By N. Thomas-Brown, Guardian Staff Reporter

nadine@nasguard.com

Forty-one-year-old Loxsley Bastian who was allegedly beaten up last year by a security guard and then by police officers of the Central Police Station, said he plans to sue the Royal Bahamas Police Force, which he alleged has been dragging its feet in investigating his case because he is gay.

Mr Bastian said that nothing has come out of an incident which left him suffering bruises about his body and a gaping wound to the back of his head, which required 10 stitches to close. Bastian said that justice is not being served in this case because he has been given the run-around too many times by a police Sergeant who has been dealing with his case . He said that the case has been before the Complaints and Corruption Unit since the incident happened in February of 2006.

Bastian said that as recently as two weeks ago when he spoke to the Sergeant about his case, he informed him that he planned to put the case "higher up on his agenda," but he seems to be avoiding him.

We are always going round and round in circles with no result," he said. Mr Bastian said that at one point, the Sergeant was on leave for five weeks in which time no one replaced him in pursuing his case. He added that he was told that the Sergeant was again given two weeks after he returned from vacation because his mother had supposedly died. As a result of this Mr Bastian said he has retained the services of a lawyer and will be suing the police force.

An emotional Bastian told The Guardian that he and his friend Aretha Carey went to lunch at McDonald's on Marlborough Street on the Sunday that he was attacked and reportedly accosted by a security officer from Executive Security Services. According to Bastian, the security officer reportedly hurled anti-gay slurs at them and told them to leave the restaurant. After he refused, the security guard allegedly grabbed him and punched him in the head several times. During which time he noted that none of the employees or customers tried to stop the attack.

After the police were called four officers arrived on the scene and took both the security guard and Mr Bastian to the Central Police Station where the security guard was questioned and released.

Mr Bastian, however, was allegedly detained and verbally abused [though he was never given a chance to file a complaint about being beaten by the security guard] by the police who allegedly verbally and physically abused him before tossing him into a holding cell. Mr Bastian said that he had been able to get the badge numbers of the seven officers who had allegedly taken part in abusing him.

Erin Greene of the Rainbow Alliance of the Bahamas (RAB), a gay advocacy group, said that while the alleged actions of the policemen in this case seem atrocious, she does not think that this illogical attitude toward gays is shared by the entire police force. However she expressed concerns about the justice system in general and the lack of social support for gays when such incidents occur.

She added that she too has been involved in incidents here in The Bahamas where she was discriminated against by security guards because of her sexual preference.