When walking back with a group from a big WorldPride party at 3am after it had just finished, I saw a car come speeding past with the windows down. The driver yelled the f slur at us and honked his horn. In the moment I thought nothing of it because it’s happened to me before, until I spoke to others and realised I wasn’t the only one who experienced some form of homophobic harassment on one of the biggest nights of celebration for queer people.
For queer people, pride month (and this year, WorldPride) means so much. It’s a celebration of the protest efforts so many queers have made before us, and a continuation of their fight for freedom to love and express yourself.
Unfortunately, moments of light, family, and queer joy can be stripped away in an instant when an individual decides to bring their homophobic opinions forward.
I spoke to two individuals who experienced some form of harassment on the night (as many others did) to hear their stories. Hopefully, they can serve as a reminder that even on the most beautiful of days for queer people, hatred can rear its ugly head. The fight is not yet over.
Dom Thattil was with his partner Ben McMahon when he was harassed by a group of homophobic individuals.
He said one group of men spat at him, and another repeatedly made gagging noises when he walked past.
This ultimately led to Dom and his partner ubering home.
“When the people started spitting at us, that’s when I actually started feeling very unsafe,” Dom told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I wasn’t trying to manifest the worst-case scenario, but I did feel like at this point, anyone can just come up and clock me at the back of the head if I’m not looking.
“And I’ll be honest, at that point in time, it did sort of distract from the fact that I was celebrating pride.”
Dom said it wasn’t until he posted about his WorldPride experience that he realised so many others had experienced some form of mockery or harassment on the night.
Dom’s sister Maria Thattil was DM’d about a similarly negative experience.
In the message, Maria’s friend recalls walking home with their girlfriend before someone stopped in front of them, said “I hate you all” and kept walking.
Dom said after he was spat at a woman came up to him to briefly see if he was okay, then asked to take a photo with him. On top of this, after he posted about the traumatic event he was confronted by how many activists, LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies who followed him were silent.
“It just sort of reminded me that like, the reason that we are doing pride is to speak up against these kinds of injustices,” he said.
“The real point of celebrating pride is to actually be real allies and stand in solidarity with each other. It takes a lot more than just being like ‘happy Pride’, be yourself or whatever, but then when you actually see someone being spat on, you can’t say anything.
“I’ve seen a lot of people that I know, that didn’t have the heart to say anything.
“I’m actually starting to learn like, there is a long way to go with teaching people how to truly ally with our community.”
Queer disability and gender equity advocate and activist Akii Ngo also faced harassment during WorldPride when an individual misgendered them and became angry when asked to be respectful.
“I asked someone to not use gendered language (ma’am, sir, miss, girl, boy et cetera) and make assumptions,” Akii told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“I very politely highlighted that you cannot make assumptions about someone’s gender, sexuality, or otherwise simply based on appearance. So, in order to be completely welcoming, it’s important to use inclusive language.”
Akii said the person then swore at and berated them for “making such a fuss” and called them a “difficult bitch”.
“I told them that accidents obviously can happen — we are in a heteronormative and cisnormative world after all — and they could’ve very easily accepted responsibility & apologised with ‘oops, sorry, my bad, I didn’t mean that’ and moved on,” they said.
“However, instead, they lost their temper at me and yelled at me for ‘carrying on about something so silly’.”
Akii said this moment made them feel unsafe in the space they were in as the individual was a “large, masculine” person yelling down at them, and as a wheelchair user, this made them feel threatened and belittled.
“I was quite hurt and in tears. But, as a proud activist and advocate for marginalised communities, I always turn my pain and adversity into power and strength because I never want anyone else to feel the way that I felt, ever again,” they said.
“We all deserve better, we deserve to exist exactly as who we are! To feel safe, welcomed, and treated with dignity and respect – regardless of our gender, sexuality or disability. This is why Pride matters, why representation matters.”
Drag performer Penny Tration was denied a taxi because of how they appeared and was pushed to the ground shortly after by a stranger.
A TikTok video of the rather confronting moment was posted by The Challenge‘s Suzan Mutesi.
I have heard many other stories colloquially about awful homophobia during WorldPride, some so traumatic that the individual, understandably, did not want to talk about them.
This is why we march together every year. We still have a long way to go until every single member of the LGBTQIA+ community can feel safe. Things are not over just because white cis men can prance around happily. We are all in this together.
What happens when Pride month ends? Hatred, bigotry and discrimination against trans people (especially trans POC) will continue. Misgendering will continue. Homophobia will continue. Racism within the community will continue. We need to come together every year and raise our voices even louder.
Pride began as a protest, and it will forever continue to be one. Our existence is resistance against those who try to put us down and deny us our right to be ourselves.
