Gay man films horrific homophobic attack in Sydney
An Australian man has gone viral after being subject to a vicious homophobic rant in a Sydney petrol station.
Brendan de la Hay, a singer and performer posted a video of the attack to his Facebook page.
Mr de la Hay was at a petrol station on Wednesday evening when he was approached by the unnamed man.
The man began to hurl homophobic abuse at Mr de la Hay whilst he was filling his car.
The man initially approached and called Mr de la Hay a “f**king f***ot” and a “gay c**t.”
After Mr de la Hay challenged him on this and began to film the encounter, the alleged attacker contradicted himself.
The man first said: “I didn’t call you a f***ing f**”, before then saying “I called you a f***ing gay c***, you’re a f***ing f** go burn in hell.”
Mr de la Hay dryly replied: “Yeah good, I’m highly aware of that.”
In the Facebook post accompanying the video, de la Hay called incidents like this ‘a daily occurrence’ and asked his supporters to question the apparent progress Australia has made.
He said: “So… I ask you… how far have we REALLY come? Don’t stop fighting. Don’t stop marching.”
In an interview with Yahoo7, the performer spoke about how homophobic abuse is a regular feature in his life.
He said: “I kind of feel slightly desensitised to abuse such as this because I have dealt with it my entire life.
“I had the same thing happen to me just last week.
“I thought ‘I’m sick of people doing this, I’m going to start filming it whenever it happens.’”
Mr de la Hay then went on to link the attack to the recent marriage equality postal vote.
Earlier this year, Australia underwent a postal referendum on marriage equality in the country.
Although it was successful, with over 60% of voters saying yes to same-sex marriage, the campaign featured a wave of homophobic attacks and speech from politicians, organisations and individuals opposed to marriage equality.
“[This is] what happens when the government gives the entire country to vote on the legislation,” Mr de la Hay said.
“It’s dangerous because it’s opened the door to let people think they can vote on anything and have an opinion on anything.”
The performer and costume designer continued to say that he believed the attack was prompted by his brightly coloured clothing, much of which his fellow performers and friends will not wear in public due to fear of reprisals.
He said: “My close friends are spectacular performers but they hide, they dampen themselves throughout the day.”
Mr de la Hay said that since posting the video he has been overwhelmed with support, however, he did not wish to encourage reprisals against the alleged attacker.
“We need to fight against it without going off at someone else or lowering to their level,” he said.
The entertainer said he plans to continue recording these homophobic incidents and turn them into an art exhibition.
