Horrifying homophobic act in Nancy, France

During the night of the 24th August, two men were harassed in Nancy in France because they were gay. 

They have been really devastated by such a violent reaction to their homosexuality. 

For sure they did not think that this could ever happen once in their life. The two men were walking in the street between 12PM and 1AM with a young woman. They were in Carnot Place. Steven explains : « We were walking out of the bar and talking about our homosexuality out loud ». He is 22. In front of them there was a group composed of five boys and a girl. They started insulting them. But right after, they approached them and started beating both of the guys. « We have been called faggots and then they kicked us » says Steven to the journal 20 Minutes. 

Their friend immediately started filming the scene and taking pictures of the licence plate of the car. But unfortunately the group saw her, started the car and reversed to prevent her from recording. Steven is still shaken by what happened a few days later. « Physically I’m fine even though I have pain in my chest. In my head, it’s much harder. We’ve been very scared. When I talk about it, I can’t help but shaking. » 

The assault was condemned by the regional association Equinoxe in a statement. The homophobic nature of the assault was not taken into account in Steven’s original complaint, as his lawyer, Mr Masset noted : “However, the complaint refers to homophobic slurs, that’s pretty clear” ; he says. Is this really a mistake ? Or a new illustration of the difficulty of getting homophobia into account ?

No matter what the lawyer is determined to reunite the three complaints once they are rectified to send them to the public prosecutor of Nancy. 

The past year, the number of victims of physical violences has been multiplied by two, according to the latest report from SOS Homophobia.