In the early hours of Sunday, Adrian Lea and Meredith DC, a gay couple, were brutally attacked in the Western Australia capital Perth. The attack left both men bleeding, with Lea suffering from a fractured nose. According to reports, the attack occurred at around midnight while the couple was walking between two gay nightclubs, which are about 400 meters apart.
Speaking to 9 News Perth, Lea, 37, explained that he and Meredith were simply walking when they were approached by the attackers. “I don’t remember what the conversation was about. He asked me if I was gay, then just called his friend and boom. Both of them jumped on me and started hitting me in the face,” Lea recounted. “As I got up, my nose was running… it completely blindsided me. I was in a daze and I was like, ‘What the hell is going on?’ They were yelling out to ‘kick him in the head’.”
The assault only ended when a passer-by intervened, but the two men fled before the police arrived. Although the police have not speculated on the motivation behind the attack, LGBTQ+ charity Beyond A Hug has called for a protest against homophobic hate crime. The organization hopes to hold the demonstration on Sunday in a bid to create a “community line” of people standing hand-in-hand between The Court Hotel and Connection Nightclub where the attack occurred.
While the attack took place in Australia, UK government data shows that recorded hate crimes in England and Wales have been on the rise annually since at least the year ending March 2013. There was a 26 percent jump in those recorded crimes year-on-year through to March 2022. Furthermore, a study has found that the majority of LGBTQ+ hate crime victims fail to report the incidents because they feel it’s “too minor” and they don’t trust the police.
The attack on Lea and Meredith has sent shockwaves through the LGBTQ+ community, with many expressing their horror and dismay on social media. A friend of the pair, Llisa Llewis, took to Facebook to share her outrage. “My friends are among the most beautiful people I have ever met and bring light and happiness to everyone they meet…The people who attacked them could only be low life, insecure scumbags who are filled with hate,” Llewis wrote.
In the wake of the attack, the LGBTQ+ community is once again reminded of the dangers they face simply for being who they are. As organizations like Beyond A Hug work to raise awareness of hate crimes and push for change, many are left wondering how many more incidents like this must occur before society takes real action to address this pervasive issue.