Lesbian couple assaulted on a London bus because when they refused to kiss in front of a gang of men.

[AngeloMysterioso]

metro.co.uk/2019/06/07/gay-couple-beaten-refusing-kiss-mens-entertainment-9854367/

There aren’t really words to describe how sickened I am by this. In the city I’m proud to live in, in the middle of fucking Pride month, two women have been beaten up because they didn’t want to put on a show for some disgusting men.

I was in London last weekend and I was scared. I was in a restaurant and a man began shouting that he was going to kill everyone. It is one of the worst places that I have ever been!

Disgusting vile bastards. I hope and pray they get their comeuppance. Those poor women. It literally makes me cry for them.

I don't think straight women should co-opt this horrific attack to make it about misogyny and the patriarchy. Of course those come in to play but this is primarily a homophobic attack and given the fact that violence against lesbians doesn't get a great deal of coverage, it feels the focus should really be on that. Absolutely horrendous.

@Aquilla What a load of thinly-disguised Islamophobic nonsense.

The 4 men are an embarrassment to their sex and the human race. Vile, disgusting human beings. The article says one of the ladies only moved here February for a year hopefully both will have will have a swift recovery and enjoy the rest of their year here with no other incidents whilst the culprits are locked away

Fair point peach :)

I don't think straight women should co-opt this horrific attack to make it about misogyny and the patriarchy.

What??

What she said.

Horrifying

I hope these vile thugs are found quickly, tried and locked up

It is about misogyny and the patriarchy, though. How can it not be? It's both of those things, and it's about homophobia too.

Lesbians aren't a special set of women immune to misogyny and only vulnerable to homophobia.

Scary. I'm a bit surprised that they don't have CCTV pictures of the men to show to the public to help identify them.

@SarahandQuack Of course, but there's already not enough focus on homophobic violence towards lesbians and straight women chiming in with their own experiences is diluting that message, I think.

Nobody except the arseholes who beat the two women up can say for certain why they did it.

Seeing two women on their own, they probably thought they could have fun intimidating and bullying them. Two lesbians on their own? They saw it as a good excuse to beat them up.

I imagine their reaction would have been the same if it had been two gay men on their own on the top of a bus.

They're scum. Will they get caught? Probably not, but we can hope.

Bloody awful.

Oh God. What are we to do with this country? I am ashamed and so, so upset.

I’ve nothing else to add beyond will they be arrested and receive a “hand smack”?

I imagine their reaction would have been the same if it had been two gay men on their own on the top of a bus.

You think that they’d have demanded that two gay men put on a kissing show for them? I’m doubtful.

It’s Pride month. It’s London. I thought we were past this shit.

As a Lesbian in London myself, I was surprised to read that the victim also felt that she was safe in London before the attack. I don't feel safe in London holding hands with a woman when there are men around as there are always comments and my lesbian friends and I have had all sorts of horrible incidents in London over the years.

I imagine their reaction would have been the same if it had been two gay men on their own on the top of a bus.

No, it's different for gay/bi women - a lot of straight men watch women getting it on with other women in porn and find it a turn-on, and then somehow manage to forget that real-life is not one of their porn movies and assume that if they encounter lesbians on a night out, it must be because the lesbians have been placed there for their own entertainment. It's commonplace and sadly, it does make me scared to be open about being in a gay relationship in public, even in London (but especially in the evenings).

That's why it's so important to have LGBT spaces, so lesbians can feel normal somewhere instead of being made to feel like a Amsterdam sideshow by heterosexual men.

Hmm. I don't personally agree, @peachgreen, but fair enough.

You think that they’d have demanded that two gay men put on a kissing show for them? I’m doubtful

No I think they would just have gone straight to the beating them up if it was 2 gay men. One of the reasons I'm so worried about my son.

I watched men behaving badly the other day from the nineties where Tony finds it a turn on when he thinks deb is a lesbian. Amazing to see that twenty years on there are still neanderthals who think this way genuinely.

Even the caricature that was Tony didn't get violent when "his" lesbians didn't go along with it though.

I don't think straight women should co-opt this horrific attack to make it about misogyny and the patriarchy. Of course those come in to play but this is primarily a homophobic attack

You can't neatly parcel off the two in this instance. This is an example of where homophobia and misogyny intersect.

Stealth yes the 80’s and 90’s were SO openly homophobic (media, TV shows, jokes...). It’s sickening to realise it hasn’t gotten any better when you hear stories like this one.

GCAcademic No of course the kissing bit wouldn't have come into the equation if it had been two gay men, I was talking about the beating up.

Horrific. It’s 2019, these things shouldn’t happen any more.

Good on them for sharing the photos and making a stand. Very brave.

@longinesprime

I’m so sad to read that. I live in Manchester which I’ve always assumed is an LGBT friendly place. I don’t understand homophobia - I don’t get why other people are concerned by who has sex/a relationship with who. It’s nobody else’s business, other than the couple. I’ve been pissed off by the protests at schools in Birmingham too. I feel like we’re going backwards.

@Quintella I'm not trying to parcel it off, I'm just trying to keep the focus on the fact that this was a hate crime against lesbians. Of course that means misogyny played a part. But the victims reported it as a homophobic attack and I think it's important to keep that, and lesbians, centred in the conversation rather than straight women, who, while victims of misogynistic attacks on a regular basis, don't face the same persecution for their romantic relationships.