Angry victim ‘left in fear’ after late-night homophobic attack

A non-binary person has told of being afraid of walking the city’s streets after suffering physically and emotionally in an apparent homophobic incident a week after Galway Gay Pride.

Zerhanah, a bisexual who does not identify as exclusively male or female, recalled being thrown to the ground when coming to the aid of a friend who was allegedly punched several times during a late night attack at Spanish Arch.

The Dubliner who lives in Galway said it was a reminder that despite great societal and legislative changes, homophobia was ‘still a thing’.

“Most queer people have had things shouted at them on the street. I’ve had my fair share of things shouted at me – faggot, dyke, you name it I’ve been called it but I’ve never been physically attacked for it before and obviously it was terrifying,” the 19-year-old told the Galway City Tribune.

“It did shock me; the reality that I’m living somewhere you can’t just go outside and be yourself, be openly queer and expect to feel safe. You can’t brush it off. It’s scary leaving the house because I don’t know if this will happen again. A lot of people think this wouldn’t happen, that we’ve moved past that, but the issue is we really haven’t.”

In a post on Twitter following the incident, Zerhanah said: “Thank u random men in Galway for punching my friend, throwing me into the ground, spraining my leg and calling us faggots just for dancing and having a nice time at Spanish Arch. I will report you and I will get you done for this.”

In a post the following day, Zerhanah thanked people for the support. “Just wanted to say thank u to everyone sending me love and support right now. I’m home from hospital and in a lot of pain and emotional from what happened but I’ll b okay and ily (I love you) all. There are some proper assholes out there so everyone please stay safe,” the tweet said.

The NUIG law and taxation student, who uses the pronoun ‘they’ rather than he or she, recounted the events of the night to this newspaper.

“We were having a few drinks at Spanish Arch and suddenly the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around. We were a group of very obviously queer people; five or six very outwardly queer presenting. There was a group of about 10 lads there too.

“Two of my friends were up dancing and the word ‘faggot’ was being thrown around by the group of lads. We didn’t know if it was directed at us or not but my friend turned around, and said ‘what are you saying?’ He then started to be punched and got about six punches to the face. I ran over to try pull him away. As soon as I stood up to pull him away I was thrown onto the ground by one of them. The word ‘faggot’ was still being thrown around, I could hear it being shouted at me. I went over on my ankle; couldn’t stand up, couldn’t walk. I was basically on the ground wailing for help,” said Zerhanah.

An ambulance arrived and the People Before Profit political activist gave a statement on the night to Gardaí but did not make an official complaint when contacted days later by a Garda, who confirmed there was no CCTV footage of the incident.

“My friend is fine, his jaw was quite sore after it but there was no bruising. He knows self-defence so he managed to get out of it. Unfortunately I took the brunt of the soreness. I’m still not properly able to walk without the crutch at times,” Zerhanah said.

A Garda spokesperson said: “We don’t have a report of an assault in the Spanish Arch area over the weekend (Thursday, August 19, to Sunday, 22).”

Former Mayor, Councillor Niall McNelis (Labour), Chair of Galway City Joint Policing Committee, said in general, Galway was a safe place to live and socialise but assaults were increasing.

“I would hope and pray that it wasn’t a homophobic assault. I’d like to think that it wouldn’t be in Galway because it is a safe city, and an open city. If it was then we have a problem.

“I wouldn’t like the message to go out that Galway is not safe, because generally it is. But yes, recently we have had problems with assaults, and they are increasing and we have to ask is that because we are socialising outdoors, or because of the level of alcohol or because of large congregations in places like Eyre Square. People will be sending their teenagers to Galway now with college starting back. I would say to them that Galway is safe,” said Cllr McNelis.

Gay Pride was held in the city from August 8 to 15. Its chair, city councillor Owen Hanley, spoke about negativity towards the LGBT+ community, after the rainbow flag was stolen during the festival.