Hate attack: Two trans women and three non-binary people attacked in Mexico City
They also claim that judicial and police authorities tried to discourage reporting of the incident.
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. Two transgender women and three non-binary people were victims of a hate attack in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City. Astra Lem Mvtante art and ballroom studio , reported on social media that three people assaulted them with homophobic and transphobic insults and physical blows at the entrance of a restaurant chain in the capital known as Casa de Toño .
“We just wanted to have dinner, but from the moment we arrived these men wouldn't stop insulting us. The police didn't believe us; they said it was a fight when it was clearly an act of LGBTQphobia,” Astra wrote on social media.
The police tried to dissuade them from filing a report and even threatened to prosecute them as well. One of the attackers was arrested at the scene by the authorities, and the other two perpetrators have already been identified through social media.
Those affected are requesting assistance through the email address ayuda@racismo.mx so that any witnesses can provide their testimony for the investigation. The victims' legal representation has already requested protective measures to safeguard their safety.
What happened
At 7:45 p.m., five members of the LGBT community went to dinner at Casa de Toño, located between Río Lerma and Río Nerva, two blocks from Paseo de la Reforma Avenue, in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City . While waiting in line to enter the restaurant, three people began making derogatory comments about them.
“They started making fun of inclusive language, of how we were dressed, and telling us that we don’t even know how to get attention anymore,” says L, one of the victims who spoke with Agencia Presentes and decided to remain anonymous for safety reasons.
In an interview, Astra Mvtante says that they mostly looked at her: “I have always received insults and harassment in my daily life. Although I was used to receiving violence, not to that degree.”
According to the account of Otto Castillo —the victims' lawyer and part of the legal team of the organization Racismo Mx— one of the members of the group approached the men who were insulting them and said: “Please, calm down. We don't want any trouble.”
At that moment, a man in a black shirt and red cap, later identified as Genaro N, responded, “Well, I do have a problem,” and then grabbed the nearest person by the shoulders and threw them to the ground. He punched them in the nose and face, and the other two men began kicking them in different parts of their body.
The group tried to separate the attackers from their friend. “I went into shock and just kept pulling them apart. Toño’s family didn’t do anything until we yelled at them and they let us into the bathrooms,” Astra recounts.
R, who was punched in the nose and forehead, managed to get his sisters inside the restaurant and lock the doors. At approximately 8:22 pm, an officer from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) at the restaurant. L went outside to speak with the officers, and during the interview, the man in the black shirt punched him in front of the police.
Genaro N is the only person arrested and remains in pretrial detention while the investigation file is compiled.
Attempts to discourage reporting
The two non-binary individuals who suffered visible consequences from the hate crime were taken, as per protocol, to file a report at the prosecutor's office. On two occasions, they were taken to the wrong locations within the Cuauhtémoc borough. "This represents institutional disarray within the prosecutor's office and a physical and emotional drain on the victims, their families, and their representatives," Otto Castillo points out.
The police repeatedly tried to dissuade them from filing a report. They suggested they reach a financial settlement with their attackers. “The whole time I felt like they were telling us: we need you to hurry up because we have more important things to do. But we decided to proceed,” L said in an interview.
At the prosecutor's office, the public prosecutors told the injured parties to drop their charges up to five times. "One prosecutor even said in front of the victims, 'Well, this guy (the aggressor) will file an appeal and get off scot-free.' As if to say, 'What you're going to do is pointless,'" the lawyer from Racismo Mx told Presentes .
In the Doctores neighborhood, at the Mexico City Attorney General's Office headquarters, staff from the Directorate of Sexual Diversity, Human Rights , and Racism Mx accompanied the victims, L and R, to file their complaint. However, no investigation was opened against the other assailants because the authorities claimed they did not have their names.
In the last few hours, the victims have had to investigate who attacked them. Astra Lem reports receiving harassing messages demanding she delete the images she shared of her attackers.
“I realized the police are awful. I already knew it, but I experienced it firsthand. As trans and non-binary people, we're not safe in this city. This city wants to kill us. Three days before Trans Visibility Day, these kinds of things happen… We did everything we could to file a report because they didn't want us to. Tomorrow it could be one of our sisters alone. We were together, there were five of us. We managed to support each other and get through this process,” says L.
What to do in case of assault
“The complaint clearly states that it didn't begin with the first physical contact, but rather with the initial verbal acts: the homophobic and transphobic insults directed at the entire group. We have asked those who witnessed the events to provide their testimony. Both victims have injuries; one suffered trauma and significant bleeding,” the lawyer explains.
Given the increase in attacks against the LGBT community, Otto Castillo recommends that anyone experiencing a similar situation seek shelter and ensure their physical safety, contact the Division of Sexual Diversity and Human Rights of Mexico City , and request that authorities transfer them to the Priority Attention Group Fiscal Agency for LGBT individuals, located in the Local Prosecutor's Office bunker.
Racismo Mx offers advice and support for acts of discrimination
In the coming hours, the two assailants, already identified as Roberto S and Bernardo G, must be summoned by the prosecutor's office. Protective measures for the two victims, R and L, must be implemented within 48 hours of the arrest.
“At Racismo Mx we are arguing that it was undoubtedly an act of direct discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the context of being part of a priority attention group under the Political Constitution of Mexico City,” the lawyer explains.
“I’m not afraid anymore. I decided to file the complaint so there’s evidence. If anything happens to me, I hold those people responsible,” Astra says. For her, such an attack is a reminder that there’s still a long way to go for the acceptance of trans and non-binary identities.
“I think that many times trans people, being accustomed to violence, try to build safe spaces,” says Astra Lem, who organized the second edition of the Juntrans festival in Mexico City as a space to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility —we try. I call them “trans utopias,” those ephemeral moments we create. I wish those moments could last longer. Our lives are in danger; it can be that easy to lose trans utopias.
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