A man shouted anti-gay slurs while disrupting a drag and burlesque show at an LGBTQ+ bar in Ohio — then assaulted an employee and broke the glass front door after being kicked out.
The alleged hate crimes took place late Wednesday night at the Bossy Grrl's Pin Up Joint in Columbus.
Owner Cora Helton told WMCH-TV said she was shocked but not surprised by the violent bigotry.
"It's scary, obviously, but our community kind of expects it," Helton said. "As sad as that is, part of the reason things didn't go worse than they already did on Wednesday was because we have an active shooter plan in place and our staff knows that, our producers know that, all of our performers know that."
The unidentified man barged onto the Bossy Girls stage in the middle of the performance and "started throwing around some homophobic slurs and saying some other concerning things," Helton said.
After being escorted outside by a bartender, the man punched the transgender woman in the mouth, opening a cut that needed stitches, Helton said.
The man then walked across the street and sat down against a wall but returned about 15 minutes later, prompting another bartender to lock him out.
"He tried to pull the door out of her hands but couldn't do it," Helton said. "She locked the door and he proceeded to headbutt it and kick it until the glass broke and he tried to enter while screaming homophobic slurs."
The bar says it wants to replace the door with something more substantial and beef up security.
"We don't know if he chose our venue specifically because it's a queer space, or if he was going to be a problem wherever he went and thought bigotry was the most hateful thing he could do in the moment. Neither circumstance negates the impact his actions had," the bar said in a Facebook post.
Police are investigating but haven't made an arrest, WCMH said.
