Argentina, which chairs the 40-nation Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) that fights for the human rights of gays and bisexuals, wants Guyanese police to make reporting hate crimes easier and for the South American nation to pass legislation outlawing such crimes. The need for such measures was contained in a letter to prominent Guyanese gay rights activist, Joel Simpson, who alleged he and others were subjected to homophobic remarks by a supervisor at Palm Court and hours later beaten by several men at Bourda after he and his colleagues had complained of being assaulted by other patrons. Simpson said he was hours later badly beaten at Bourda Market by several of the same men who had attacked him at Palm Court. In a letter of solidarity to Simpson, who is the Head and co-founder of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD), Argentina’s Ambassador to Guyana, Felipe Gardella described the attack against the activist as one against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community.