Gardaí are investigating an assault on two drag queens which occurred in Cork city on Sunday.
The queens, Krystal Queer (25) and Lucina Schynning (26), were filming a video on Oliver Plunkett Street when a number of men attacked them.
Speaking to The Irish Times on Monday, the queens said the incident highlights the dangers many queer people face in Ireland today.
Footage of the incident shows one man kicking the pair before running away. Shortly afterwards, a second man hits Krystal in the face, causing her to bleed.
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The men ran away while their friends cheered and filmed the incident. The queens and their friend also filmed the incident and shared the footage online and with gardaí in a bid to identify the suspects.
“It’s not the first time I’ve been hit in drag, it’s the first time I’ve had the video evidence to do something about it,” Lucina said.
“But queer people, and not even just the drag queens and the visibly queer people, but even the less queer-presenting people, are also in danger on the street. It’s not a drag issue, it’s an LGBT issue.”
Krystal needed medical attention after the incident.
“My lip was a bit fat, my face was swelling and a bit bruised, and the cut was fairly deep. It bled for a few hours afterwards. My gums on the inside are a bit torn up,” she said.
“It is still overwhelming, and we’re still processing what happened.”
Krystal said the incident was very distressing but the “outpouring of love” they received after sharing the footage online has made them “feel very supported”.
The queens had performed at a show as part of the Cork Jazz Festival just before the assault happened.
“We were all really genuinely on cloud nine after, it felt like a huge success for us,” Lucina said.
The queens run a drag night called Saints in the Kino Centre in Cork city and were filming a video to promote this week’s show when the incident occurred.
“We were speaking to the camera, out of the way of everybody, when we were attacked physically from behind without warning,” Lucina said.
“It basically ended up escalating to the point that Krystal was – after having been kicked, and I was kicked – also hit across the face with a phone that was being used as a weapon at the time.”
The queens said they fear for their safety, but still plan to go ahead with Thursday night’s show.
Krystal said she believes the men who attacked them were so brazen because of the discourse that has surrounded members of the LGBTQIA+ community in recent years.
She said the passing of the marriage equality referendum in 2015 gave the queer community a “false” sense of security.
“We thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got marriage [equality] now. We’re on an upwards path’.
“But take the rhetoric from America – that trickles down to the UK and then Ireland in the past few years. It’s a lot to do with [US President Donald] Trump. It actually really has an effect in real life,” Krystal said.
Gardaí confirmed they responded to the assault at approximately 12.30am on Sunday on Oliver Plunkett Street, and were investigating.
