Attack on a gay couple in Buenos Aires: "They beat us for kissing in the street"
They were walking through the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires when three men attacked them for kissing.
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By Rosario Marina
Photos: Instagram YJ
“We were just attacked for kissing in the street,” Y reported, first on his Instagram story and later at a police station. A few minutes earlier, three people had attacked him and his partner, P, at the corner of Aráoz and 1900, in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, on Wednesday, September 30. Neighbors helped them call 911 and clean the blood from the wounds Y had on his knee, elbow, and hand.
The complaint in court
After two hours at the 14th police station in the city, P was able to file a report. During that time, Y says she began to feel severe pain and had to leave. Yesterday she returned to expand on her report. The case is now in the hands of the Criminal, Misdemeanor, and Petty Offenses Prosecutor's Office No. 8, headed by Maximiliano Vence.
“Apparently, the person who helped them said they “did not see the attack” and that is why they are looking in any dome or security camera footage,” explained the Public Prosecutor's Office of the City to Presentes .
After a kiss, homophobia
“On Wednesday, I was walking with my boyfriend down the street in the Palermo neighborhood. We had just finished having a beer and were heading home. We stopped at a corner, Aráoz at 1900. We started kissing, just kissing, something that shouldn't bother anyone on the planet, something that doesn't happen when it's a man and a woman, for example,” Y told Presentes a day after the attack.
Suddenly, she said, they heard shouts and heavy footsteps. They separated and saw three men approaching, “at first as if they wanted to attack us but didn’t. I pulled my boyfriend away so he would take the blow. The next thing I knew, one of them punched me, knocking me to the ground with more blows. I was hit in the head and arm. Also, one of the three men had a stick,” Y. warned.
The neighbors' shouts made the attackers back off. Matías, one of them, yelled to P and Y to take refuge in his house. From there they called 911. There, Y was able to disinfect her knees, hand, and the wounds on her elbow.
“We learned from the prosecutor that the police are now saying there were no witnesses, even though practically the entire block came out to help us, to come to our aid, and to prevent things from escalating. They [the police] are denying it, in addition to arriving late and seeing them escape. They took two hours to take our report, without providing us with medical assistance. Institutionally, they failed,” P told Presentes .
“It was an act of hatred against a gay couple.”
The coordinator of the LGBT Ombudsman's Office, Flavia Massenzio, contacted Y and P to find out what happened and to intervene. “What worries us , and why we will participate with our opinion in the case, is that they have classified it as minor injuries, when it was clearly an act aggravated by hatred towards the victims' sexual orientation María Rachid, head of the Institute against Discrimination of the Ombudsman's Office of the City of Buenos Aires,
explained to Presentes
“It is important that the justice system knows how to identify these acts because, in addition to violating very important individual rights, such as physical integrity, they also violate collective rights, generating fear in an entire community,” Rachid added.
“This was neither a criminal act nor an attempted robbery nor a random attack,” Y concluded. “It was an act of hatred directed at a gay couple.”
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