last month in Snyder County, a locality east of Centre County.

Troy Clinger's fiancée, Nicki Lee White, said the brothers planned to lure Auker to a deck, so they could "beat him up, kill him."

Storm likened the incident to the highly publicized murder of a gay college student in 1998.

"It's so similar to Matthew Shepard, it's scary," she said.

Shepard's killers also tried to use the "gay panic" defense.

Those speaking at the vigil last night addressed the problems that divide society and allow cruelties to occur. They called for unity transcending race, creed and sexual orientation.

"We recognize that regardless of the things that divide us, we live in a world of interrelations," said Ken Clarke, director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs.

Clarke called on those in attendance to acknowledge "the way in which the lives of gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons are objectified."

"They are treated as less than human," he said.

Rev. Carl Synan, campus pastor with the United Campus Ministry, remarked about the candles each person held as the group stood in a circle.

"That light symbolizes hope," he said.

Synan invited those present to quietly pray or reflect as he asked that Auker's family and friends be comforted.

Those present were able to give individual comments or prayers, and the group joined hands and observed a moment of silence to close the vigil.

Storm said the moment was for all of the people involved with the attack on Auker, as well as "everyone we know in our lives who suffers hate on a daily basis."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.