By Lucas Gutiérrez. Mauro Grosso (37 years old) was the victim of a homophobic attack in the early hours of Saturday, September 14, in the Congreso neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Shortly after 4:00 a.m., he left the venue at 1910 Avenida Rivadavia, where an LGBT+ party was being held, when he was attacked as he turned the corner onto Sarandí Street. “I didn't see how many there were; two grabbed me from behind, and a possible third was hitting me the most. I started screaming, and the one holding me from behind taunted me, saying, 'Oh, look at the little faggot screaming.' That paralyzed me,” Mauro told Presentes. “At that moment, I felt like I was regressing to elementary school, like when you're bullied and a single word can trigger so many things. I froze; another one was hitting me and saying, 'Shut up, faggot.' Those are the words I remember most,” Mauro explained. “I felt like a child, ashamed,” he told this media outlet, adding that after sitting for a while crying on the sidewalk, he returned to his house, which is nearby.

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That Friday, Mauro had gone out to celebrate his birthday, which was Saturday, after midnight: “I got home, looked in the mirror, and felt heartbroken. I wanted to tell someone. Since I didn't have a cell phone, the first thing I thought of was messaging her on Facebook.” Mauro left the house again, this time to file a police report. On his way to the station, he said he passed a patrol car. He thought the officers might be able to help him, but they didn't seem to care. He then filed the report at Precinct 3. Lucas Longo, a friend of Mauro's and an activist with 100% Diversity and Rights, accompanied him to file the report. “If Mauro hadn't been accompanied, it would have been very difficult for him to continue with the various steps required to file this type of report,” he explained to Presentes.

What to do in the face of this type of aggression

Longo said that the first thing to do after an attack of this type is to have the injuries documented by qualified medical personnel. “The person can go directly to the police station or prosecutor's office, and they should facilitate the documentation through a forensic doctor, but the truth is that it doesn't happen that easily. That's why we recommend that, whether through a public or private hospital, depending on the person's circumstances, they go to the emergency room to request attention so that any injuries they may have can be documented before filing a report with the police or prosecutor's office,” Lucas explained. The report was filed at the 3rd Precinct. “The police objective was to document the robbery. Of course, the material value is important, but we want to document an assault with an aggravating factor related to violence and hate crimes based on sexual orientation,” Longo explained, emphasizing that “what the police do is focus on the theft or an act that targets private property and tell you that's as far as they go, but in reality, what needs to be done is to insist because if there is an aggravating factor, that needs to be documented.”

Report to the prosecutor's office

Maribé Sgariglia is an activist with the Argentine LGBT Federation (FALGBT) and part of the LGBT Advocacy And she told Presentes: “In many cases, when victims go to the police station, they say that either their report wasn't taken, or half of what they wanted to report wasn't recorded. Most don't go to police stations because any LGBT+ person knows it's not a friendly or respectful environment for our identities.” In this regard, Sgariglia shared the option of filing a report with the prosecutor's office. “At the LGBT+ Advocacy Office, we help people complete reports online because it's an authorized way to file a report so they don't have to go to the prosecutor's office. It can also be done by phone or email.” When completing the reports, it's very important not to omit details such as physical assaults or threats. “These are things that constitute crimes, and what they do is provide context and make it clear that discriminatory acts occurred.”

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Sgariglia further specified: “Sometimes, because there was an attack, only that one is reported, but it is very important to provide specific context so that the prosecutor's office takes it for what it is: a crime based on your sexual orientation or gender identity.” In Argentina, the National Law Against Discrimination does not address attacks based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but “The anti-discrimination law of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires includes sexual diversity and provides a regulatory framework to report an attack for being LGBT+ within the city of Buenos Aires,” said Sgariglia. The activist, who has been presenting national bills for years through FALGBT to address this gap, but they have not progressed: “At the national level, we don't have a law that protects us. That is, we can get married, we can change our legal records, but we can still be discriminated against. That's the irony.”