Groningen drug bar owner, partner and staff assaulted – The Northern Times

The altercation began early Sunday morning as the bar staff were locked up for the night. Andy Wilson of bar owner and drag performer Dorothy Marais said one female staff member was knocked out, one male staff member was punched and cut in the face, and he and his partner He said he was hit repeatedly in the face and head.

Wilson said on Instagram that they were locked as a group, “a safe number of people” and tried not to let the situation escalate. At first I thought it was fine, but he stopped filming and started arguing with other guys and it started to escalate from there.”

“A group of men shook hands with us and started walking away. This man with a camera started arguing with us, attacking a female member of staff and a young male staff member, beating them both. rice field.”

“Four bar staff, including the owner, got into a fight while leaving the venue after it closed for the evening after a successful drag show.”

Andy Wilson’s drag name, Dorothy Mehr, posted a statement on behalf of himself and his partner, Wayne Meek. Dorothy’s Drag Bar Instagram early Sunday morning.of instagram page He also shared a photo of Meek with a swollen lip on Sunday.

Anouk Harteveld, a spokesperson for the Dutch Northern Police, confirmed that police were investigating the incident. We have spoken to several people to find out what happened.No one has been taken into custody at this time.”

Saturday night, the bar hosted a drag show in memory of influential British drag queen and LGBTQI+ advocate Lily Savage, who passed away last week, inspiring Dorothy Marais, who grew up in the UK. . The bar hosts regular drag shows, drag bingo, and karaoke.

A similar incident occurred at a bar in September 2022, when another group of people passing by made offensive remarks to bar patrons that did not escalate to violence. sitcom At the time, it was reported in a post about an altercation by a bar patron.

Wilson purchased the drug bar formerly called House of Scandal in July 2022. The drag his performer was born and raised in England, and his posts on the bar’s Instagram page are often in Dutch and English. Dougblad van Het Norden Wilson and Meek report moving north from the Amsterdam region in 2021.

Dorothy’s is one of Groningen’s LGBTQI+ bars and cafes, including Café de Prins, Out of the Closet Café and Scandal.

“As a community bar, we’re a safe place,” Wilson says. “Like any venue, we experience silly comments. We are a community and we care about each other, so we generally have no issues when it comes to violence. Homophobia in bars No, but overall, LGBTQI [community] Customers across the city are reporting us as homophobia is on the rise. “

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage in 1998 and is one of the most receptive when it comes to LGBTQI+ rights. 2nd place UCLA survey of 175 countries in 2020. However, homophobic and transphobic attacks and threats still occur regularly. According to the latest stats confirmed for 2021, 2,471 incidents reported Discrimination or violence against queer people on the rise since 2020.

The Dutch drag scene has been around for decades, but in recent years it has gained popularity and recognition with TV shows such as: drag racing hollandGlobally, there have been reactions against the mainstreaming of drugs in the form of restrictive laws and discrimination against drug performers and trans people (but currently pending), and far-right protesters. We regularly visit the United States and England.

Members of the LGBTQI+ community also face other forms of exclusion and elimination. March 2023 in a small municipality in South Holland Goeree-Overflakkee, a local union of municipal event organizations tried to prevent representatives of gay groups from laying wreaths on the annual Dutch Day on 4 May. Local governments have stepped in to make it clear that LGBTQI+ representatives will be welcomed at the memorial.

Efforts to eliminate them were particularly brutal given that as many as 15,000 queer people were sent to labor camps and concentration camps during World War II. was the second largest group to be targeted in the Holocaust. Amsterdam has a permanent memorial commemorating the queer victims of the Nazis. The Homomonument are three pink granite triangles near Amsterdam’s West Church. The shape of the monument is reminiscent of the patches worn by queer prisoners.