It seems to be clear that when the United States elected its next president, they increased one of their more volatile exports, hate.
Two men who were allegedly attacked in [Stanmore] Sydney last week by a homophobic Donald Trump supporter have said they were shocked something like this would happen in 2016.
Sam and Andrew* were in line at a McDonalds close to Newtown early on Monday morning when a young and intoxicated man started aggressively rambling about newly-elected U.S. President Donald Trump.
“He was saying things like how white men rule now that Trump has won, I was horrified,” Sam said.
“Andrew was lovely and very protective of me, he tried to encourage me to stay away from him.
“But I turned around to the guy and said ‘I’m gay – do you have a problem with that?’ and with that he went off.”
After being informed that the pair were gay, the young man amended his original line and started saying ‘Trump’s won, straight white men rule’.
The man’s friends then had to restrain him as he tried to aggressively get over the top of them while pointing and shouting at the pair.
His friends eventually dragged him out of the restaurant, leaving Sam and Andrew shaken. – starobserver.com.au
It's hard not to say something when you see and hear stupidity, but what we need to remember is that most are doing this to try to show their unjustified dominance above others. "If a tree falls in the woods" mentality should apply here. They are just trees falling in the woods, hoping that someone would hear them and respond. It's very similar to the Trump supporter on the Delta plane (Trump Supporter Banned For Life From Delta Flights After Rant). No one confronted him and he sat down. He said his semi coherent words that were on his mind and he fell into his chair like a tree in the woods. If someone had confronted him, he most likely would have then escalated the situation to try and raise himself above other people once more. It's all about these supposed oppressed people trying to feel better about themselves by stepping on the necks of others. If we understand that these feeble people want the confrontation in order to show their racist colors, we can then understand why ignoring them is kind of the way to go.
Then again I would have told the guy on the plane to stfu or waited for him to get off the plane and said something. So I don't think I could practice what I preached. I know I couldn't have remained silent and all my friends know that, too.
[Sam and Andrew (names have been changed to protect their privacy)] grabbed their food to take away and planned to head straight home, but the young, aggressive man was waiting as they left the restaurant.
“I couldn’t believe it, he’d been waiting outside to pounce on me,” Sam said.
“He hit me on the head, and because I’m a pretty big guy, I went down hard – immediately there was blood everywhere.
“He kept mouthing off, but when he hit my head things went a bit blurry from that point.”
Andrew said he had been looking at his phone to book a ride home when he saw Sam go flying against the wall.
“I looked up and he was bleeding all over his face,” he said.
“I quickly assessed him and could see that he was moving and blinking, so I knew he was okay in that moment.
“Then as I turned around he king hit me in the face. I didn’t fall over, but as I realised what had happened he struck me again with a piece of glass I think, as it cut my skin and I was bleeding.”
In an attempt to protect himself and Sam from the man, Andrew then fought back, who he says looked like he wanted to ‘kill’ the pair.
“I was trying to protect Sam because I knew he wasn’t capable of looking after himself, he was on the ground,” he said.
“When I fought back I didn’t feel so defeated in a way, I remember thinking to myself there are so many LGBTI people that have been killed by people like this, and I almost wanted to hit him back for those people.”
The perpetrator’s friends then dragged him away down the street, however the Newtown Police arrived in time to catch them before they ran away.
Sam was then taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and Andrew was taken to the police station to give his statement to Senior Constable Sites. – starobserver.com.au
It was reported by the couple that both the McDonald's Staff and the Newtown Police were amazing in their response and support during this ordeal. Security cameras were present and the assault was recorded, the perpetator has already been charged and will be in court on December 15th.
What was not said in any report we found was if all three were Australians. We jump to conclusions that the Trump supporter was an American, but that may be wrong. There are a lot of Trump supporters across the world, but they seem to be unified by racism and white supremacy. Here is footage of an anti-Trump rally outside of the US Embassy in London just after he was elected.
Head over to starobserver.com.au for more on Sam and Andrew's story and their response to the incident. They talk about how we as LGBTI individuals should be trained on what to do when something like this happens, may it be hate speech or physical attacks. He does mention that we should fight back.
“Even yesterday I was thinking maybe I should go back to the gym and do boxing classes, I think people need to know how to look after themselves – whether it be diffusing situations verbally or just knowing how to read the signs,” he said
“We need unity as a community too, we do need to look out for each other and when someone is in trouble help them.
“If you fight back when anyone tries to intimidate or threaten you, they’re not as big and brave as they try to come across.” – starobserver.com.au
What are your thoughts Instincters?
Do you butt in when someone is proclaiming their stupidity, racism, political views?
Or do you let them spout since it is just words from a narrow minded person and they just want to be heard?
Do you prepare yourself to fight back when it comes to physical blow?
And for our non-U.S. readers, have you seen a change in your country after Trump was elected?
Im Australian, and we have
Im Australian, and we have our share of uneducated, red neck, right wingers here, like anywhere else. I thought we were better that the US, after all we would never vote in someone like Trump here.. then I remember, we voted in Tony Abbott in 2013….
And there are gays who voted
And there are gays who voted for Trump. I just put them in the poorly educated category. How they can look their gay friends in the face is beyond me!