A pair of women hurled horrific homophobic insults at a gay couple simply because they were kissing. (Screen captures via Twitter)
A gay couple outside a London, England, bus stop were verbally harassed by a pair of women in a car and told to kiss “behind closed doors”.
In shocking mobile phone footage from the couple’s friend, Roseanne Musgrove, the couple can be heard off-screen interrogating the women who hurl horrific homophobic insults at them from inside the car.
The clip has stunned the LGBT+ community in a verbal attack that comes at a time where the country is clouded by rocking anti-queer hate crimes.
‘My son is not gonna grow up like you and to think it’s right to get stabbed in the a**.’
According to the footage and Musgrove, the two men were sharing a kiss outside a bus stop in the capital when a group of women in a car opposite them began to harass them.
PLEASE WATCH: My best friend and his boyfriend were stopped by these women and verbally harassed for kissing at a bus stop in London, it scares me how backwards people are when we think we’re making progress on being a more open and accepting country 🤬 pic.twitter.com/yRMlaqpkIy
— Rose (@rosiemusgrove) October 17, 2019
Raising their phones at them to recored the incident, the woman who is driving the vehicle repeatedly lashed out at the couple, telling them to kiss “behind closed doors.”
She angrily tells one of the guys to “stop kissing his little boyf [boyfriend]” as her son might see them: “You’re not gonna do it. No, you’re not.”
As her friend in the passenger seat also films the ongoing exchange with a pair of mobiles, the flash of the iPhone concealing her face, she repeated: “You do that behind closed doors.”
“Do you think we’re gonna stop now that you said?” one of the men posited.
“Do what you want!” she shot back, “but not where my son is gonna see.”
She saved her sharpest barb, however, as she continued: “My son is not gonna grow up like you and to think it’s right to get stabbed in the a**.”
The woman then hits the pedal and motored off as her friend, wryly smiling, screeched: “B***y boys”.
PinkNews reached out to Musgrove for comment and further information.
‘Why is this still happening in the 21st century?’
Roseanne posted the footage of the incident on Twitter which incited fury from LGBT+ people and allies alike, it being the latest salvos in a surge of homophobic and transphobic hate crime in England and Wales.
Troves of Twitter users expressed their concern for the woman’s son. As one user questioned: “Does she speak like that in-front of her son?
“Because I think we should be more worried about that than two people in love kissing.”
Why is this still happening in London in the 21st century? It makes me so angry 😠
She claims to be a mother, so presumably this is the kind of hatred she’s teaching her son. I only hope he grows up to be more enlightened than his mum.#homophobia https://t.co/SK9I97duyU— QueenB ♿ (@MsGovag) October 20, 2019
Many vented their confusion and disbelief that a public display of affection from a queer couple could elicit such a vile reaction, but some remained unsurprised.
Shocking statistics released by Galop sketched a disturbing scene where one fifth of the UK public believe being gay is ‘immoral’, one in 10 think it can be ‘cured’ and around 50% feel queer people should not hold hands in the streets in case they be attacked.
You choose your sexuality in the same way you choose the colour of your skin.
You don’t.
Vile, if straight couples can hug and make out on the central line at 8am. These men in love can do it at a bus stop. https://t.co/GIr0rrcypx
— Sonny Atticus-Styles (@atticusstyles) October 20, 2019
Moreover, data from the UK government’s security department the Home Office, detailed the sharp rise in hate crime that has left campaigners concerned and LGBT+ people distressed.
It confirmed the hate crimes against transgender people in England and Wales are growing at a faster rate than for any other protected group.
There were 2,333 reports of hate crimes against transgender people in England and Wales from April 2018 to March 2019, up from 1,703 in 2017/2018.
While anti-LGB+ crimes had sparked by 25 percent against a backdrop of increased prevalence of anti-transgender media coverage, as well as growing protests against LGBT-inclusive education across the UK.
As Musgrove later added: “Honestly, how can these bigotry people openly and confidently say things like that as if it’s totally in their right to make decisions of where and when people express their love if it offends them.”