Three men allege they were victims of a
violent anti-gay attack perpetuated by the staff of a Newport Beach,
California bar and restaurant.
The men have filed a lawsuit against
the Balboa Inn and the hotel's Italian restaurant, Sienna Cucina
Italiana. They allege assault and “gay bashing” in their
lawsuit.
According to The
Los Angeles Times, the men claim they were denied service,
called a homophobic slur and forcefully removed from the property on
April 13.
In their civil lawsuit filed Monday,
Angel Bonilla, Colton Moyer and Clement Serafin said that the
incident escalated out of control when the restaurant's bartender
demanded to see their identification cards, one of which she claimed
was fake. “[S]he wanted to create a rouse for refusing to serve
them when her real motive was to not serve gay men,” the lawsuit
states.
The bartender became enraged when the
men protested and asked to speak to the manager. She screamed at
them to “get out” and called them a gay slur.
Cell phone video shows an unnamed man
physically tossing Bonilla out of the restaurant and onto the
pavement outside. The man also yanked a bar stool from under Moyer
and shoved him out the door of the bar, according to the lawsuit.
“What did we do?” Bonilla
told ABC 7. “Why does she have so much hate towards either me
being gay, towards us being gay, towards me being Latin? I don't
know.”
In a statement, the restaurant said
that it does not “condone discrimination against anyone” and
claimed to have hosted same-sex weddings.
Police are looking for the man who
physically threw the men out of the restaurant. Some outlets
referred to the assailant as a security guard, while others said that
he was a customer.