Attacked in Ecuador for being gay
posted August 20, 2009 - 6:53pm
I recently returned to the United States after living in Lima, Perú for nearly a year. I started a silver business with my boyfriend in San Isidro and we hope to be a success. I’ve traveled extensively throughout Latin America and I
love it. I've also lived in both Puerto Rico and Perú. I’ve never had any problems regarding my sexual orientation, although I do know how it is viewed culturally. This all changed for me, however, in the early morning of July 20th, 2008.
I was in Quito, Ecuador and I was being led all around the city by these 3 African men. I was with my boyfriend but he eventually wanted to go back to the hotel. It was kind of boring but I told him that I wanted to go to one more bar (a gay bar) and I’d be at the hotel in a half hour. So I ditched the dudes from Nigeria and I asked a security guard where this bar was. He gave me bogus directions and while I was walking back to his direction. Before I could even react, there were three African males on top of me, kicking me, hitting me and choking me to the point of unconsciousness. They stole my bag that contained a camera from which I had fortunately downloaded the pictures, and they stole a wallet with a little bit of cash in it. I’m not positive but I’m almost certain that it was the Nigerians that were walking with me earlier.
I was attacked approximately 20 feet from the guard that I originally asked directions for and as I was being choked and losing consciousness, he was looking directly at me and laughing with his friends. I couldn’t believe that he wasn’t helping me. There were also people passing as this was happening and not one person came to my aid. Not one, “Are you ok?”
After the incident, I approached the guard and simply asked him why he didn’t help me. He just signaled to the bar that he guarded, with everyone hanging out of the windows, and pointed to his ear that he couldn’t hear me, as he chuckled. I told him that I saw him looking into my eyes during the attack and went to speak with another guard. This new guard also acted like, “What am I supposed to do about it?” I began to get irate and several guards were gathering around me, as I was cursing their country and their culture while throwing in a, “You don’t know who I know!” before stomping back to the hotel.
I went to my room to clean up, and I went to the front desk and told them what had happened. I asked them for the most well-known newspapers and magazines and I got on the computer and the phone and I contacted the press. Within less than two hours, I was receiving requests for interviews. The problem was that they were requesting them for the following day and I was leaving that very day. Then I was interviewed by El Comercio in the early morning and my interview ended up on ultimasnoticias.com. I honestly have to say that I was surprised that they put this on the news in Quito.
During the interview, the gentleman that interviewed me took me to the police station. We cut right to the front of the line, pushing through a mass of people, and he explained the situation to the police chief. They said that there was nothing they could do about it and in addition (in addition, was meant to mean, “and in addition to begin a homosexual”), I didn’t have any visible marks. My body hurt, my neck was swollen and I could barely swallow water but I didn’t have any visible marks (I don’t bruise, I’m sorry!) that last for three days or longer, by law I cannot file a complaint against someone for attacking me. It makes no sense and, if you know anything about the culture in Latin America, this is a huge gap in the law the looks the other way with regards to spousal abuse. Imagine, as long as your wife has not visible marks that last for three days or longer, you can throw her around and hit her all day long and she can legally take no action. It’s absolutely unbelievable to me that such a law exists in this day and age. I’m also astonished, even for Latin America, that no one would help me as I was being attached by three men. I also can’t believe how strong Titanium is. My Tiffany’s titanium chain necklace could NOT be pulled from my neck. I had a really sore throat for a few days but they didn’t get any jewelry. Way to go Tiffany’s!! Not a scratch on it!!
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