The Pasadena Police Department needs public assistance in finding the individuals responsible for attacking three Ixtapa Cantina Bar patrons in March.
A police department spokesperson posted a statement on social media:
We are aware of and are actively investigating an incident that occurred last week as patrons were leaving the Ixtapa Cantina Bar. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime and we are asking anyone who may have witnessed the incident to provide any information that can help in the identification and apprehension of a suspect or suspects.
We thank those community members who have already come forward to provide some information and we encourage others to do the same by calling the police department or by contacting Los Angeles Crime Stoppers.
KABC 7 Los Angeles reported that Diamond Gonzalez told reporters his group of three were leaving the bar when they were attacked in the parking lot of the bar.
“A group of guys came up and attacked us,” he said. “My back was faced toward them and they hit me from the back and just knocked me out cold.”
Gonzales was taken to a local hospital. He and his friends suffered multiple cuts and bruises.
“Everyone looked like bowling pins, getting knocked out,” said Noah Offield, one of three who were attacked.
The other victim, Ray Carabantes tried to take pictures of the assailant’s license plate number but was unsuccessful.
“He turned around with a weapon and said, ‘Do you want to take a picture of my license plate now?’” recalled Carabantes. “So immediately, I thought to myself, ‘I’m just going to run away.’”
A Home Office minister attempted to defend Rwanda’s LGBT+ and human rights record amid backlash to Boris Johnson’s plan to give asylum seekers a one-way ticket to the African nation.
Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Thursday (14 April) plans for the UK to ‘offshore’ many asylum seekers to processing centres in Rwanda.
Tom Pursglove, junior minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, was confronted with the Foreign Office’s own travel advice for LGBT+ people going to Rwanda by Sky News on Friday (15 April).
The department warns that while there is no law forbidding same-sex relations, homosexuality is “frowned on by many” in Rwanda and LGBT+ people experience “discrimination and abuse”.
Tory justice minister Tom Pursglove sought to justify the government’s ‘evil’ immigration plan. (Sky News)
“That is the advice given to gay people in this country from the Foreign Office, just round the corner from you,” said host Niall Paterson.
Pursglove stumbled over his words: “We have this, I have to say, some appalling stereotypes thrown around in the last 24 hours since this announcement.
“The fact is Rwanda has made huge strides forward over the last three decades. It has a female-majority parliament, it has an anti-discrimination law that runs right through its constitution.”
Tory plans asylum plan will ‘result in gay refugees being deported to death’
Pursglove was again confronted with a 2021 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on the practice of “round-ups” by Rwandan officials.
The non-profit spoke to nine LGBT+ people as well as sex workers, homeless children and others who were detained by officials to “clear up” the streets ahead of a high-profile Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Detainees were held in overcrowded rooms without adequate food, water and healthcare and beaten by guards at a transit centre in Kigali.
Gay and trans detainees told HRW they were accused of “not representing Rwandan values”.
One trans woman said: “Police said we were cursed, and asked how we could behave in this way, having sex with people of the same sex as us. They said we’re delinquents and put us in that room. But in the room, we were badly beaten by other detainees and police did nothing despite our cries.”
One detainee was arrested after kissing his same-sex partner in a bar. Another gay detainee said he was beaten and told he needed to be “rehabilitated.”
While same-sex relations are not illegal, there are no legal protections for LGBT+ people aside from a general anti-discrimination measure.
Similar “round-ups” have been recorded before other high-profile events, with widespread reports of authorities arresting queer people on charges of “deviant behaviour”.
In 2020, one trans woman told Vice that she was arrested while making her way home from a party. Officers falsely claimed she was homeless and selling drugs, taking her to Gikondo Transit Center – where she was detained for six months.
Men sit in the Gikondo transit center in Kigali on September 24, 2015. (Getty)
“They directly cut your hair, they remove your clothes, and see who you are. They put me in front of 400 people and removed my clothes,” the woman, Bella, said. “They said, ‘See how he’s behaving, and he has a penis.’”
Bella said that she was held in a dark, dirty cell known as “the cat box”, where she was forced to urinate and defecate on herself. She was told “to become a man”, beaten multiple times, and raped by fellow detainees at least three separate times.
This reputation is why LGBT+ rights advocates have reacted in horror to the UK government’s Rwanda asylum proposal.
Among them is Dr S Chelvan, head of immigration and public law at the firm 33 Bedford Row, who told PinkNews that if enacted, the plan “will result in genuine gay refugees being deported to death”.
“Rwanda’s human rights record includes forced disappearances and killings, and even today’s UK [Foreign Office] travel advice warns LGBT+ travellers of state-sanctioned abuse and discrimination,” Chelvan said.
“This government has lost its moral compass, and as we have seen in the past few days has no respect for the rule of law.
“The British public has shown with both Afghanistan and Ukraine we are a country that provides sanctuary and welcomes refugees into, and to stay in the UK.”
Home secretary Priti Patel visited Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, on Thursday to sign the agreement.
British home secretary Priti Patel (C) visited Kigali, where a dozen LGBT+ people were detained last year by the authorities. (Cyril Ndegeya/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The plan would relocate thousands of migrants and offer them the option of seeking settlement in countries other than Britain, being forced back to their home country or staying permanently in Rwanda.
Trying to justify a policy that LGBT+ and human rights activists have dubbed “evil“, Pursglove said Rwanda has a “rich and proud history” of providing sanctuary to asylum seekers.
He claimed that the decision of whether to fly asylum seekers out would be taken on a “case by case” process.
Asked by Good Morning Britain whether he would happily live in Rwanda, he said he would only visit.
According to a Home Office fact sheet on the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, any asylum seeker who is “inadmissible to the UK asylum system” and can be “removed” would automatically be flown away to a “safe third-world country”.
Only if the person cannot be “removed” would their claim be considered by the Home Office.
Whether the policy will be implemented remains uncertain. This week, parliament will again consider the Nationality and Borders Bill that would intensify the Conservative government’s already hardline immigration policies. Johnson has admitted that he expects the plan to face legal challenges.
Given that the proposal is not yet law, Chelvan called on the House of Lords and judges “to make sure our obligations to the Refugee Convention in line with our proud history and tradition in the UK to provide sanctuary to refugees is not broken by our broken politicians.”
Lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House have passed a bill that would ban trans students from competing in girls’ and women’s sports – despite the governor’s promise to veto it.
House Bill 972 (HB 972) would prohibit trans girls from participating in girls’ and women’s athletics at publicly-funded schools, “public institutions of higher education” and any school or institution where “students or teams compete against a public school”.
The controversial bill passed in the state’s House by a 115-84 vote on Tuesday (12 April). A lone Republican voted against it, while four Democrats crossed lines to vote in support of the anti-trans bill, CNNreported.
The bill will now make its way through the Republican-controlled Senate, but HB 972 may be ultimately doomed to fail. Governor Tom Wolf has vowed to veto “transphobic legislation” pushed by GOP lawmakers in the state.
“As states across the country push transphobic legislation, some Republicans in the General Assembly are wasting time attempting the same in Pennsylvania,” Wolf wrote on Twitter. “It won’t get past my desk.”
The Democratic governor also promised to veto HB 972, which he described as “discriminatory”, last year as the bill made its way through the state legislature.
The Pennsylvania bill comes as the inclusion of trans youth in school athletics has become a flashpoint in US politics, and over a dozen states have passed legislation restricting the ability for trans kids to play on school sports teams.
Ryan Matthews, Pennsylvania state director for the Human Rights Campaign, said the bill “serves one purpose” – to “advance self-serving political objectives” of anti-LGBT+ lawmakers at the “expense” of trans youth”.
Matthews said lawmakers in the state’s House knew the legislation “isn’t going anywhere” – given Wolf’s promise to veto it – and called on the Senate to now “reject this bigoted attack”.
“This kind of legislation, which targets a marginalised population without doing any good whatsoever, is simply part of a coordinated, nationwide campaign aiming to incite hatred and attract extremist votes, and it has no place in this state,” Matthews added.
The Pennsylvania legislation also comes after Lia Thomas, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, became the first trans athlete to win an NCAA Division I title in March. Thomas, who came in first in the women’s 500-yard freestyle event, has faced mounting vitriol as she has become the centre of the debate on trans women’s participation in sports.
Republican state representative Barb Gleim, who is the prime sponsor of HB 972, spoke about Thomas during the debate around the legislation, NBC Philadelphia reported.
Gleim claimed that allowing trans girls to compete in girls’ sports gives them an “immense unfair advantage” and alleged that Thomas’ win ‘decimated an entire league’ in women’s sports.
Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan, who recently competed against Thomas, has also declared that all athletes “deserve to be respected and included, exactly as we are”. She wrote in an op-ed for Newsweek that Thomas has been “unfairly targeted” for “being who she is”.
The openly queer swimmer also condemned those pushing anti-trans legislation in the name of ‘protecting women’s sports’.
“As a woman in sports, I can tell you that I know what the real threats to women’s sports are: sexual abuse and harassment, unequal pay and resources and a lack of women in leadership,” Sullivan declared. “Transgender girls and women are nowhere on this list.”
A family in Florida is is facing counts of first-degree attempted murder, burglary with battery, and kidnapping, all with hate crimes enhancements, following an alleged attack that left the gay victim permanently blind.
Prosecutors with the Broward County State Attorney’s Office didn’t give many details about the alleged August 6, 2021 attack when they announced that Inna Makarenko, 44, Yevhen Makarenko, 43, and Oleh Makarenko, 21, were arrested this past March and are all facing charges because they are “accused of severely beating a man based on his sexual orientation.”
The 31-year-old victim, a gay man, lives in Pompano beach and was “severely beaten” during the alleged attack.
“He has been permanently blinded and sustained other serious injuries as a result of the incident,” the Broward County State Attorney’s Office said in a statement. According to court documents, the family brandished a firearm during the attack.
The victim has asked that his name not be made public.
A fourth person, Vladyslav Makarenko, 25, was transferred from a jail in Alabama to Florida. Prosecutors have not said whether he will be facing charges in the case yet.
All four of the defendants are being held without bond and Assistant State Attorney Darryl Torres of the State Attorney’s Office Hate Crimes Unit is handling the case.
Florida’s hate crimes law allows for enhanced penalties for crimes committed because of the victim’s sexual orientation. The law does not include gender identity as a protected category.
A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging John Lhota with the April 3, 2022 arson of Rash, a bar and nightclub in Bushwick frequented by members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Lhota was arrested yesterday and will make his initial appearance this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann.
Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; John B. DeVito, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and Laura Kavanagh, Acting Commissioner, New York City Fire Department (FDNY), announced the arrest and charge.
“As alleged, Lhota deliberately set fire to a bar and nightclub patronized by members of the LGBTQ+ community, seriously injuring two of its employees, and endangering all present including the tenants of the building as well as the first responders who battled the blaze for approximately one hour,” stated United States Attorney Peace.
“This Office strongly condemns such acts of violence, and will vigorously prosecute this case. The victims, and all LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, should be able to enjoy their nights out in peace and without fear of such a dangerous attack.”
As set forth in the complaint, on the evening of April 3, 2022, Lhota was captured on security video purchasing a red gas canister at a service station and filling it with gasoline.
Lhota then proceeded to Rash, located on the ground floor of a multi-story building at 941 Willoughby Avenue, where he allegedly poured gasoline over the floor of the bar. The video showed Lhota tossing a lit cigarette on the floor, but the gasoline did not ignite.
Lhota then used a cigarette lighter to ignite the gasoline, causing an explosion and a fire. The floors above Rash contain residential apartments. Firefighters responded to the location and extinguished the blaze.
Two employees of Rash were injured and required hospitalization. The building sustained heavy damage due to the fire. Security video captured Lhota fleeing the burning nightclub.
The charge in the complaint is an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, Lhota faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 7 years’ imprisonment, and a maximum of 40 years’ imprisonment.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after two men were killed in Sligo, Ireland with an apparent homophobic motive.
The Irish Examinerreports that a man in his twenties was arrested on Wednesday morning (13 April) in connection with the deaths of Michael Snee, 58, and Aidan Moffitt, 42.
Snee was found dead in his home on Tuesday (12 April), while Moffit was found dead in his home on Monday night (11 April). Both men reportedly lived alone.
Snee had “been subject of a serious physical assault and had suffered significant injuries”, said Garda superintendent Aidan Glacken. Moffit’s body was described as “badly multilated” by the Irish press.
According to The Irish Independent, officers are allegedly investigating whether the killings were conducted by a person targeting men on dating apps.
Speaking at a press conference, Garda superintendent Aidan Glacken said: “Shortly after 1.30am this morning, a male in his early 20s was arrested for murder. This male remains in custody at Sligo Garda Station detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 and I cannot make any further comment on this part of the investigation.”
According to The Irish Times, Moffit worked in the property sector, and was a peace commissioner for his local area. His close friend Blaine Gaffney said he was an “all-round good guy”.
Gaffney told RTE: “It’s hard to believe what happened, and I’d be looking to speak about Aidan as the positive person he was, and remember Aidan for who he was and not what happened to him.”
Snee was described by a local as a quiet man who was always happy to help when needed.
“He was like a church mouse,” a neighbour told The Irish Independent. “You wouldn’t know he was there unless you went looking for him.
“But if you needed him he was there for you. How can anyone do something like that. It is the cruellest of cruel.
“It’s unreal.”
“Michael and Aidan were well known and respected in this community,” Glacken said.
“We continue to retain an open mind in this investigation.
“We are actively investigating as to whether there is any hate-related motive to these murders.”
He added that gardaí “will endeavour to seek out all the available evidence, and ultimately it will be for a court to decide on the motivation behind these appalling crimes.”
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he sent his “deepest sympathies” to the family and friends of Aidan Moffitt.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he was “shocked” and “worried” by the killings.
“I just really wanted to say, I’ve been speaking to some of our members in Sligo last night, and I just really wanted to say how shocked and how worried I am actually by the two murders that appeared to have occurred in Sligo over the last couple of days,” he told RTÉ.
Sligo Pride has issued a warning to those attending two Pride events over the weekend in light of the recent incidents, assuring attendees that it is looking into security at its event.
“If at all possible, do not walk home alone. If you cannot afford a taxi, please let a friend know when you have left a venue and when you’ve gotten home,” the organisation said on Twitter.“If you are meeting someone online in person for the first time, give a trusted friend as much information on this other person as you can and let your friend know where you are. We understand the worries and concerns at this time.”Gardai are appealing to “any person who may have been subject to any unwanted approaches or who was assaulted or otherwise attacked to contact the incident room at Sligo Garda station”.
Most people will never understand just how traumatic it is to flee your home country to search for safety.
It’s a terrifying prospect, and it’s one that the people of Ukraine are dealing with right now as Russia’s cruel, unjust war wages on. More than 4.4 million people have fled Ukraine in the six weeks since the attack began.
For LGBT+ people fleeing war and violence, there are specific issues they have to face. On top of leaving their homes behind, some will have to contend with homophobia, biphobia or transphobia along the way. That’s why they need specific, targeted supports.
Micro Rainbow is just one of the organisations working to make sure LGBT+ refugees are being adequately cared for when they arrive in the UK. They operate 16 safe houses around the UK for queer refugees arriving into the country, and they also provide numerous other services to help them adjust to their new lives.
Their work has never been so important – that’s why PinkNews has launched the LGBTQ Refugees Welcome campaign, an initiative that aims to raise £50,000 to support LGBT+ Ukrainians and other displaced people.
Donations will be shared between Micro Rainbow and OutRight Action International, which is distributing funds to LGBT+ groups working on the ground in Ukraine to support the community.
It’s now been six weeks since Russia declared war on Ukraine. In that time, advocacy groups have been working tirelessly to keep the country’s LGBT+ community afloat.
Lenny Emson, director of Kyiv Pride, told PinkNews that the community isfacing specific issues such as family estrangement, homophobia and transphobia that are exacerbating an already impossible situation.
Meanwhile, countless others have already fled the country in the hope that they can get to safety elsewhere as Russia continues its barbaric attack.
Ukraine’s LGBT+ community needs your support – both those who have chosen to stay and those who have already fled to safety. Please donate what you can to the LGBTQ+ Refugees Welcome campaign by visiting our GoFundMe page.
Robbie Pierce wrote about what happened to him, his husband, and their six- and five-year-old children while riding on an Amtrak train. Pierce said they were approached by a man they didn’t know who shouted at the six-year-old: “Remember what I told you. They stole you. They’re pedophiles.”
Pierce told the man to “get away from my family,” and the man allegedly responded: “Family? That’s not a family! You’re both rapists. You steal Black and Asian kids.”
“You guys aren’t natural,” the man continued as the children cried. “Homosexuals are an abomination. They steal and rape kids.”
Pierce said that he took the kids to another car while his husband dealt with the man. A conductor came and further distracted the man.
He said that his children “cried for almost an hour.” During that time, he asked his son if he had seen the man before and the son said that the man had already confronted him when he went to the bathroom.
“Yet we’re the groomers,” Pierce wrote sardonically.
According to Pierce, no one in the car helped. Several people gave what he called “sympathetic looks” or came up to him later to apologize.
The man was arrested for refusing to leave the train, according to Pierce.
Pierce said that this isn’t the first time he and his family have been shouted at by homophobic strangers, but this is the first time that they have been called pedophiles, something he believes is a product of the current political climate.
“We’ve dealt with this brand of terrifying homophobic stranger before with our son,” he wrote. “But ‘pedophiles’ and ‘rapists’ were new in the mix, at least out loud.”
“We all know where that comes from. So thanks to Fox [News and CEO Rupert] Murdoch, JK Rowling [and Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Green, to the senators and priests and everyone else who harms kids and thinks it’s politically expedient to project onto gentle families like mine to stir up their lucrative culture war.”
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, more than 2.4 million refugees have fled across the border to Poland.
In order to get to Lublin, the closest major Polish city to the northern border, refugees often have to travel through some of Poland’s so-called “LGBT-free zones”.
These zones began popping up across the country in 2019, with almost 100 municipalities declaring themselves unwelcoming of “LGBT ideology”.
“One of the trans women we were helping asked me: ‘Are we going to be going through those ‘LGBT-free zones’, and what does that mean?” explains Filip Kijowski, 28, co-founder of the LGBT+ library Biblioteka Azyl, based in Lublin.
He and curator Waldemar Tatarczuk, 57, have been working flat-out to assist LGBT+ refugees in finding community, safety and healthcare after leaving Ukraine.
“It’s horrific that they are not only fleeing war and have these traumas, but also have to be worried about being more traumatised by our government,” Kijowski tells PinkNews.
In 2020 “LGBT-free zones” covered a third of Poland; a small handful have since renounced the declarations.
In February, Poland’s parliament passed a law banning so-called “LGBT+ propaganda” in schools across the country. It is illegal for same-sex couples to marry or adopt children, and a 2019 opinion poll found that almost a quarter of the population believes homosexuality must not be tolerated.
Although it is hard to ascertain how many Polish citizens identify as queer, ninety per cent of anti-LGBT attacks go unreported, a 2016 survey found.
Standing against this bigotry as a beacon of hope is exactly why the library was founded last year. The largest of its kind in Poland, it houses more than 1,000 books, all donated by queer authors and publishers from around the world.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, Kijowski knew that he had the framework and connections to begin a “direct response” to the situation.
“We’re assisting people specifically to escape from the war,” he explains. “What I mean by this is we are in touch with drivers who are able to drive into Ukraine… they’re able to drive people out, and I usually meet them at the border.
“We try and create a safe space for them to rest in Poland for a short while, because most of them want to move on, actually, they want to go to Berlin or Sweden. Some want to stay in Poland but it, unfortunately, isn’t the most queer-friendly environment.”
Waldemar Tatarczuk and Filip Kijowski in Lviv, Ukraine, last year. (Kijowski)
The pair have so far assisted more than 20 people, in some cases finding them work and accommodation.
Recently they found a home for “a young trans person and their parents”, and secured work and housing in Berlin for a non-binary refugee and a trans woman.
However, Kijowski stresses it is all about catering to people’s “specific needs”. For instance, they were able to raise the funds to get a new laptop for a graphic designer to continue working after hers was left behind in Ukraine.
Kijowski and Tatarcuk’s daily work includes linking people up with doctors to provide psychological and medical care, as well as securing vital hormones for trans people, which have been donated by the international community.
Some trans people, particularly trans women, are unable to flee the war zone. While Ukrainian trans people are able to have their gender legally recognised, the process is lengthy and some who haven’t completed it are reportedly being turned away at the borders because they have male gender markers.
The Polish pair want to be ready when more Ukrainian LGBT+ people come across the border, so are crowdfunding for their organisation’s move to a larger building in May.
It will be an “LGBTQ+ refugee centre for Ukrainian queer people”, giving people “access to safety, to be able to rest, to have some food, talk with us and talk amongst each other.” It will also house the library.
So far they have raised more than £6,000 on their GoFundMe page.
Kijowski says that the moment that he realised he needed to help came when he was on the phone with a Ukrainian friend and heard sirens in the background.
“I could sense the fear,” he says. “As a queer person, knowing what it’s like to receive support, and having been helped for quite a few years growing up in the queer community, it’s also a responsibility.
“That’s a strong word, but it is a responsibility to be able to at least give doses of that support back into the community.”
