Forbury Gardens incident

[ItsInTheShed]

just seen this on twitter.....people stabbed in the park?

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/breaking-reading-incident-police-air-22226334

@SueEllenMishke

I knew one of the victims. Believe me, you knew he was gay within seconds of being in his vicinity. You just knew.... fabulous, fabulous human being.

I, like others, am very shocked at how little attention the attack is getting compared to other stories and very surprised more isn't being made of the fact all three victims were gay. It might not be relevant but it certainly needs discussing and addressing.

*Today 22:39 SueEllenMishke

I knew one of the victims. Believe me, you knew he was gay within seconds of being in his vicinity. You just knew.... fabulous, fabulous human being.

I, like others, am very shocked at how little attention the attack is getting compared to other stories and very surprised more isn't being made of the fact all three victims were gay. It might not be relevant but it certainly needs discussing and addressing.*

Not according to @Mrsmorton..... ssshhhh, y’all ‘idiots’ to discuss this online ya know!?

@SueEllenMishke so sorry to hear that, life is so cruel

I'm sorry to anyone who knew the victims, and their friends and families.

I was more struck by the various mental health diagnoses than the focus on sexuality.
I used to be friends with someone with EUPD and depression, and a self diagnosis of PTSD. He's also been convicted of spitting at police officers in the past when resisting arrest.

We fell out when I disagreed that his last-ditch plans were reasonable; he felt that because he wasn't getting the mental health support he needed, he would be justified in going and stabbing someone random.

Apparently the idea was that he'd probably get appropriate help in prison; also he decided that everyone would be horrified by the lack of mental health support available to people with his diagnoses, which would lead to the entire mental health system would be reformed.

Sorry if I haven't explained that very well - it just triggered the (really disturbing) memory.

Nobody in their right mind is going to assume that 3 men together are automatically gay whether they are near a gay pub or not.

Well you wouldn't think: 'A group of men sitting together in the park? They're obviously gay'. But some gay men are quite camp in the way they act and dress, so you might assume that they're gay. Or you might hear them talking about Pride or their boyfriends. Or maybe one of them was with his partner and was being affectionate with him. The attacker could have been sitting and watching them for a while.

Obviously not all gay men are camp and not all camp men are gay, but you'd be a liar if you said you'd never assumed that a man was gay.

Thanks OP.

It's not hard science but we give lots away about ourselves via body language and appearance. Hence getting homophobic abuse. I generally don't pass as straight and I'm treated differently by men.
So it's not a great leap to think someone would pick this up and attack - it happens a lotto gay people, maybe a bit less now than in previous decades.
Certainly people with strong religious views seem more inclined to see gay people as abhorrent.
Anyway, in this case it may have been irrelevant but it may not. Devastating whatever the case