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Youth admits vicious gay attack story that shocked Spain was a lie

A young man who claimed eight masked assailants carved a homophobic slur on his buttocks in Madrid in broad daylight, sparking an outcry, has admitted he lied, Spain's Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

Published: 9 September 2021 09:17 CEST
Youth admits vicious gay attack story that shocked Spain was a lie
Photo: Curto de la Torre/AFP

The 20-year-old told police he was attacked on Sunday at the entrance to his apartment building in the trendy Malasana district near the Spanish capital’s lively gay heighbourhood.

He claimed the assailants cut his lower lip with a knife then scored the word “maricón”, meaning “faggot” into his buttocks, while spewing homophobic attacks.

But on Wednesday he “decided to rectify his initial statement and said the injuries allegedly inflicted had been consensual,” an interior ministry source told AFP.

The alleged attack came just two months after a young gay man was beaten to death in northern Spain in another suspected homophobic attack and it drew a sharp rebuke from Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The premier said there was “no place for hatred” and he called an urgent meeting for Friday of Spain’s commission against hate crimes.

Leftist parties and rights groups also accused far-right party Vox of encouraging homophobic attacks with its vocal opposition to gay rights.

News that the young man, who has not been identified, had changed his story sparked a flurry of reaction.

Equality Minister Irene Montero tweeted that “hate crimes against LGBTI people rose 43 percent during the first half of 2021” over the same period last year.

She urged people not to focus on the “tree which hides the forest”.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said it was “anecdotal” that the man had changed his story “because hate crimes have risen”.

“And obviously there is public conduct, online behaviour which encourage hate crimes, lets not trivialise,” he told private television La Sexta.

But Javier Giner, a film director and gay activist, lashed out at the youth, saying he had done “unnecessary and gratuitous harm to all victims of homophobic attacks and to everyone who fights to end them.”

Two months ago Samuel Luiz, 24, was beaten to death near a nightclub in the northern city of Coruna in an attack denounced by Sanchez as “savage and merciless”. It brought huge crowds onto the streets in protest.

A protest called for Wednesday night in central Madrid in response to the supposed attack would still take place, organisers said. 

READ MORE: Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTQ+ people?

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HOMOPHOBIA

Vicious Madrid attack on young gay man shocks Spain

Spain's government on Tuesday strongly condemned a vicious attack in broad daylight on a young gay man in Madrid as police sought eight masked assailants.

Published: 7 September 2021 17:38 CEST
Vicious Madrid attack on young gay man shocks Spain
Photo: OSCAR DEL POZO / AFP

Sunday’s attack came just two months after a young gay man was beaten to death in northern Spain in another suspected homophobic attack that shocked Spain. 

The victim, 20, was attacked by eight masked assailants at the entrance to his apartment building in the trendy Malasana district, a police spokeswoman said.

Spitting homophobic insults, they cut his lower lip with a knife then scored the word “maricon” into his buttocks, the Spanish equivalent of “faggot”, she said, confirming details first published by El Periodico news website.

The savage nature of the attack has shocked Spain, a country with a very open approach to sexuality where a recent YouGov survey showed 91 percent of people would be supportive if a family member came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual. 

Police were investigating the incident and collecting “as much evidence as possible from security cameras and witnesses”, the spokeswoman said.

“Police are looking to arrest and identify these people and clarify whether it was really a homophobic attack or hate crime.”

The attack drew a sharp rebuke from the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez voicing “utmost condemnation” of the violence after Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting.

Sanchez also called an urgent meeting of the hate crimes committee for Friday.

“Hate crimes require the strongest social and political reproach,” she said, pledging the government would use “every legal instrument available” to combat such attitudes and “discourse that promotes hatred”.

Sanchez had tweeted his own condemnation on Monday, saying there was “no place for hatred” within Spanish society and pledging to work for “an open and diverse country, where no one is afraid to be who they are”.

Rights groups immediately lashed out, calling several protests, one of which will take place on Wednesday evening in Puerta del Sol square, with a second, headlined “They’re killing us”, at the same location on Saturday. 

The attack came two months after Samuel Luiz, 24, was beaten to death near a nightclub in the northern city of Coruna in an attack denounced by Sanchez as “savage and merciless” which brought huge crowds  onto the streets in protest. 

READ MORE: Is Spain really a tolerant country when it comes to LGBTQ+ people?

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