Man who was attacked on tube for being gay is promoting positive lessons on the LGBT community
Will Mayrick is using the attack to teach others about the LGBT community
By Steve Brown
The man who was forced to apologise for being gay while on a tube is using the attack to promote positive lessons on the LGBT community.
Will Mayrick was travelling on the Jubilee Line with some of his friends who were all wearing fancy dress when two drunk teenagers – who avoided jail after pleading guilty because they are underage – got on their tube.
Immediately they started shouting abuse at one of Mayrick’s friends and when he stood to defend his friend, Mayrick was put in a headlock so tight he struggled to breathe.
He told Gay Star News: “We’d met some friends and then we were on the tube, dressed up in fancy dress.
“I covered myself up in a big parker, you couldn’t see my outfit.
“These guys got on the tube just before North Greenwich where we were going to get off. They walked on and started shouting abuse at my friend who stood up.
“The attackers got face to face with him which is when I got up and said, ‘Come on guys, give it a rest’.
“He got me in a headlock so tight that I couldn’t breathe. They were telling me to apologise [for being gay].
“At the same time the guy was reaching into his jacket and making gestures to pull out a knife and they were threatening to stab me.
“Inside I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that. Nobody should ever have to apologise for being gay or LGBT+’.
“But I thought if I don’t apologise, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
However, although the attack left him scared and worried for his safety, Mayrick now volunteers with Diversity Role Models, a charity that goes into schools to deliver positive lessons about the LGBT+ community.
He has also increased his work on his university campus running the LGBT+ society
The two attackers received a referral order of 12 months but if they fail to comply with the youth offending team they could be resentenced.
Watch Mayrick talk about his attack below: