Tag Archives: Hate Speech

South Africa: Lesbian Woman “Stoned to Death” After Lesbophobic Threats

It’s been reported that a 24-year-old lesbian mom from Zimbabwe was brutally murdered in Gauteng.

In a statement, FEW (Forum for the Empowerment of Women) said it first heard of the news of Ruth “Nickki” Chigowe’s death on 27 May.

Her unidentified lifeless body was discovered “stoned to death” in Maphanga section, Katlehong, a large township southeast of Johannesburg. It was only on 31 May that the organisation was able to confirm Chigowe’s identity.

A murder case has been opened at the Katlehong North Police station. No arrests have yet been made.

Zaheeda Munyai from Access Chapter 2 told MambaOnline that Chigowe came to South Africa in 2019.

“According to the information I have found from community members, her parents disowned her due to her sexual orientation,” said Munyai. “She then found a job in a tuckshop and started to rent a room at Holomisa.”

Munyai revealed that it’s been claimed that two weeks before she was killed, Chigowe and her girlfriend “received homophobic threats from guys around the area wherein they uttered that they both deserve to be raped and killed.”

To add to the tragedy, Chigowe leaves behind a one-year-old daughter. “There is an urgent need for a massive intervention in Katlehong,” said an exasperated Munyai. “LGBTI people live in fear and they can’t even disclose their relationships in public.”

Continue reading: https://www.mambaonline.com/2022/06/02/young-lesbian-woman-stoned-to-death-in-katlehong/ (source)

U.K: Lesbian couple forced to move home after being hounded by neighbour

A lesbian couple were forced to quit their home after they were hounded by a neighbour who spotted them kissing through their living room window, a court heard

Nurse Faye Mallon and counsellor Lydia Henshall were subjected to foul mouthed homophobic abuse by former gym owner Kim Armstrong who called them ‘naughty disrespectful girls.’

During a hate campaign father-of-two Armstrong would repeatedly drive his vehicle into the couple’s car and also filled their wheelie bin with medical waste, a court was told.

When confronted by the two women he retorted: “‘Am I bothered? You’re the f**king weirdos” and he also dismissed the couple as “fat lesbians.”

Ms Mallon, 26 and Ms Henshall, 27 later moved out of their home in Stockport, Greater Manchester to get away from the abuse.

Continue reading: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lesbian-couple-forced-move-home-26286691 (source)

U.S: Tesla Sued by Lesbian for Racism and Homophobia

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

A Black gay woman who worked at a Tesla Inc. factory accused the electric-vehicle maker in a lawsuit of “festering” racism by ignoring the racial and homophobic slurs and physical harm she endured.

Kaylen Barker, a former contract worker who inspected brake parts, is the latest to complain that Tesla ignores discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and gender at its plants. According to her complaint, her abuse occurred even as Tesla defended another contract worker’s discrimination case in court — which the company lost and was ordered to pay $137 million in damages.

Continue reading: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-02/tesla-sued-by-black-gay-worker-over-unchecked-racism-at-plant (source)

Lesbian gamers say Twitch is failing them

Back in May, when the streaming platform Twitch announced the release of more than 350 new “identity tags” that could be used to sort streams into distinctive categories, Jess Bolden was excited.

The 25-year-old FACEIT Games Esports analyst, who lives between France and Italy with her female partner, streams the game Rainbow Six Siege, a largely male-dominated pursuit. Bolden was once Samsung team head coach for the game, which she streams under the name JessGOAT.

She figured she could use the new “lesbian” tag to show other lesbian gamers that her stream was a safe space for them. But, Bolden says, she felt conflicted. “I would look at the tag for that extra second, to question myself, and I’m usually confident in everything that I do,” Bolden says. “So there’s obviously a problem.”

Bolden’s hesitancy was justifiable. Twitch has been widely criticized for an ongoing scandal involving “hate raids” aimed mostly at its BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ users. These attacks are carried out by bots programmed to spam streamers’ chats with offensive messages. The conditions became so bad that Twitch users started a campaign — #TwitchDoBetter — to push for change, and at one point arranged a digital “protest” where streamers boycotted the platform in solidarity with hate raid victims.

In response, Twitch last month filed a lawsuit against two users allegedly behind many hate raids and, more recently, introduced chat verification.

While hate against streamers is common, lesbians feel they are the subject of both sexism and a specific kind of sexualization. “We get multiple DMs, like ‘I could turn you straight’ or ‘You haven’t found the right guy,’” says Baeu, an 18-year-old lesbian streamer from Florida who broadcasts to followers under the name Spoink. Baeu is a member of Lilac Lesbiansa Minecraft Championship team hoping to increase lesbian representation in gaming. (Input is withholding the last names of most of the streamers in this piece out of concern for their safety.)

“Even when I was underage, they’d still message me inappropriate stuff,” Baeu adds. “Twitch’s solution was pretty much: ‘Oh, well you have your messages open.’” She adds that multiple reports she’s submitted to the company about harassment have not resulted in any action against offending users.

The “lesbian” tag has only increased harassment, according to Bolden. “‘I hate gays’ is probably the most common [comment],” she says. “Or people complaining that I’m a lesbian.” All of the streamers interviewed agreed that they had seen abuse aimed specifically at lesbians, ranging from statements like “of course you’re a lesbian — you’re fat” to assertions that the lesbian streamers were “going to hell” because of their sexuality.

Continue reading: https://www.inputmag.com/gaming/lesbian-gamers-twitch-harassment-hate-raids (source)

Australia: Lesbian Survivor Contestant Opens Up About Online Bullying

Rachel Downie Survivor

Australian Survivor contestant Rachael Downie has opened up about the online bullying she has experienced.

After featuring on the Channel 10 program she has faced a barrage of online abuse for her appearance and sexuality. 

Twenty Four contestants started out the journey for Australian Survivor 2021.

But former Queensland Australian of the Year Rachel Downie made a strong showing before her elimination this week.

Powering through challenges and surviving multiple eliminations demonstrated her tenacity, but her true tests lay outside the program.

Rachel has spent considerable time advocating for young people and mental health in her professional life.

Her appearance on the program was about representing women, particularly women in their 50’s and queer women.

After a recent episode Rachel shared an image of herself from Australian Survivor in her bikini to instagram.

The moment was supposed to be empowering and uplifting to other women.

“I’m 50, I am strong and I am fit but I feel embarrassed about how I look because my body doesn’t reflect that” she wrote.

“However, being on this amazing show has given me a new sense of pride in what my body can do. Womens’ bodies are frikken’ amazing and my body has been really good to me.”

Despite supportive comments that flowed in, it wasn’t long before internet trolls came out to attack.

Several days later Rachel revealed the abuse she had been receiving.

“I have been told to go and kill myself five times today and the ways in which people have tried to shame my body and my sexuality is beyond belief” she posted on Instagram.

But Rachel was not letting these people get her down.

In her fiery response she took the time to remind people of the tool this abuse can take on others.

Assuring people that she was ok Rachel urged others to think about the impact their words could have and vowed to continue on with her work.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/australian-survivor-contestant-opens-up-about-online-bullying/ (source)

Georgia: Lesbian Living in Fear After Violence Which Caused Pride March to be Cancelled

Nino, a 25-year-old lesbian from Georgia, no longer feels at ease when she leaves the house. Since violence forced a Pride march to be cancelled earlier this month, she is afraid of being verbally abused or chased in the street.

Reports of hate crimes have risen in the wake of the violence of July 5, when anti-Pride protesters assaulted journalists and stormed activists’ offices, and some LGBT+ Georgians say they are now living in fear.

“Things have changed. Life is no longer as simple as it once was,” Nino, 25, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said from the home she shares with her partner in the capital, Tbilisi.

“You’re more afraid that someone on the street will chase you and hurl abuse at you. You can no longer be so cheerful. You have an inner fear. It’s as if some tragedy is coming to you,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The homophobic violence that halted a planned “March for Dignity” has also raised political tensions in the former Soviet country as it prepares for an October local election – sparking protest rallies and scuffles in parliament.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has rejected calls to resign from rights activists and opposition parties, who have accused his government of emboldening hate groups and failing to protect journalists and LGBT+ supporters.

In the run-up to the Pride events, Garibashvili said holding the LGBT+ march was “not reasonable” because most Georgians opposed it, and has since described the cancelled event as a “provocation” organised by the opposition.

Over the weekend, posters depicting opposition figures and the head of Tbilisi Pride under a rainbow splattered with blood sprang up across the capital.

Continue reading: https://news.trust.org/item/20210726140642-9tc1f/ (source)

U.K: Lesbian Victims of Homophobic Supermarket Assault, Forced to Hide

tesco

UK police are seeking the public’s help in identifying three women who allegedly chased a lesbian couple into a security office to escape their homophobic verbal assault.

A lesbian couple shopping at a Tesco market in the United Kingdom were the victims of a homophobic verbal assault so aggressive they were forced to hide from their attackers in a security office. Police in Kent released CCTV images showing the three woman they say are responsible for the homophobic assault at the Tesco market in Gillingham, Kent, and are asking for the public’s help in bringing the suspected bigots to justice. Police are investigating the assault as a hate crime incident.

Continue reading: https://www.out.com/crime/2021/3/18/lesbian-victims-homophobic-supermarket-assault-forced-hide (source)

Cameroon: “When I came out someone threatened to rape the spirit of lesbianism out of me”

By Bandy Kiki

It took moving to the UK for me to realise that homosexuality isn’t and shouldn’t ever be a crime.

Still, because of Cameroon’s attitudes to LGBTQ+ people, I’m not able to go back to my home country – even when I lost my mother to cervical cancer in 2017. We were very close so it felt heart-wrenching not to be able to attend her funeral.

When I publicly came out as a lesbian via social media in 2017, a high profile Cameroonian producer threatened to rape the spirit of lesbianism out of me if I ever set foot in my home country again.

The whole ordeal was traumatic but he wasn’t the only one to send abuse or death threats. Comment after comment seemingly shared the same sentiment – that it’s un-African to be gay – but I couldn’t disagree more.

Continue reading Bandy’s story: https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/19/i-couldnt-come-out-as-a-lesbian-until-i-moved-to-the-uk-13901545/ (source)

South Korea: AI chatbot pulled after it started ‘hating’ lesbians

Lee Luda, a South Korean AI chatbot, has been pulled from Facebook after started saying it “really hated” lesbians because they’re “creepy”.

The chatbot was incredibly popular, according to The Guardian, attracting 750,000 users in its first 20 days since its launch on 23 December, 2020. But it has now been suspended after it started attacking minorities.

Lee Luda was developed by the Seoul-based Scatter Lab, and takes the form of a 20-year-old female university student who is able to chat with users through Facebook messenger.

The startup developed her natural-sounding responses by analysing 10 billion real conversations between couples on the messaging app KakaoTalk.

But because it “learned” from humans, Lee Luda began spewing homophobic, ableist and racist hate.

Scatter Lab said in a statement that the chatbot would be taken down until its “weaknesses” had been fixed, and added: “We deeply apologise for the discriminatory remarks against minorities.

“That does not reflect the thoughts of our company and we are continuing the upgrades so that such words of discrimination or hate speech do not recur.

It continued: “Lee Luda is a childlike AI that has just started talking with people. There is still a lot to learn.”

However, some have said that the hate speech is not simply an AI problem, and that it points to larger issues in South Korean society.

Continue reading: https://10ztalk.com/2021/01/14/ai-chatbot-pulled-after-it-started-hating-lesbians-and-black-people/ (source)

Italy: Lesbian shares video calling for hate crime legislation following continued lesbophobic harassment

While talks of necessary Italian hate crime legislation continues, the long-awaited bill is not coming fast enough for many. Another homophobic attack occurred, this time in Genoa where Italian lesbian nurse, Camilla, shared a video of a hate crime: her car ruined by her homophobic neighbours.

Camilla, a 23 year-old nurse, recorded the video on TikTok while in tears after her neighbours vandalised her car. She asked the LGBTQ+ community for help in having her rights recognised since the government is still not forthcoming with hate crime legislation. She also shared how the police told her they can’t do much to help and she is now forced to park her car far from her house fearing of more vandalism.

In the first video posted to her TikTok, Camilla says:

“When you are a lesbian in Italy, this is how your homophobic neighbours behave: they break your car side mirror and they pierce and slash all four tires. Of course I reported this, but of course nothing will happen. To members of the LGBT community: can we do something to get some f***ing rights? Every day, I am called ‘whore’ and ‘pervert’. Now they went as far as vandalising the car I use every day to go to work.

“You tell me now, what can I do? I get up every morning, like everyone else, I go to work, I’m paying my f***ing mortgage. I’m 23 years-old, I’ve been paying it [the mortgage] for the past three years. I am not sure how many people my age do this. Can I get some help, please, since our Government is not helping me?”

In a second video, Camilla also said she received death threats. She continued, “What I want is only to live in peace, serene, and that all people can live hand in hand.”

Continue reading: https://gcn.ie/italian-lesbian-hate-crime-legislation/ (source)

U.K: Sue Perkins Reveals She Was Victim Of A Homophobic Attack

Former Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins has revealed that she was victim to a homophobic attack that left her in tears.

The presenter and comedian says she “burst into tears” after a man verbally assaulted her on Hampstead Heath in North London. Speaking on an episode of the Homo Sapiens podcast, Perkins revealed: “I did have my first homophobic insult in 20 years recently … I was on the heath and this guy, I think he said, ‘You f***ing dyke.'”

The 51-year-old TV personality told podcast hosts Alan Cumming and Chris Sweeney that she feared the altercation might turn physical. “At the time, I sort of went right up to him and went: ‘What did you say?'” she recalled, “and he sort of postured a bit almost as if he was going to hit me, almost like an intimation of something physical.”

Fearful of the situation, Perkins kept her space: “I thought ‘I’m going to just stand here.’ I remember my hand was out because I wanted to keep that distance. Like if you come within the length of my arm I know that something really bad is going to happen.”

Perkins told Cumming and Sweeney that she maintained her composure before asking him again what he had said. “He just sort of buckled a bit and he went, ‘I just mean you’ve got a nice face, why would you…’ I just thought, ‘What’s my face got to do with you?'”

Not wanting to escalate the situation, Perkins said she “didn’t want to replace knee jerk unkindness with knee jerk unkindness,” and she told the man :I’m just walking my dog and I’m quiet and I’m in a good mood and I’ve got love for everyone here and you’ve destroyed that and you can’t take that back today” before leaving and bursting into tears.

Continue reading: https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/sue-perkins-victim-of-homophobic-attack (source)

U.K: Lesbian quits after finding homophobic note in work locker

A shop worker said she was “mortified” when she opened her locker and discovered a homophobic note.

The offensive message was found by Pammie Clinton during her shift at Wilko in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, on 9 September.

It directed a homophobic slur at her and implored her to quit. She handed in her notice a few days later.

Wilko said discrimination of any kind was not accepted and it was looking into the situation “very seriously”.

Ms Clinton, who is a lesbian, said the message had been pushed into her locker through a small hole.”I was absolutely disgusted with what I was reading – I felt like my heart had sunk to the pit of my stomach,” she said.

“I went straight to the bathroom and sat and cried.

“The incident was reported to management but the culprit was never found – and Ms Clinton said she felt compelled to resign.

She said: “I was filled with anxiety and found myself looking at everyone at work thinking ‘was it you?’, which was mentally and emotionally unhealthy.”

Continue reading: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-54183746 (source)

Italy: no redress for thousands of messages of hate to lesbian couple

L2L Italy

Martina and Erika have been engaged for some time and for some time have received very intense insults on social media, where, like many other couples, they often publish their photos together. The insults are continuous, always with a homophobic background and very often extremely intense. From the classic “Perverse” to “Wash with fire”, up to the very current “Coronavirus is your fault”.

Martina and Erika have decided not to suffer this avalanche of injuries in silence and have reported the situation to the police, except that in Italy there is no law against homophobic abuse and no complaint could be made. The only thing they have been able to do has been to proceed against direct threats.

Martina tells:

Injury is not a crime.
Offending, insulting, wishing death … None of this is criminally punishable.
Today we went to the carabinieri. We had already done an initial skimming and, among the THOUSANDS of things they wrote to us, we had chosen to report about sixty people, who had said the most serious things to us.
But alas, of these, we have only managed to report two.
Because?
Because there must be a substantial THREAT, or defamation.
So saying “I hope you die” or “go die” is not a criminal offence.
Saying “I’ll kill you” yes, it’s a threat.
The rest is “simply a wish”.
Textual words.
As for the offences “whores, sluts, sick, depraved, you need a psychiatrist, you have made the coronavirus come, you are the garbage, shitty bitches, make you vomit, I’ll give you my dick” and whatever else they said … Not reportable.
However, legal action may be taken for the injury. But this necessarily requires a lawyer.
And not everyone knows one ready to help them or can afford it.

(Translated)

Martina ed Erika sono fidanzate da tempo e da tempo ricevono insulti molto pesanti sui social, dove, come tante altre coppie, pubblicano spesso le loro foto insieme. Gli insulti sono continui, sempre a sfondo omofobico e molto spesso estremamente pesanti. Dal classico “Perverse” a “Lavatevi col fuoco”, fino all’attualissimo “Il Coronavirus è colpa vostra”.

Martina ed Erika hanno deciso di non subire inermi questa valanga di ingiurie e si sono presentate dai carabinieri per denunciare quanto accaduto. Solo che in Italia una legge contro l’omotransfobia non esiste e quindi quella denuncia non hanno potuto farla. L’unica cosa che hanno potuto fare è stata procedere contro le minacce dirette.

Racconta Martina:

L’ingiuria non è reato.
Offendere, insultare, augurare la morte… Nulla di tutto questo è perseguibile penalmente.
Oggi siamo andate dai carabinieri. Avevamo già fatto una scrematura iniziale e, tra le MIGLIAIA di cose che ci hanno scritto, avevamo scelto di denunciare una sessantina di persone. Chi ci aveva detto le cose più gravi.
Ma, ahimè, di queste, ne siamo riuscite a denunciare solo due.
Perché?
Perché deve esserci una MINACCIA sostanziale, o diffamazione.
Quindi, dire “mi auguro che tu muoia” o “vai a morire” non è perseguibile penalmente.
Dire “ti ammazzo” sì, è minaccia.
Il resto è “semplicemente un augurio”.
Testuali parole.
Per quanto riguarda le offese “puttane, troie, malate, depravate, vi serve uno psichiatra, avete fatto venire il coronavirus, siete l’immondizia, stronze di merda, fate vomitare, vi presto il mio cazzo” e chi più ne ha più ne metta… Non denunciabile.
Per l’ingiuria si può, tuttavia, agire in sede legale. Ma questo richiede, per forza, un avvocato.
E non tutti ne conoscono uno pronto ad aiutarli o se lo possono permettere.

(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.quotidianopiemontese.it/2020/05/07/insulti-ad-una-coppia-lesbica-di-novara-non-possiamo-denunciare-perche-in-italia-non-e-reato/ (Source)

Kazakhstan: Lesbian activist receives threats after responding to homophobic MMA fighter

nurbibi

A professional MMA fighter in Kazakhstan has unleashed attacks on LGBTQ people. Now a gay [sic] soccer player and her girlfriend are afraid for their safety.

Kuat Khamitov, also known as Naiman, attacked an LGBTQ-supportive video in Instagram, saying in the comments that LGBTQ people are “worse than dogs,” adding that dogs should be offended by such a comparison. His supporters followed up with comments about LGBTQ people being worse than pigs.

LGBTQ activist Nurbibi Nurkadilova responded with an open letter to Khamitov, criticizing him for his disturbing statement.

“Why do you compare my human rights, the rights of a citizen of this country, with those of a dog?” She asked. “Do you consider me powerless? Or do you compare my mental development with the canine? Or maybe you wanted to draw a parallel between the fact that we also need to put on a chain like dogs? I do not fully understand your ridiculous and stupid statement!”

Nurkadilova said the response from Khamitov’s fans and others in her home country has been swift and deeply disturbing.

“I have received thousands of messages with threats and insults,” she told Outsports in an exclusive interview. “They are all in Russian and Kazakh but say, ‘You’ll burn in hell,’ ‘I will kill you,’ ‘You’re worse than an animal,’ ‘I’ll rape you,’ ‘You don’t belong in this country,’ ‘Go to America,’ ‘You’re the shame of the country,’ and other ugly comments. A normal person would be shocked.”

Nurkadilova told Outsports she is particularly afraid for her girlfriend, who is a soccer player who has represented Kazakhstan on the national team as recently as last year.

“I’m afraid for her,” she said.

Continue reading: https://www.outsports.com/
2020/6/3/21277511/kuat-khamitov-gay-lgbt-pride-homophobia-flag-dogs-nurbibi-nurkadilova-soccer-player
(source)

U.S: Lesbian couple’s house vandalized with hate speech & obscene drawings

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

Keri and Katrina Sprinkle live in Borden in southern Indiana. On April 10, they woke up to find the words “LESBIN” [sic] and “QUEER” spray-painted on their truck. Penises were painted on the truck and their driveway too.

The vandal also painted a message on their house, “I love penis,” written in symbols.

“I was in total shock,” Keri told WLKY. “I collapsed in the middle of the street and just started crying because it was that whole feeling of violation and how could someone not only do this to my place of dwelling, but my vehicle, and then we found another graffiti mark in the driveway, and then we found one on her car as well.”

Katrina posted images of the graffiti on Facebook.

“I will pay a reward for anyone who can tell me, without a doubt, who did this!!!” she wrote.

Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com
/2020/04/lesbian-couples-house-vandalized-hate-speech-obscene-drawings/
(source)

U.S: Lesbian chef zoombombed with racism and homophobia

jchong

J. Chong, a sous chef at a local restaurant, was 30 minutes into her spinach pesto-making class when a wave of newcomers joined, but only to attack her with malicious comments.

In an Instagram post, Chong noted that she had been warned of “Zoombombers” — trolls wreaking havoc on the platform — who may join the class, but she shrugged it off at first.

Unfortunately, little did she expect that the seconds-long “interruption” would be so offensive that it caused her to freeze for “what felt like 10 minutes.”

“At first I was excited! I was proud that more people were interested in watching my class,” Chong recalled. “Then all of a sudden, we hear vicious slurs come over the speakers — ‘f*ggot,’ ‘d*ke,’ ‘lesbian,’ … ‘You f*cking ch*nk’ [and] ‘You ch*nk, the coronavirus is happening because of you!’

Continue reading: https://nextshark.com/asian-chef-attacked-during-zoom-cooking-class/ (source)

U.S: Lesbian couple sues prison system for workplace discrimination

A lesbian couple who worked in the Michigan prison system for decades is suing the state, claiming prison officials failed to do anything to protect them from years of harassment and discrimination in the workplace.

The couple, the lawsuit claims, faced harassment, discrimination and retaliation daily for not fitting into the standard mold of a state prison employee – being a heterosexual white man.

“[Michelle] (Woods) has, on countless occasions, been referred to as a ‘dyke,’ … has been told that ‘Stanley Steamer has nothing on you,’ and has had a beaver and a taco put as the desktop background on her computer,” according to the lawsuit.

Woods would later be reprimanded for various violations she had no knowledge of committing, the lawsuit claims. She was spied on by a higher ranking officer and was denied consideration for a promotion by officials who said she needed to learn to “play the game,” the lawsuit alleges.

[Loretta] Smith, who also works for MDOC, claims she was demoted to working the midnight shift in retaliation for complaining about the hostile work environment.

Continue reading: https://www.mlive.com/news
/2020/03/lesbian-couple-sues-michigan-prison-system-for-workplace-discrimination.html?fbclid=IwAR2u1ryfB07bYjUm9Ozj0
Go1uv0ec8WigFQLZ4JttKgA8xEMjoOLXRIlq1c
(source)

Australia: Pregnant lesbian told “I hope your baby dies”

L2LAustralia

A pregnant woman has been brought to tears after a stranger verbally abused her at a supermarket.

Ebony was shopping with her girlfriend Lisa at a Coles at Brookside in northern Brisbane, when a man approached her and told her he hoped her baby would die.

Lisa said she’s hesitant about Ebony returning to the supermarket on her own after the experience, the Courier-Mail reported.

‘She was just going about her day when a man she describes as being in his mid- 50s – completely unprovoked – told her ”I hope your baby dies, it’s better off without you”,’ Lisa said.

She said her girlfriend was left shocked to the point of tears, and the couple chose to leave immediately rather than responding to the man’s comments.

But the effects of the comments didn’t disappear for the couple, who say they have endured discrimination in the past for raising a child as two same-sex parents.

‘It affected us for a few days. It shook Ebony up a lot and caused unnecessary concern for the baby. I guess as an expectant mum, she was already filled with concern, so someone saying something like that plays on your worst fears,’ Lisa said.

Continue reading: https://www.dailymail.co.uk
/news/article-8076955/Pregnant-lesbian-bursts-tears-cruel-strangers-comment-Coles-supermarket.html
(source)

Update: “No prosecution” for men who hurled lesbophobic verbal abuse at passenger on Ryanair

_102466793_ryanairpic

Police who investigated two women’s reports of homophobic abuse on a Ryanair flight said problems with evidence have prevented a prosecution.

Laura Muldoon tweeted a photo in June which she said was of the men who chanted abuse at her on the Stansted to Seville flight.

Ms Muldoon and another woman made a complaint to Essex Police.

Police said “evidential difficulties” prevented the “realistic prospect of a successful prosecution”.

An Essex Police spokeswoman added that officers conducted “extensive inquiries” and a man was interviewed voluntarily.

Anyone with more information was asked to call the force.

Ms Muldoon said several offensive terms had been aimed at her, and that airline staff failed to intervene.

In a letter to Ms Muldoon, Ryanair said it prided itself on its crew’s high standards of service.

The said it regretted its high standards were “not reflected” to her “on this occasion”.

Continue reading: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-51665604 (source)

Original article: U.K: Lesbian verbally harassed on Ryanair flight ‘and crew did nothing’

U.K: Man attacks paramedic and calls her a “dirty dyke”

ambulance

A man was given community service after he confessed to attacking a paramedic who was trying to help him while shouting anti-gay slurs at her.

Dean Stevens, 28, of Shoreham in southern England collapsed one day this past August. Paramedic Rose Waller showed up to help him and get him to a hospital, the Argus reports.

But instead of gratitude, she got homophobic abuse. Stevens called Waller a “c**t” and a “dirty dy*e,” according to prosecutor Suzanne Soros.

“I’m going to kill you,” he allegedly told her.

“He brought his face close to hers to make her feel intimidated and caused damage to the glass inside the ambulance when he kicked out,” Soros said.

He kicked Waller on her shoulders and neck. She tried to hide from him in the ambulance, but he still injured her.

Continue reading: https://www.lgbtqnation.com/
2020/03/man-attacks-paramedic-trying-help-calls-dirty-dye/
(source)