Today I saw a news article about 2 gay men that were subjected to homophobic violence when on the NYC subway. As reported by The Advocate magazine:
Urena Morel Frankelly and his partner say they were heading south on the No. 2 train when they say a woman began taking pictures of them, leading to a confrontation where the suspects hurled antigay slurs at the couple…
When Frankelly asked the woman why she was taking a picture of him eating food on the train, the suspect allegedly responded by shouting, “Feed your face, faggot.”
An argument ensued, and the women were joined by three others and a man, who all attacked Frankelly, according to police.
Some days I consider myself fortunate to have never been the victim of homophobic violence. I have been subjected to discrimination but thankfully this has never accelerated to physical abuse or violence.
Sadly many forms of discrimination are done is a passive more subtle way as is demonstrated in this video from the ABC’s “What would you do?” show.
While not as overt as being beaten in front of a crowd of people doing nothing, the levels of homophobia demonstrated in the above video is just as vile and disgusting to watch as if it had been a bashing.
So my question to you is, have you ever been witness to homophobic violence or homophobic slurs?
What would you do if confronted with similar situations as noted above?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Dr George
Leave a Reply