Emboldened homophobes are becoming more violent.
In two separate incidents, three gay men were brutally attacked outside nightclubs in Austin, TX over the weekend.
Leaving the popular downtown club Barbarella on ‘Tuesgayz,’ Robert Foster and a friend, both drag performers were attacked.
Foster explained their attacker punched him in the head; knock out a tooth, and then running him over in a car. Resulting in a broken leg.
“What comes to mind is that this is like a pattern. This needs to be stopped,” Foster told KTBC-TV. “If it is a pattern we need better security around the bars and the clubs people need to know just because it hasn’t happened to you yet, it can.”
In a separate incident, across Austin, Oscar Zavaleta was assaulted by two men outside Bout Time II, an LGBT bar on Austin’s north side.
Zavaleta suffered a broken nose and a black eye.
With anti-gay hate crimes on the rise in America, Back2Stonewall.com urges members of the gay community to be diligently aware of their surroundings and take the proper care and action for their own personal safety.
The incident including Robbie Foster occurred two Tuesdays ago, not on a weekend. The other person with him, known as “Klonopin” was the one who was run over by the car. The other individual wasn’t at BT2 when they were attacked, they were at Chillis restaurant next door and tried to say it had to do with BT2 when it didn’t. That person was also seen in the parking lots in what appeared to be soliciting. Please correct this information. And although both were crimes, no evidence at this point has confirmed that they were hate crimes.
Thanks girl <3
The report posted was from multiple newspaper sources. Also the fact that one might have been solicitation really has no bearing on the story other than to demonize him as a sex worker. For that reason alone I will not update the posted version. But I will allow the comment to stay.
Will K.
No one is demeaning if he was a sex worker, but the fact was he was not on Bout Time II’s property nor in the bar itself. Your publication weather from several news sources or not, still isn’t factual of the actual events or dates taken place. That is why the person above named Nick (Klonopin) who was actually one of the victims , is thanking me for speaking up and telling the truth. And again, not one of the incidents has been proven to be a hate crime. The problem with articles published that do not contain facts such as yours, is that it becomes a catalyst for further problems down the road, speculations, and rumors. Those rumors also can affect some of the business’ such as BT2 that have continued to provide a safe welcome environment for all.