Young Lesbian Couple Beaten Up On The Gay Friendly Streets Of Brighton

Brighton may be thought one of the most gay friendly cities in the UK, but this week it was also the scene of a vicious homophobic attack that saw a young lesbian couple beaten up in the street.

The attack took place in Gloucester Place, Brighton with both women,one aged 18, the other 22, first verbally assaulted by three men with homophobic comments before two of the men punched both women in the head. The third whilst not involved in the physical violence did not intervene with the women asked him to get his friends to stop.

The attack has lead to calls from gay campaigners for the police to do more concerning hate crimes towards the LGBT community, claiming that the police waited 12 days before they appealed for any witnesses.

Nick Antjoule, Brighton police’s LGBT liaison officer, however acted to dismiss claims that the police were not doing enough by arguing that due to the  high LGBT population in Brighton there would be more attacks per head of population than in less gay friendly cities.

He also went on to highlight that hate crime reported to the Sussex police has also decreased in the last three years. However whilst this could on one hand be seen to be positive, it is important to recognise less reports doesn’t necessarily equate to less attacks, and could be as much to do with people believing that convictions are unlikely so therefore not worth it.

You can read more about this story at The Argle.