- A transsexual woman has been assaulted in Vitoria-Gasteiz, while in Estella a third suffered homophobic insults from two passengers on an urban bus throughout the trip. The bus company La Estellesa has been asked about the protocol as a public service, as the driver did nothing to deal with the bus attacks.
Last July 14, the traveler had to suffer insults like “Fucking Maricon”, “gay fuck”, “I’ll crack you”… on the urban bus of Estella, over and over again. Several groups and individuals from Tierra Estella have come together to publicly denounce the victim and have called a demonstration for this Friday under the motto “public services and the streets are also ours”.
As we have been told, given the lack of action by the driver in the face of the attacks, they have contacted the bus company La Estellesa to ask him and ask him to activate the protocol he should have as a public service. “We are doing the marking, but at the moment we have not been answered.” They want to end “complicit silence.”
Assaults 64-year-old transsexual woman in Vitoria-Gasteiz
Meanwhile, the Vitoria-Gasteiz Anti-LGBTI+Phobia Observatory has denounced that on 22 July the aggressors screamed a 64-year-old transsexual woman in the old town of Vitoria-Gasteiz "fucking maricón" and that when she turned to see where the cry came, she received three punches in her face. The woman threw herself to the ground.
Ikusgune warned that "we are facing a serious LGBTI+phobic escalation". “With this attack that we denounce today there are 14 cases of LGTBI+phobia that we have known in the last three months in Álava, with trans people being the group that suffers the most from physical aggression, hate speech and marginalization.”
Steps for these attacks to be considered hate crimes
Although Samuel Luiz was killed after being called "Marikoi", some confirmed that the murder had a homophobic basis, as well as the police who investigated the crime itself, and the Spanish Government's Ministry of Interior has taken steps to prevent it. From now on, the existence of only one of the elements taken into account to be considered a crime of hatred will be sufficient to guide their investigation into the crime of hatred. The elements for considering hate crimes are, for example, that the victim belongs to a discriminated minority or that the aggressor makes certain comments. In other words, if the aggressor says "Marikoi," the police has to focus the investigation on thinking that it could be a crime of hatred or hatred.