“Yet another case of an LGBTQ person mistreated in a mainstream club in Paceville reached us today,” The Allied Rainbow Communities (ARC) wrote on their Facebook page on Sunday.

ARC Community Manager Clayton Mercieca told The Malta Independent that the case involved an LGBTQ person who was clubbing in Paceville with his friends. A group of three men who were also at the club started laughing at him and proceeded to shove him. When the person took action in order to get them to stop, the bouncer of the club kicked him out instead of confronting the others for their behaviour, Mercieca said.

The victim then tried to report what happened to the police but they did not provide any support on the basis that he did not know the name of the assaulters.

Cutajar explained how this is not an isolated incident – there were other cases where the police force has not provided assistance to the LGTQ community, so much so that some people choose to not report their experience at all as they know that nothing will be done about it.

“There is a lack of action from the police, who overlook such cases as this is not up on their priority list when it comes to cases of great danger,” Mercieca stated.

“Paceville has become a ‘no-go’ zone for us who aren’t straight-acting and we don’t feel welcome or safe at all,” he continued said. It is due to such cases of discrimination that he believes the community requires its own spaces where the LGBT community can live their truth, as ARC stated in the Facebook post.

Cutajar also pointed out other factors that play a part in such cases of discrimination.

“There is a problem with security staff who are not hired by the clubs directly, so the club takes no responsibility for these actions. In many cases, these security officials are not licensed and come from homophobic backgrounds,” he explained.

Bars are also not willing to welcome everyone irrespective of who they are, so the LGTQ community is left to its own devices and finds places where it is accepted.

It is for this reason that ARC continues to raise awareness and educate people, encouraging the sense of pro-activeness that certain venue owners show towards the LGBT community in Malta while inviting others to do the same.