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In the early hours of January 6, P. and R., a trans man and his partner, were brutally attacked by bouncers at the Uffa Don Ramón nightclub in Necochea. In addition to disrespecting his gender identity, the security guards beat and choked P. 

P. and R. live in Buenos Aires, are between 30 and 35 years old, and are still afraid. They managed to get a panic button for the days they have left in Necochea. They prefer that their names not be made public because, although they received support from the Municipality, they learned that some young people had already been beaten up at that same nightclub a few days earlier. 

“We were out for a walk on Sunday and decided to go to a bar with karaoke. We were having a beer and suddenly R. went to the bathroom, around 3 a.m. A second later I went to the bathroom too. And there was a guy standing there. The bathroom door is a regular door. You go through that door and choose male or female. The guy intercepted me and told me that the men's bathroom was downstairs. I told him: “Google gender identity.” And without saying a word, he punched me in the mouth,” P. told Presentes. 

At that moment, R. realized her partner was being beaten and screamed. Then she was also hit by the same person. “Another person came and grabbed me by the neck. Very hard. And he started dragging me toward the stairs, which are very steep. The guy kept letting go and I kept falling. He started dragging me down. R. was left with three guys upstairs and told them, ‘They’re beating a girl up.’ Nobody intervened,” P. recounted. The bouncer squeezed her neck so hard that P. felt like she was going to faint from lack of air. “From then on, it was one violent attack after another.” 

"File the complaint because I have to cover my tracks."

Between 3 and 5 a.m., they tried to get their belongings back from the bowling alley. As they were leaving, a man who said his name was Ariel approached them and warned them: “File a police report because I have to cover my tracks.” 

Before noon, they went to file a report at the Women's Police Station. There, they identified one of the bouncers and obtained photos from the nightclub's Facebook page . Hours after the attack, they learned that all the men who had assaulted them were bouncers.

“We want to set a precedent. This can’t happen to us. It was so much violence, without a word being spoken. We have bruises all over our bodies. More muscle pain is appearing. We had to use a lot of strength so they wouldn’t hurt us more,” P. told Presentes . They decided not to show photos or give their names because they don’t want to continue being abused.

Tomorrow they will go to the Prosecutor's Office to find out what will happen to them. Meanwhile, P. has the panic button and will thus finish what was a vacation marked by discrimination and violence. 

The Municipality

Noelia Oter, the Director of Gender Policies for the Municipality of Necochea, spoke with P. and R. to offer them support. They met today. “They had injuries, bruises on their bodies,” Oter told Presentes .

“We are supporting them from the Directorate with a team of social workers, psychologists, and lawyers. We met with them today. They have an interview at the UFI tomorrow. We remain at their disposal and are communicating with the relevant agencies to let them know they are expecting them,” explained the director of the municipal department. 

The police station's medical staff confirmed the injuries P. and R. had on their bodies, but did not take photos. "We have the photos we took ourselves," P. told Presentes .

“The Secretary of Government will speak with the owners of the bowling alley to see what happened and if any action can be taken regarding the bouncer,” explained the head of municipal communications. 

The bowling alley's answer

Presentes contacted the Uffa Don Ramón bowling alley via Facebook. “What I told them, I can tell you. Nothing justifies any kind of violence. But I would like the justice system to rule before I give my opinion, since yesterday I became aware of the video footage of what happened, and that will be submitted to the court so that a more accurate conclusion can be reached about what might have occurred,” said a man who identified himself as Ariel, the manager of the establishment.

The security cameras that, according to him, recorded the attack are both internal and external to the nightclub, and the footage will be presented to the court. “I felt much more at ease after seeing the images,” the manager of the nightclub where the couple was assaulted told Presentes . He only added that “they broke her mouth, I'm not saying anything else,” but he didn't provide any further details about the video's content and refused to show it.

Mobilization to raise awareness

In a public statement, P. and R. denounced "Uffa/Don Ramón Bar" not only for failing to comply with the gender identity law but also for complicity in perpetuating and exercising cis-sexist violence.

Therefore, they called on the entire LGBTIQPA+ community and anyone who wishes to join them to a rally to denounce and condemn the bar on Wednesday, January 8th at 8pm in San Martín Square, 6th and 83rd Streets.

The statement ends with the urgent demands of #Stop sexist violence against our desiring, joyful and dissident bodies, #Lesbians and translesbians exist because we resist, and #In the face of sexist violence, lesbian-trans-feminist self-defense.