Irish man gay-bashed in Queens, New York

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CAHIR O'DOHERTY,

Irish Voice Reporter

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Tarlach, his partner Juan (Juan is the one in the middle), his compadre and his other brother-in-laws

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Tarlach MacNiallais, 47, an Irish gay man living in Jackson Heights, Queens, says he was severely assaulted by employees of a nightclub on Saturday.

Police are investigating it as a hate crime, and city authorities, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn - herself a gay woman, have become involved.

MacNiallais, originally from Belfast, was punched, kicked and had a chair smashed over his head in the brutal attack by two employees of the Guadalajara De Noche restaurant in Jackson Heights at 12:43 a.m. on Saturday.

In an exclusive interview with IrishCentral today, MacNiallais said: “I want to stress that this is not a gay community versus the Mexican community story. My partner and my extended family are all Mexican. This story is about two thugs who attacked me because they didn’t like the fact that we were gay.”

The story began on Saturday evening when MacNiallais, his partner of seven years, Juan, and four of Juan's brothers visited the Guadalajara De Noche restaurant in Jackson Heights. The group had expected an open mike sing-along, but they discovered that a club night had been scheduled instead.

“I’ve been in that bar a handful of times in the past,” said MacNiallais.

“Sometimes they have open night, where people can get up and sing Mexican songs. But when we got there it was a dance night. So we took a table at the back of the place just beside the dance floor and we ordered a round of drinks.”

When a song that MacNiallais liked came on, he suggested to his partner that they dance. They got up, and MacNiallais led his partner to the floor. This simple act signaled to onlookers that they were probably gay.

“We’re weren’t doing a lambada or dancing close or anything provocative like that. We were dancing the way you do at any night – not touching, just moving to the music, you know?"

But before they had even got started, a man, described as an employee of the nightclub, came over to the couple and said: “You can’t do that in here. This is not a gay bar.”

“To be quite honest I thought he was joking. I didn’t even look at him," continued  MacNiallais.

“I turned around and said, ‘We have as much right to dance as anyone else.’”

Immediately, MacNiallais was yanked from behind. He was thrown against a wall and then punched repeatedly on the face and chest.

“They knocked me to the ground. They started kicking me. They were shouting ‘this is not a gay bar’ over and over. I didn’t fight back because I’m not a violent person. But I did think I wasn’t going to let them throw me out. I did have a right to be there. If they had asked me to leave I would have, but they didn’t do that. Instead they beat me and physically dragged me to the ground.”

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