Gay rugby player left in intensive care after brutal homophobic attack
Jonathan Castellari was out for breakfast with a friend when he was attacked by a group of men.
By Will Stroude
A gay rugby player was hospitalised after a brutal homophobic gang attack.
Jonathan Castellari was picking up breakfast in Buenos Aires with his friend Sebastien when a group of eight drunk men approached them and began to mock them.
According to Sebastien, the attack took place last week at a McDonald’s around 6am after the two friends decided to get away from the gang.
When Castellari walked out, he was grabbed by one of them and repeatedly punched by the others. Sebastian reportedly tried to pull Castellari away but was also attacked.
According to reports, the men shouted gay slurs during the attack and Sebastian called the police twice but they never arrived. After the gang left, Castellari was taken to intensive care.
The two rugby players are part of the Ciervos Pampas Rugby Club, a team formed five years ago to embrace sexual diversity and fight discrimination against homophobia.
Another of Jonathan’s friends, Agustina Vivero, shared images of the Argentinian on Twitter that showed him with a swollen eye and bloody shirt.
Hoy a las 6AM, al grito de “puto” y “puto de mierda” le pegaron a uno de mis amigos de toda la vida, con el que hace días estábamos divirtiéndonos en la Marcha del Orgullo. Tiene no sé cuantos puntos y lo tienen que operar por una fractura en no sé que parte del ojo. Le duele tod pic.twitter.com/LSA4j0tsHO
— Agustina Vivero (@soycumbio) December 1, 2017
Alongside the tweet, he wrote: “Today at 6am, a group attacked my friend to within an inch of his life, shouting ‘fag*ot’ and ‘f**king fag*ot.'”
“It came just days after we were celebrating Gay Pride. He doesn’t know how many stitches he will need and they need to operate after a fracture in some part of his eye. Everything hurts.”
Castellari is currently recovering in hospital but is in danger of losing his eye.
The news comes just days after a gay man was beaten with a baseball during a Pride Parade in Buenos Aires.