A gay man from Dublin, Ireland, has opened up about a violent homophobic attack he experienced after arranging a meetup on Grindr.
Marc Power was talking to a man on the hookup app and arranged to meet him on Tuesday at a Dublin cinema, local media reported.
However, when he arrived at the location he encountered a group of teenage males wielding hammers.
“They tried to kill me with these weapons,” Power explained on Facebook.
“They were trying to hit me on the head with hammers.
“[The teenagers] didn’t manage but I’m in the emergency room in hospital with facial injuries.”
He said the violent teenage gang also “destroyed” his car.
“I’m OK but f**king angry. I need to find out why Grindr allows violent scum to open accounts.
“The police were helpful but hands tied as dumb teenage scum fear nothing.”
He said he was speaking out because he wants the youths responsible for the violent attack “rounded up” by police.
UK’s dramatic rise in anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes
Responding to Power’s social media post, gay Irish councillor Chris Pender shared his own story of being attacked outside at night.
Pender claimed local police told him at the time if he didn’t want to be attacked for being gay, maybe he “shouldn’t flaunt it.”
“As a result of that attack, even though I walked away relatively unscathed… I changed everything about my behaviour for a long time,” he tweeted.
“I still have issues when it comes to being alone in the dark at any time.”
The Grindr crime comes after new figures show a dramatic rise in anti-gay and anti-trans hate crimes in the UK.
Transgender hate crime rose 37% in 2018-19 to 2,333. Homophobic hate crimes rose 25% to 14,491.
The UK Government’s Home Office attributed the increase to better recording by police. But LGBTIQ charity Stonewall warned the figures were likely “the tip of the iceberg”.
“While it is possible that the increase is due to higher confidence in reporting, these figures are still likely to only represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hate crimes against LGBT people,” Stonewall director Laura Russell said.
“The significant rise in hate crimes against trans people shows the consequences of a society where transphobia is everywhere.”
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