A gay man in the UK was knocked unconscious and severely beaten requiring medical attention at a hospital.
Ryan Williams, of Preston, Lancashire, shared his story along with graphic photos of his injuries from the attack on social media.
“I never thought in my life that I would get beaten up for being GAY!,” wrote Williams on his Facebook page. “Wtf has this world actually come too, you’re all vile and disgusting!”
“I want people to understand that being gay isn’t a choice and I can’t help it,” he added. “I’m sorry that you can’t deal with it but hey ho no need to knock someone out because of it!
He closed his post writing, “I seriously can not believe that a homophonic attack happens! Which it does and it’s wrong! Stand strong and love yourself, this isn’t gonna stop me from being fabulous! Being gay is OK!”
Williams told The Mirror he and some friends were headed to McDonalds for a bite to eat after an evening out on July 13.
“There was a group of people nearby in the street and they started calling me and my friends gay,” explained the 22-year-old. “We went over and told them it’s not okay to say things like that.”
But as Williams walked away, he says he was hit in the back of the head and fell to the ground. Stunned from the attack, he was then kicked repeatedly in the face until he blacked out.
He was taken to Royal Preston Hospital where he was treated for injuries to his face.
Police told The Mirror they are treating the attack as a hate crime.
A survey from the UK shows 48% of respondents say they would be uncomfortable kissing someone who is living with HIV, even though 97% of those diagnosed in the UK are virally supressed thanks to modern antiretroviral medications.
Multiple studies have shown that people living with HIV and on effective treatment report viral levels as ‘undetectable’ which means the virus can’t be passed on to sexual partners.
The PARTNER study, published in 2016, followed 58,000 instances of sex without a condom where one partner was HIV positive and one was HIV negative.
The resulting research showed there were zero cases of HIV transmission where the HIV+ partner was on effective treatment reducing viral levels to ‘undetectable.’
The PARTNER 2 study, released in May 2019, found zero cases of HIV transmission among 782 serodiscordant couples having condomless sex when the HIV+ partner had undetectable levels of HIV.
Dr. Michael Brady, Medical Director for the Terrence Higgins Trust, says “We are now saying with confidence – and without doubt – that people living with HIV who are on effective treatment cannot pass the virus on to their sexual partners.”
But the survey found only 19% of British respondents are aware of that fact. A surprising 41% believe the virus can be passed on even with the virus suppressed in the patient.
Also from the survey:
• 38% would feel uncomfortable going on a date with someone living with HIV
• 64% say they would feel uncomfortable having sex with someone living with HIV
• People aged 35-44 were most comfortable with the proposition of kissing someone with HIV (43%) while older respondents (55+) were much less comfortable (25%)
A campaign by the THT, titled ‘Can’t Pass It On,’ aims to tackle outdated beliefs regarding HIV and the stigma/discrimination associated with the virus.
While noting that condoms are still the most effective way to avoid all sexually transmitted diseases, the campaign hopes to ensure that people know the facts about HIV and effective treatment.
For more info about the THT/YouGov survey, click here.
Pride In London recently released its Pride Jubilee video in anticipation of Pride events this month and their huge Pride Parade on July 6.
The video journeys through history to highlight key moments that have made Pride what it is today, as chosen by the LGBTQ community.
Earlier this year Pride in London put out an open call to the community and its partners to nominate the moments, stories and landmark events that have defined the Pride movement. The moments that came up the most were then used as the basis of the film.
With 2019 being the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising on June 28, 1969, the video encapsulates 5 decades of activism, protests and victories in the UK LGBTQ movement.
Over that time, the community faced Stonewall, the AIDS epidemic, the hideous Section 28 and more. While there were certainly bleak, difficult times, the video ends on an upbeat tone.
Pride in London says, “We want to mark the moments and the people behind them.”
The organization says it used an entirely LGBTQ cast in addition to actual audio and video news footage for authenticity.
Pride in London lists these key moments in history that are depicted:
• 28th June 1969 – Queer people of colour lead the the Stonewall Uprising in New York, where members of the LGBT+ community at the Stonewall Inn rise up against continued oppression by the police and society in general
• 1st July 1972 – The first official UK Gay Pride Rally takes place in London
• Early 1980s – London is hit by the AIDS crisis, with thousands diagnosed with HIV over the course of the next decade
• 9th April 1987 – Princess Diana opens the UK’s first purpose built unit for the treatment of HIV patients, shaking the hands of AIDS patients without gloves
• 9th October 1987 – Margaret Thatcher delivers anti-gay speech at Conservative Party Conference, widely seen as setting the foundations for Section 28
• 23rd May 1988 – Lesbian activists storm the 6 O’Clock News to protest the enactment of Section 28
• 12th January 2000 – The ban is lifted on lesbian, gay and bisexual people openly serving in the British Army
• 30th November 2000 – Equal age of consent for homosexual couples is finally passed after being blocked multiple times by the House of Lords
• 17th July 2013 – Same-sex marriage is passed in England and Wales
• 2019 – As anti-trans protestors continue to hijack Pride events globally and attacks on trans people treble in ten years, the fight for trans rights continues
During a debate today in the House of Commons, Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle courageously came out as is HIV positive, making a personal appeal in advance of World AIDS Day to tackle the stigma still associated with HIV/AIDS.
Russell-Moyle becomes the first lawmaker to announce his HIV status in the Commons, and only the second MP to share their HIV+ status with the public.
According to The Guardian, the 32-year-old parliamentarian shared that he was first diagnosed with HIV ten years ago, and thanks to advances in HIV treatments he is able to live entirely unaffected by HIV.
“I wanted to be able to stand here in this place and say to those who are living with HIV that their status does not define them,” Russell-Moyle, the MP for Brighton Kemptown since 2017, said in a speech that drew tributes from many other MPs.
“We can be whoever we want to be, and to those who have not been tested, maybe because of fear, I say to you: it is better to live in knowledge than to die in fear.”
As he finished his speech, his fellow Labour members stood to applaud him even though applause is normally prohibited in the chamber. However, as you can see in the video below, the half dozen Tories in the chamber sat silent.
With the world observing the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day on Saturday, Russell-Moyle said the day “gives us pause to reflect how far we have come, and to remember those we have lost.”
“But such events are also deeply personal to me. Next year I will be marking an anniversary of my own – 10 years since I became HIV positive,” he continued. “It has been a long journey, from the fear of acceptance and today, hopefully, advocacy, knowing that my treatment keeps me healthy and protects any partner that I may have.”
“I have a perfectly healthy life,” he added. “So my announcement here today should go totally unnoticed.”
Russell-Moyle later tweeted:
I know how much todays reaction would have meant to 22 year old me. Thank you.
Former Labour minister Chris Smith, elected to the Commons in 1983 and the first openly gay MP, announced he was HIV+ shortly before leaving Parliament in 2005.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, later honored Russell-Moyle saying, “Lloyd has shown enormous courage today. I know the whole Labour party is proud of him.”
Today @Lloyd_rm made history by being the first MP to speak in the House of Commons about being HIV positive. His bravery and hope will help to raise awareness and tackle stigma, and inspire people across our country and around the world. https://t.co/ODZUvYjfWT
I pay tribute to the dignity showed by friend Lloyd Russell-Moyle in sharing his experience being diagnosed as HIV+ to the House of Commons today. I stand with Lloyd and all those around the world with HIV to end the stigma & ensure access to effective treatment. Solidarity.
People living with #HIV can do ANY job they choose, including being an MP. Thank you @lloyd_rm for telling the world that you live with HIV. This will combat the considerable #HIVStigma that still exists. It is crucial that it is challenged! https://t.co/8u2UWuaKvE
When Richard Dowling’s son, Daniel, was 11-years-old, he forced him to have sex with his step-mother in an attempt to make sure his son wouldn’t be gay.
His father also forced him to watch porn and engage in three-way sexual encounters with himself and the step-mother.
Although the incidents took place in the 1990s, charges were only recently brought against the father and step-mom.
Richard Dowling, now 62-years-old, has been sentenced to five years in prison on one count of cruelty to a child and two counts relating to sexual offenses involving a child.
The former step-mother, Annette Breakspear, 62-years-old, received an eight year sentence on three counts of indecent assault.
Now 36, Daniel has shared his story with the Sunday Mirror in an effort to help others raise their voices in similar situations.
The initial abuse began while playing a board game one night. Richard suggested the loser remove their clothing. Soon, Breakspear was naked and the father encouraged Daniel to kiss and fondle her breasts.
At the time, 11-year-old Daniel says he justified the abuse in his head because, “Dad was encouraging me to do it so I thought it was OK.”
“I think that night was a tester of how I’d react because intercourse started after that,” he added.
Daniel says that he was a bit “feminine” when younger and that possibly led his dad to take these actions.
Daniel tells the Sunday Mirror that not only did Breakspear take his virginity soon after, but she would engage in sexual abuse at least ten times over the next three years.
In one instance, after returning home from Scouts, his father told him to go give his step-mom a “good night kiss.” But when Daniel entered the bedroom, Breakspear was naked and handcuffed to the bed.
She instructed him to kiss her, and things eventually led to intercourse. During the incident, the father came and joined in.
In another episode, Richard made Daniel watch pornography with him before the dad engaged in oral sex with Breakspear telling Daniel, “That’s how you do it.”
There were also times when all three would be in bed participating in some form of three-way sex. Other times, the father wouldn’t be present for the episodes.
Today, Daniel is openly gay but the damage done at such a young age persists.
“I was sexualised at such a young age that sex means nothing to me now,” he says. “The few positive memories of my childhood are tarnished by memories of the abuse. When I smell someone wearing her perfume, or see that board game in a shop or on TV, it brings the memories back.”
The repercussions of the abuse resulted in mental health issues including depression and an attempted suicide.
The abuse came to an end when Richard ended his relationship with Breakspear in 1996. The father and son moved to Weymouth, Dorset, where at age 16 Daniel became the victim of another pedophile.
It was during interviews with a psychologist that that the earlier abuse came to light.
But nothing came of the revelation as the father claimed his son was a liar and simply “seeking attention.” Daniel also told the Sunday Mirror that the police treated him “shoddily” during that time and a constable even mocked him.
It would take 17 years before Daniel would eventually find justice. On September 6, 2015, he recorded a phone call wherein the dad admitted the abuse. Daniel took the recording to the police, and this time he was taken seriously.
During Richard Dowling’s trial at Reading Crown Court, the father says his intentions were “to try and steer him in the right direction and not to go to the way of being gay, because there was like, sort of, tendencies for him to be gay”.
The father says he was concerned about Daniel turning out “the right way.”
Judge Maria Lamb admonished Richard Dowling in court saying, “Your warped sense of right and wrong allowed him to be exploited by your then partner not just once but again and again.”
“You’ve failed to protect him from the sexually predatory behavior of your co-defendant,” the judge said. “The damage is incalculable. The abuse of trust is monstrous and the reality is that one of you was involved in active sexual abuse and the other connived at it.”
And regarding Breakspear, Judge Lamb was direct and unflinching in her criticism: “For your own perverted sexual gratification, you initiated this boy into a world far beyond anything to which he should ever have had to be introduced at those tender years.”
The Sunday Mirror reports Daniel was not able to tell his story until today for legal reasons.
But he now shares that he has not spoken to his father for over two years, saying: “Dad threw me under the bus instead of admit his guilt. He is dead to me now.”
A bisexual teen living in Nuneaton, a town in northern Warwickshire, England, was the target of a violent attack and was reportedly left for dead.
CoventryLive reports the attackers were charged in the attack and pleaded guilty to the assault, but received no jail time. Instead, they were given referral orders (a form of community service) and ordered to pay compensation.
The teen had been spending the day with friends when he was approached by one of the two attackers.
“What you hanging around with him for, you do know he’s bi,” said the first assailant.
The other then said, “Is this right?” as he launched into the violent beating.
When one of the victim’s friends said, “I can’t believe you hit him because he is gay,” one of the attackers replied, “I haven’t got a problem with gay people, but I have got a problem with greedy bis like him.”
The teen was allegedly knocked to the ground and the attackers began to kick him before dragging him into a wooded area.
As the beating continued, the teen says they threatened him if he told the police: “If you give our names to the police, we will find you and kill you.”
At home, he told his mother “three lads in balaclavas” had attacked him as the attackers had told him to say. But when he was taken to the hospital, all pretense fell away and he shared the truth of the beating.
Although the physical injuries of the attack began to heal, it is the psychological scars that continued to plague the boy.
His mother says he became a recluse, and she would sometimes find him “huddled with his hands over his head.” Eventually, the teen would refuse to leave his house out of fear.
Although people in the community rallied around him with support, the young boy says,“I just wish that the police and the court had done their jobs properly.”
“I feel let down, I feel like no-one did their jobs properly because, if they did, one of them would be in jail,” he told ConventryLive. “They attacked me because I am bisexual, what happened has changed my life, it has made me constantly look over my back.”
The after-effects of the attack were so severe, the family has moved from Nuneaton for fear the boy would run into his attackers.
HIs mother says that he has begun to recover some of his old self before the beating, but isn’t sure he’ll ever truly shake off the memory.
Having moved away, the family is coming forward now in an effort to highlight the injustice they feel they experienced.
“He just wants to stop any other kids going through what he has been through,” the mother shared with CoventryLive. “If they (the police) had said from day one it was not a hate crime, it wouldn’t have been so bad but all the way through we just kept being told that one of them might go to prison.”
For their part, the Warwickshire Police Force said through a spokesman, “We can confirm it was thoroughly investigated as a hate crime and charged as a hate aggravated crime.”
In 2014, the Northern Ireland Equality Commission brought a lawsuit against Ashers Baking Company on behalf of LGBTQ activist Gareth Lee who had gone to the bakery to order a cake for a private function to be held observing International Day Against Homophobia.
Lee asked that the cake feature Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie and bear the message “support gay marriage.”
The owners of Ashers Bakery, Daniel and Amy McArthur, originally accepted the cake order.
But Amy McArthur later contacted the man who ordered it and said they could not make such a cake “in conscience.”
The McArthurs have maintained that the issue was not the customer but the message.
The BBC reports that back in May, Daniel McArthur told the press while standing in front of the court house, “We didn’t say no because of the customer; we’d served him before, we’d serve him again. It was because of the message. But some people want the law to make us support something with which we disagree.”
After two earlier court cases, the UK Supreme Court has now ruled in the bakers’ favor overturning a £500 damages award imposed on the bakery owners.
The five justices of the high court were unanimous in their ruling seeing the issue as not one of gay discrimination but one of freedom of expression.
“It is deeply humiliating, and an affront to human dignity, to deny someone a service because of that person’s race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or any of the other protected personal characteristics,” Hale said in the judgment.
“But that is not what happened in this case and it does the project of equal treatment no favours to seek to extend it beyond its proper scope.”
Freedom of expression, as guaranteed by article 10 of the European convention on human rights, includes the right “not to express an opinion which one does not hold”, Hale added. “This court has held that nobody should be forced to have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe,” she said.
The McArthurs expressed relief for the ruling, saying, “We are very grateful to the judges. We did not turn down this order because of the person who made it, but because of the message itself.”
Lee, however, says he feels “confused about what this actually means.”
“We need certainty when you go to a business,” he toldThe Guardian. “I’m concerned that this has implications for myself and for every single person.”
The original decision to turn down his order had left him feeling like a “second-class citizen”, he said.
Lee’s last option would be to appeal to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
It’s worth noting that Northern Ireland is the only place in the UK where same-sex marriage is not legal.
If this sounds familiar, it should.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, who refused to sell a cake to a gay couple celebrating their wedding.
In the U.S. case, the high court decided that a Colorado state agency had approached the case with religious bias. In the ruling, SCOTUS asked the Colorado Civil Rights Commission to re-examine the case.
• Just to prove folks can be oh-so-sexy fully clothed, check out all of what med student Marco has going on underneath. Oh, yeah, and there’s that easy-on-the-eyes face. #woof
• The security guards who ejected fans waving rainbow flags at a concert by pop phenom Dua Lipa concert last week have been arrested for their actions.
• Britain’s High Court has overturned pharmaceutical company Gilead Science’s patent extension on Truvada. This ruling could mean affordable, generic versions of the drug could be available in the UK by April 2019.
• Roseanne Barr says the upcoming Roseanne spinoff, The Connors, will kill off her character by having her die of opioid overdose as a ‘screw you’ to Trump supporters. However, in the recent season of the rebooted Roseanne, writers had laid the groundwork for her character to struggle with prescription pain killer addiction.
• Digital series After Forever won “Best Short Film Ensemble” at the L.A. Indie Film Festival this weekend.
The folks at Sesame Street did respond to the recent revelation by tweeting a statement about the “best friends” which read, in part, “Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”
— Women and Equalities (@WomenEqualities) July 3, 2018
Medical experts around the world including the World Health Organization, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and almost every other professional therapeutic group in America, have denounced the practice of so-called “conversion” or “ex-gay” therapy as inappropriate, unethical, harmful and, in some cases, can lead to suicide.
The approach of “conversion therapy’ is based on the premise that LGBTQ people are suffering from a mental condition that needs to be ‘fixed.” The World Health Organization declassified homosexuality a mental condition in 1992.
In the United States, 13 states plus Washington, D.C. and over 30 local municipalities ban the harmful practice for minors.
Reacting to the survey’s results, British Prime Minister Theresa May issued a statement saying he felt “struck by just how many respondents said they cannot be open about their sexual orientation or avoid holding hands with their partner in public for fear of a negative reaction.”
“No one should ever have to hide who they are or who they love,” the UK leader said. “This LGBT action plan will set out concrete steps to deliver real and lasting change across society, from health and education to tackling discrimination and addressing the burning injustices that LGBT people face.”
Ruth Hunt, chief executive of the British LGBT rights group Stonewall, hailed the new initiative by the government as “an important first step” but added that it needs to lead to “tangible change.”
“Some people will be shocked by the findings. But for anyone who is LGBT, or has a family member or friend who is, these results will be sadly recognizable,” she said in a statement. “Laws have improved and attitudes have changed but our society still treats LGBT people like second-class citizens.”
Two teens in the UK, who choked a student during a Tube ride in London until he “apologized” for being gay, have basically walked out of court with a slap on the wrist.
Will Mayrick, 20, says he feared for his life after two attackers grabbed him in a headlock, squeezing the breathe out of him, during an evening out with four of his friends.
The photography student today said the hideous ordeal might never have happened if the teenage perpetrators had undergone LGBT education classes at school.
Mayrick told the press that the Government needs to make LGBT studies a requirement. “It’s clear that there needs to be a better support network in schools,” he told the Evening Standard.
In the end, both attackers (aged 16 and 17) were given 12-month referral orders and each ordered to pay fines of about $27 for “victim surcharge” and $200 for “compensation.”
After the sentencing, Mayrick withheld judgement of his assailants saying, “They were so young, and I can’t help but think that if they had had some sort LGBT education then the attack might never have happened.”
According to a recent study by Stonewall, 55% of secondary school teachers and 42% of primary school teachers say they don’t stand up to homophobic language every time they hear it.
Additionally, 86% of secondary school teachers and 45% of primary school teachers polled said students in their schools had experienced homophobic bullying.
