After a horrific attack against a pair of gay women on a London bus on May 30, the two have decided to speak out about the incident, and have shared their view of the whole situation.
According to the women — 28-year-old Melania Geymonat, a doctor from Uruguay who now works as a flight attendant for Ryanair, and her American girlfriend, Chris, 29 — they were targeted by a group of men who saw them as sexual objects and wanted to hurt them with a sexual subtext intentionally.
The men reportedly saw the two women holding hands and told them to kiss, after which the attack commenced.
For Geymonat, their alleged attackers, aged 15 to 18, saw the queer couple as “sexual objects” there to “entertain” and nothing more.
She added: “They started making some really aggressive comments about us being lesbians and sexual positions. It is not the first time this happens to me that I am with a girlfriend or on a date, and men tend to be excited by watching.”
However, it does not look like the incident has managed to undermine their faith in their relationship, as both have expressed that they are now more confident than ever, and determined to stand up for themselves in light of incidents like this one.
One of the women, Chris, also seemed to have a thing or two to say about Boris Johnson and his plans to run for Prime Minister, pointing out that this would be a disaster and expressing a total lack of confidence in the politician.
Johnson wrote a book in 2001 titled Friends, Voters, Countrymen, in which he linked homosexuality to bestiality.
Five suspects have been identified in the case, all male teenagers, and they have been charged over the incident. All of the alleged assailants have been released on bail. The case against the teenagers is supposed to move forward sometime next month.
Many have cried out against the incident, calling it outrageous and explaining that the people involved should face the full consequences of what they have done. Commenters on social media have been incredibly supportive after what happened to the couple.
One person wrote: “I’m so so sorry for what happened to you and your girlfriend. I think that you’re both incredibly strong and inspirational standing your ground in this horrible situation. I hope that you get justice, and the way that people can do this is simply disgraceful. Stay strong.”
There has also been an active public discussion about the incident, and the way members of the LGBTQ community are being treated in the United Kingdom as a whole.
Chris, who wrote a viral op-ed in The Guardian urging people to combat homophobia everywhere, went in that direction and explained: “Hate crimes are alive and well, and it’s not a surprise. We have gotten a lot of attention for it. It doesn’t mean it’s not happening elsewhere.”
Some are wondering if the case will become more political now that Johnson’s name was brought up.
