[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

Nobody has ever suffered prejudice or violence on the grounds of being straight but anyone who isn't straight has to consider that they are at risk of incidents like this if they just so happen to be with a same sex partner in public.

The first half of this will be picked apart by people who've cried whenever they read someone on Twitter say "hetties are gross" or whatever but it really doesn't compare to the fear people still feel when they want to hold hands with their partner, or express their opinions on something seen as too gay/camp/flamboyant. We've a long way to go and I don't think we'll ever get there; division is inherently human and there'll always be something 'different' about the LGBT community that some drunken idiot, or pack of bullies, will want to exploit.

I've thankfully never experienced physical violence (as a victim or a witness) but the verbal abuse is still commonplace enough to require Pride events as a morale boost, if nothing more. I've always seen them as a celebration of queer history though, an opportunity to learn about Stonewall, people like Harvey Milk and Marsha P Johnson, or to thank the trans and drag pioneers who were most unafraid when they had every right to be. I can see why people are put off by the "big party" element of it and corporations definitely still exploit Pride for queer $ but I wouldn't wish it away just because of that... would be like wanting rid of Mother's Day because the floral industry is doing massive damage to the environment.

Cases like this are extremely rare and we like to think we are a tolerant society now but you needn't look far to see hateful attitudes and open insults. Especially in the trade that I work in (manual labour, contractor work, building sites, etc... it's quite routine to hear the words 'cocksucker' and '****' used liberally).