Man is charged with hate crime in bar incident
He’s accused of threatening LGBTQ patrons in downtown L.A. in 2019.
The Los Angeles city attorney’s office has filed criminal charges against a man who allegedly threatened and yelled transphobic and homophobic slurs at a group of LGBTQ patrons in a downtown bar last year.
Eduardo Gonzalez, 28, of Huntington Park has been charged with one count of making a criminal threat and a second count alleging that the criminal threat constituted a hate crime, according to city prosecutors.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 7.
Prosecutors allege the altercation occurred when Gonzalez and his girlfriend “made multiple transphobic and misgendering slurs” toward a group of Latinx transgender women and gay men last August at Las Perlas — a downtown bar.
A heated argument ensued, and bar security eventually removed those involved.
As he was being removed, Gonzalez allegedly “shouted threats to return with a gun,” according to a statement Friday from the city attorney’s office.
The group said at the time that they were celebrating the LGBTQ community at the DTLA Proud Festival and decided to stop by the bar to eat afterward.
Khloe Rios, who filmed cellphone video of the incident, said last year that the couple approached them and said, “You guys are all men. You guys don’t belong here.”
“And we turned around and said, ‘Please leave us alone. We don’t want problems,’” Rios said.
Video showing the women being forcefully removed by the bar’s security guards went viral on social media, and Pouring With Heart, the company that owns Las Perlas, later said it would hire a security company that has received sensitivity training.
The company also said at the time that it had retained outside counsel to “review the tapes and actions ... to make more specific analysis of exactly what happened and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
“Acts of hate against transgender people have no place in our society,” L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement Friday. “Transgender people, especially transgender people of color, already face an unconscionable risk of violence. Perpetrators need to be held accountable.”
‘Acts of hate against transgender people have no place in our society.’ — Mike Feuer L.A. city attorney