Former Top Chef contestant Josie Smith-Malave had an eventful – and painful – labor day weekend.
The 31-year old lesbian and some of her gal pals gathered at Partners bar in Sea Cliff, a suburb in Long Island. Though they were only out to enjoy themselves, some anti-gay guidos decided to cook up some trouble. NYDN reports:
[Smith-Malave] and the other women suffered bumps, bruises and minor head injuries in the attack, attorney Yetta Kurland said last night.
“They were together for an end-of-summer visit, minding their own business, when these people went after them,” said Kurland, “and we can’t stand for this.”
Kurland said the trouble started when the women went to Partners bar in Sea Cliff over the Labor Day weekend for a drink and began dancing together. Smith-Malave’s sister is straight.
Bar employees escorted the women out a side door after other patrons began making nasty remarks and the mood started getting ugly, Kurland said.
Kurland said as many as 10 “young adults” followed the women out, circled them, screamed anti-gay slurs, spit on them and then punched and kicked them. A camera belonging to one of them was stolen, she said.
Police are investigating, but have yet to make an arrest.
Kurland, a high-powered lesbian lawyer here in New York, will hold a press conference later to discuss the possibility of filing hate crime complaints.
Paul Raposo
I hope they all get well soon and I also hope the police actually make some arrests.