Andrew James says he started an LGBT+ support group on Facebook after he was viciously assaulted on a night out ‘for being gay’. (Facebook/@andrewjamespsychicmedium)
A South Yorkshire man has started an LGBT+ support group after he was punched during a night out ‘for being gay’.
Andrew James, a psychic medium, told the Star that he was inspired to start the group after he was viciously assaulted while on a night out with went his boyfriend and colleagues in Rotherham.
According to the Star, James said a man punched him in the mouth and told him: “You deserve it because you’re gay.”
James said he didn’t know he’d even been hit until he “felt the blood around my mouth”. He told the news outlet that the attack was just “really disappointing in this day and age”.
“None of us have a magic fairy who shows up one day and asks us who we want to be,” James said. “We are who we are. I don’t know how anyone can be mad about it.”
James also opened about his experience in a moving post on Facebook. He empathically condemned “homophobic attacks on anyone”, adding more awareness needed to be “brought to these situations”.
“I feel that people should be taught that yes there are people who will be different and being different is ok,” James wrote on Facebook.
He said many people are “suffering in silence” because of homophobia and injustice. James called on his followers to “stand up for what we know is right” and “become a voice” for those too “afraid to speak for themselves”.
Bolstered by the support he’s received, James set up an LGBT+ Support Group as a resource for queer people and allies.
The closed Facebook group, which already has over 500 members, is advertised as a “safe space” for members of the LGBT+ community and supporters to “talk and share stories and make friends”.
“I just wanted to create a space to offer more support,” James told the Star. “Only when I was a victim myself did I see there’s not enough support out there for the LGBTQ community.”
According to the news outlet, a man was arrested following the homophobic attack on James. The man reportedly was released under investigation.
There has been a rise in brutal anti-LGBT+ attacks across the UK.
In June, Josh Ormrod, a bisexual student, was left bloodied and bruised after a horrific “unprovoked” and “completely random” homophobic attack in Liverpool.
Just a few weeks later, Aodhán Benson, a gay man, was attacked by four men after a night out with friends in Liverpool. He told PinkNews that he was “so scared” and “frightened” because of the horrific incident, which left him with permanent scarring on his nose and a busted lip.
Police arrested three men last month after a same-sex couple was attacked in Birmingham’s Gay Village. The victims told PinkNews that they tried to “start a conversation and have a joke” with the group of men, but it “escalated so aggressively and instantaneously” to violence.