Brandon Swanepoel was horrifically assaulted while at a music festival, the hate crime shocked him to his core but the community is lifting him up once more!
Hate crimes aimed at the South African LGBTQ community are not often reported on by main stream media. So it isn’t often that we hear of the stories revolved around these crimes. Recently we were told about the horrific assault on Brandon Swanepoel while he was at a music festival.
Brandon was having a good time dancing when a group of men nearby started passing comments aimed at him. The man responsible for the assault commented “Just don’t touch my ass.” and when Brandon told the man he would never, the man attacked him.
After the attack Brandon was severely hurt, his front teeth were missing and he had a badly broken nose. The story was reported by Mamba Online, a platform dedicated to reporting news within the LGBTQ community. It was discovered that Brandon doesn’t have medical aid so he will struggle to pay the bills incurred from this attack.
That is where the community stepped in.
The bands Raygun Royale and Velveteen Rocket immediately decided to host a party at the Good Luck Bar in aid of Brandon. They are calling it the ‘Don’t Touch My Arse’ party and all funds will be going towards his legal and medical fees.
With the support of the entire South African community, Brandon can find the courage to regain his pride.
The hope is to create a safe space for everyone in the community. The event is also accepting any additional donations towards the fund.
“We call on all gay and straight folks alike to come EXACTLY as you are, to celebrate our gay community with us.”
“We have made it our mission to create a safe space for everyone to be themselves.”
“We are raising funds for our friend Brandon’s medical fees and legal fees caused by this gay bashing.”
Brandon wants to find the man who assaulted him, to stop him from hurting anyone else. You can see his image here and if you have any information, you can contact Brandon here.
“I’ve been hit before, because I’m a bit different and I wear nail polish, but this time round I feel like I need to say something. Otherwise this is going to happen time and time again. And this guy is out there and is going to do this to someone else.” – Brandon Swanepoel
It is always a good day when someone comes forward and stands up for another human. If you would like to stand up for Brandon, you can attend his party or just send him your love. See the event info here.