Lowri Jones, 23, was left in tears following the incident which she said ruined her night out (photo: Lowri Jones)
A hate crime complaint has been made to police after a group of men abused a woman for kissing her girlfriend on a nightclub dance floor.
CCTV is being studied and clubbers have been urged to come forward after Lowri Jones, who’s president of the University of Plymouth Students’ Union, was taunted and mocked because of her sexuality.
Staff at the club, Fever & Boutique, in Plymouth, are trying to identify the men and say they will work with other venues to ensure they are refused entry in future.
Lowri, 23, was left in tears following the incident which she said ruined her night out.
She said she was ‘dismayed’ that people still had issues with same-sex relationships.
‘My girlfriend came to kiss me – my back was turned to the wall, and I could see it, there were three or four men – they were really drunk and pretty intimidating’ she said.
‘They started walking towards us, they found us and started shouting ‘Wahey, wahey, lesbians, wahey’.
‘Because the wall was behind me, we were surrounded.
‘It was just really intimidating and scary.
‘We were singled out in a space where we couldn’t challenge them.
‘It was a really horrible feeling, we didn’t know who these people where and why they were doing it.
‘We stopped and looked at them. My girlfriend turned to one of them and said, ‘what are you doing?’
‘One of them spilled their drink down the front of me, I don’t think he meant to. They were so drunk – I don’t think they knew what they were doing.
‘I got upset and walked away’ said Lowri, who, according to the University of Plymouth, was elected on a mandate to bring more opportunities for developing students’ global citizenship, making drinking safer through having a water station during Student Union club nights and online guides, and developing the relationship between students and permanent Plymouth residents.
Lowri and her girlfriend went off with their friends outside in the smoking area to have a chat, but they were left ‘really upset’ and decided to call it a night.
Lowri says they don’t blame the nightclub for what happened, praising a member of staff in the cloakroom and the general manager for being supportive.
But she is shocked that people still lurk about in today’s society with issues towards gay people.
‘It’s really scary, that there’s still that stigma and that we can’t just be comfortable and be ourselves.
‘It’s just shocking. To be singled out like that, because we are a same sex couple.
‘It just ruined the night – it was a really horrible experience.’
Staff at the club, Fever and Boutique, in Plymouth, are trying to identify the man and say they will work with other venues to ensure they are refused entry in future (photo: Trip Advisor)
Her role involves representing students and UPSU at numerous university meetings, being the first point of contact for external communications, sustainability and employability initiatives, and supporting the team of executive officers.
Prior to this, she studied Criminology with Criminal Justice Studies, with a particular interest in youth justice and social justice.
During her time as a student, she was very active in a criminology-based society at the SU: Howard League for Penal Reform, for which she organised events, campaigned, volunteered, and was the Vice President of in her third year.
She also helped restart the Welsh Society in her second year, becoming the President for the following year.
The incident at the club in Derry’s Cross, Plymouth, has been reported to the police as an alleged hate crime, according to duty manager Pete Chevin.
‘We take any hate crime very serious and we spoke to Lowri Jones last night about it. We are trying to identify the suspects responsible,’ he said.
‘If we can do, we will bring on board police and licensing and make Pubwatch aware so they don’t allow these persons back in Plymouth’s licensed venues.
‘It’s a case of going back through CCTV and and clarifying things from there and see if there any potential witnesses.
‘If anyone has information then we are more than happy to work with them.’