Julie Ward, Texas Lesbian, Claims She Was Assaulted Outside Bar After Receiving Homophobic Threats

A Texas-based lesbian claims she was assaulted outside of a local bar, after her attackers threatened, "If you’re going to dress like a man, you better be able to hit like a man."

As Statesman.com is reporting, Julie Ward, a 24-year-old Florence resident, claims she was playing pool with a few friends and her sister at the Bunkhouse bar before being told by another patron that her "type was not allowed in there and that we would be removed." As her group prepared to leave, Ward says things took a turn for the worse.

"As we came outside into the parking lot, we were followed by the patrons of the bar and our arms were held back by women and we were beaten by men," Ward recalled for KVUE. "A man told me if I was going to look like a man, I better be able to take a hit like a man, and I was punched in the face at that moment and hit the ground."

The Williamson County sheriff's office is investigating the assaults, said John Foster, a sheriff's spokesman, who added, "It is still too early in the investigation to conclude that this was a hate crime."

Still, the bar manager's wife has dismissed the claims, telling KVUE that the women were "roughhousing" and weren’t asked to leave the bar because of their sexual orientation. She also denied the allegations of violence, according to the Dallas Voice.