Reactions to a homophobic attack in Cluj

Some old news appeared in the Romanian queer blogosphere: on April 24, around 5.00 AM, a well-known drag queen from Cluj, Petruta, was severely beaten in front of a club by 4 men. The attackers used fists and chains and police is still on their tracks. The whole incident was filmed by the cameras of a close-by shopping center. The bloggers are asking for any type of information regarding the case in order to help the police which is not doing anything so far. While Cluj is perceived as a gay-friendly city where many events took place and where Petruta even won a contest for the best drag queen in 2008, homophobic attacks are on the rise and the queer community feels threatened.

Robert G., who blogs at darkq.net, the so-called gay Romania blog, mocks Petruta as “an honest and God-fearing boy” and explains the event as a reaction to her outrageous flirting with straight men on the street. While most of the people ignored her that night, two men could not take the offence and hit her twice in the face, not using chains. Shaming Petruta and victim-blaming are argued by the fact that another drag queen and a gay man were not hurt in the incident even if they were present! Robert criticizes the overreaction of the queer community, which complains again that it is discriminated when there is no apparent reason for that.

Alexalexutu comments that he was also attacked by 3 men in the same place on another occasion and even if there were many people present no one intervened (it is a very central location in Cluj).

Zoli_k accuses Petruta and her behavior for the event (she was nasty and uncivilized) by comparing her to other famous drag queens (Kaballa, Fernanda) who were never beaten on the street. For him, the whole situation is a sort of “What Lola wants, Lola gets”. To this comment, Kaballa responds that she was heavily beaten also and defends Petruta.

Petruta made a touchy statement when more voices accused her of a promiscuous behavior:  "Brothers, I didn’t yell “cock” and I wasn’t extremely drunk. I am sorry if I embarrass the community but I didn’t complain and I didn’t ask for anyone’s help. I am sorry about this post and for all this fuss that is not helping me with anything. For those who are bothered by my presence, it is their own business; I do not eat or drink from their table. Anyway, I thank those who wrote well about me and I do not care about those who wrote bad things, I didn’t shame your community and I did nothing against you. I didn’t go out in the media or TV to tell what happened to me.”

The blogger who posted the first article on the issue responded: “No one is happy for what happened to you, it is just the opinion of the people. Take it as a learning experience and pay attention to how you behave in the future.”

Starting with this particular case, some questions have to be asked: are drag queens marginalized in the Romanian queer community? What type of solidarity can be constructed within and outside this community? How to react in obvious violent cases of homophobia, transphobia and misogyny?