Gay man scared about revealing his sexuality after being bullied and beaten up
The unnamed man said he felt broken after the continuous homophobia he faced
By Steve Brown
A gay man revealed he is “reluctant” to reveal his sexuality after he was bullied and beaten by his peers.
The 20-year-old university student – who wished to remain anonymous – shared his story of being left “broken” after he faced continuous homophobia from schoolmates, teachers and the general public.
His story comes after new figures found that more than 70 per cent of LGBT+ young people in his home town of Darlington have been bullied or rejected because of their sexuality, the Northern Echo reported.
The man said: “Kids were brutal, they wrote f****t on my door when I was younger and picked on me.
“A guy punched me because of my sexuality and got away with it, the police did nothing.
“Everywhere I go I don’t mention I’m gay unless people are comfortable with it and I’m reluctant to put it on university forms.
“We experience discrimination all the time, at secondary school a teacher wouldn’t let me hold hands with my boyfriend even though he allowed all the other straight couples to.”
Andi Cull, CEO of LGBT organisation Darlington ARQ, said: “What you tend to find with these statistics is they are not usually representative, many of the cases go unreported.
“I think the figure in reality will be closer to 100 per cent as everyone in our youth group has faced discrimination in some form.”