“I’m telling you about your old gay grandmother, I’m going to fuck your mother. I want to put rights in your mouth”. Thursday at 6:30 p.m., as Anthony quietly leaves Carrefour in the Confluence shopping center and takes the direction of the tram, he is taken to task by an individual who hurls insults at him for about 1 minute.
The 23-year-old, flabbergasted, remains stoic, he does not respond to provocations and death threats (“I’m going to bury you in the garage”) and still takes care to film the author without his knowledge. Alone at the time of the incident, despite the presence of witnesses, no one intervened to help him.
He decides a few minutes later to share the video on his Twitter account with the message: “Make the video go viral! The world needs to realize what the LGBT+ community is going through on a daily basis.” The text is followed by #harassment, #aggression, #homophobia…
“What is sad is that we are used to that”
“A lot of people don’t believe you can be insulted like that and don’t realize the harm it can do. Unfortunately today, what is sad is that we are used to it. Street harassment affects a lot of people, it’s deplorable. It’s not normal to insult people in the street for a style of dress or a sexual orientation,” explains Anthony, who is still reluctant to file a complaint.
It should be noted that for insults or public defamation, the penalty incurred is 1 year’s imprisonment and a fine of €45,000.