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A man says he was assaulted in what he believes was a hate crime in a central Auckland gay bar, and that safe spaces for the rainbow community are disappearing.
Julian Suarez was taken to hospital early on Sunday morning with several injuries after he was allegedly attacked in the toilets of Family Bar on Karangahape Road.
Suarez had been at a Halloween party on the North Shore, dressed as one of the muses from Hercules, before going to bars in the city with friends.
The group decided to head to Family Bar after midnight and spent some time dancing and going between the spaces connected to the venue.
Coming back upstairs from a dance area, Suarez stopped at the toilets near the stairs.
Suarez did not remember what happened in the toilets, but made a report while in the ambulance that three men had attacked him.
"I was taken out, I was bleeding, my costume was destroyed. I had a harness, and I have a big scratch on my chest, so I guess that they ripped my toga off."
He said he believed he was attacked because he was gay, and because of the way he was dressed.
"I love New Zealand, and this is my country, this is my home. This is the second safest country in the world, and this happened here, and I came from one of the most dangerous countries in the world, Columbia."
Police said it had received a report of an assault.
"The matter is at the very early stages of assessment, and at this stage from what I can see there is nothing to suggest it is hate crime-related," a police spokesperson said.
Suarez said he did not feel safe going to Family Bar any more.
"It's actually worse that it happened in a gay bar," he said, because aggressive and drunk people were creating an unsafe environment.
He said himself and others in the rainbow community have been feeling increasingly unsafe in places meant to be for them in the last few years, and even more after the assault.
"Straight people are more than welcome to join us, to our parties, because we know our parties are fun. And that's totally okay for them to come, as long as they know and respect who we are and who we are as a community, and don't express the hate, as they have shown in the last years, especially in places like this."
His friend and flatmate, Robbie Dalgetty, posted a video to social media about the assault, which has been viewed tens of thousands of times.
Family Bar have been contacted for comment.
