A bisexual woman beaten on a London bus in a homophobic attack that sparked national outrage has called for action against a surge in anti-LGBT hate crimes.
Melania Geymonat and her partner Chris were attacked on a night bus in late May by a group of boys, who had taunted the pair and demanded they kiss for their enjoyment. Five teenagers have been arrested.
A picture of the two women bleeding after the attack went viral in the following days, but Chris, who has not revealed her second name, urged the public to pay similar attention to the numerous homophobic and transphobic hate crimes that take place on a daily basis in the UK and worldwide.
“Make the extraordinary reaction to our attack the norm,” she wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian newspaper. “Question why the photo of two attractive, white cisgender women compelled you to post about Pride for the first time.
“A refrain I’ve heard ad nauseum is ‘I can’t believe this happened – it’s 2019’. I disagree,” Chris wrote. “In both my native United States and here in the United Kingdom, it always has been and still is open season on the bodies of (in no specific order) people of colour, indigenous people, transgender people, disabled people, queer people, poor people, women and migrants.”
June marks Pride Month around the world, but as celebrations take place – 50 years on from the Stonewall Riots in New York that became a watershed moment in the global gay liberation movement – LGBT people in the UK and worldwide are facing an increasingly hostile climate of harassment and intimidation.
The number of homophobic hate crimes dealt with by British police has more than doubled in five years, with 11,638 recorded in 2017-18 – a rate of about 32 a day.
Transphobic attacks have trebled in the same time period, and the government notes that crimes of both type are frequently under-reported – meaning the true number is certain to be far higher.
Chris urged the public to donate to “people-of-colour-led organisations striving for justice” in response to the trend, adding: “I beg you to amplify and channel this energy to hold accountable the intersecting web of elected politicians, government agencies and corporations who have reinforced a status quo.
“The commodification and exploitation of my face came at the expense of other victims whose constant persecution apparently does not warrant similar moral outrage,” she wrote.