A young Queens thug yesterday pleaded guilty to a hate crime for helping to beat a gay man last year.

Daniel Rodriguez, 22, faces 12 years in jail in the beating of Jack Price, 50.

Price suffered a broken jaw, several broken ribs, collapsed lungs and a lacerated spleen in the attack.

But Rodriguez’s father, Daniel Sr., 50, yesterday insisted to The Post that Price’s sexual orientation had nothing to do with the beating.