A gay couple was recently verbally and physically assaulted at JC van Epenstraat by a group of teenagers, according to Pink News.
While enjoying a canoe ride on May 21st , a group of teens yelled homophobic slurs at the couple and when they got out of the canoe to confront them, one of the teens lunged at the men with a piece of broken glass, cutting one of them on the arm. He was taken to the hospital for treatment.
The teens were arrested, and the one accused of stabbing the man is only fourteen-years-old, and the other two suspects are fourteen and fifteen. It’s alarming that someone so young could have so much hate and violent intent, I suppose this shows that homophobia is still alive. What’s more alarming, however, is that this is the third homophobic attack in Amsterdam since Easter. Two of these accounts happened to the same couple.
On Easter, gay couple Daniel Schepers and Fabio Viana, had insults thrown at them by teenagers. The teens left the scene after bystanders called the police but when the police left, one of the teens spat on one of the men. The couple revealed that they were harassed by a group of people for holding hands in public. Even though I live in a metropolitan area and feel generally accepted, I still have in the back of my mind that I could be assaulted for holding hands with my boyfriend.
That, I suppose speaks to a bigger issue at hand: many LGBT people have to hyper aware of the fact that they can be assaulted for just existing as their authentic selves. I wish a speedy recovery to the couple that was attacked on the 21st and hope that incidents like these diminish soon.
Source: Pink News