Man left covered in blood screaming ‘it’s because I’m gay’ after ‘traumatising’ attack in Liverpool
Yet another homophobic attack has occurred in Liverpool, England. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A gay man claims that he was left drenched in blood in an alleged homophobic attack in Liverpool, England, as the northwest city continues its descent into a hotbed of anti-LGBT+ violence.
In the early morning of Monday (30 August), Kolade Ladipo, 21, had been at the Hangar34 music venue when he and friends swung by a nearby kebab shop.
While at the eatery on Seel Street, Ladipo told the Liverpool ECHO that a man hurled homophobic slurs at him at around 2:30am: “Yes I am,” he proudly shot back, confirming his sexuality to the abuser.
But according to Ladipo, the verbal assault soon descended into violence after his friends confronted the man about his behaviour, only for him to begin beating the 21-year-old.
The Liverpool man was left screaming ‘it’s because I’m gay’ as onlookers did nothing
Speaking about his friend, Lapido said: “She said to him, ‘What? What’s your problem? Why are you trying to make a scene? Why are you being rude? Why are you being disrespectful?
“He immediately felt threatened and he immediately turned to violence. He started pushing her. And then his friend stood up and stood right in front of me and my friend.
“And I said: ‘No because I let it slide. I was nice and cordial. I let it slide that he was being disrespectful’.
“The whole time he’s pushing [my friend], he’s pushing me, and it’s getting violent. We’re being pushed by two grown men.”
“After it all had died down and I was still at the scene and the man had moved away, I was screaming, ‘Just because I’m gay, literally just because I’m gay’,” he added.
“Everyone could hear me. They could see me covered in blood. They could see it.”
“And it’s like, ‘I’m stood here covered in blood, screaming, ‘It’s because I’m gay’, and no one is coming to my aid. No one is saying anything. Everyone is just staring.”
The incident in the takeaway followed another alleged assault, after a club-goer threw a drink at Lapido while calling him a homophobic slur.
“It was brutal,” Gaia Ahuja, a 23-year-old member of Girls Don’t Sync who headlined at Hanger34 for the Jamaica Street Carnival, said of the “traumatising” attack.
“It was very, very violent. Words and shouting, yeah, we’re used to that, but it was just the level of how violent it was that was actually shocking.
“To the point that we’re walking away with blood on us.”
What happened to Lapadi is the latest in a spate of homophobic attacks that have soared in recent months in Liverpool.
Fear has seized queer Liverpudlians as LGBT+ people have been beaten in broad daylight, left bloodied and bruised and children have been spat on.
“All I could think is ‘what if I die and don’t get the chance to tell my mum and dad that I love them’,” one the victims told ITV News.
The incidents, Merseyside Police, the county’s force, say, are not thought to be linked.
