Lesbian left bloody and bruised after being jumped by thugs in brutal homophobic attack
Charlie Graham, 20, was jumped by two homophobic individuals in Sunderland, England. (Michelle Storey/Facebook)
A 20-year-old lesbian was jumped last week in a brutal attack that left her covered in blood and bruises.
Charlie Graham was left shaken after two men battered her in the head from behind and threw her to the ground in an incident that has rippled the Sunderland, England, community she calls home.
Violence against LGBT+ folk have rocketed in the last five years in England and Wales, but Graham explained that this incident was the fifth time she has been targeted for her sexuality, the Daily Mirror reported.
Law enforcement are treating the incident as a hate crime.
What happened to Charlie Graham?
While on her way to meet a friend on Saturday morning, Graham was struck by two men around the Town End Farm.
“I got hit from behind by a fist to the back of my head, then I hit the ground, hurting my legs and face,” Graham said.
“I tried to get back up, but they pushed me back to the ground and the two guys ran off.
“I was left bleeding and scared.”
Charlie Graham is treated for her wounds following the attack. (Facebook/Michelle Storey)
Graham was plagued by headaches and panic attacks since the attack. She remains haunted, however, being the fifth consecutive time she has been targeted for her sexuality.
In one previous assault, her eye was split open, requiring stitches.
In another, she was left suffering a black eye.
“D**e” was hurled at her by a passerby while she walked down a street with her fiends, before being punched in another incident.
This spectre of violence has left her terrified and trapped inside her home, believing she will be attacked again.
“It has knocked my confidence back,” Graham explained.
“I don’t go anywhere by myself anymore. I only feel comfortable at my mum’s house.
“I have panic attacks and anxiety attacks just thinking about going home in case they find out where I live and decide to come through the door, or I get attacked in my own home.
“I have had people threatening to come through my door and smash the windows in.”
Lesbian attacked five times has accepted homophobia as a part of her life.
“I think you should be able to be proud of who you are,” Graham said, describing how after repeated assaults, she has accepted homophobia as a fact of her life.
“It makes me feel I have got to stay in the house and hide who I am and everything but in this day and age I shouldn’t have to do that. It should be accepted.
“I’ve tried not to let it beat me up and get on with my life, but I do worry if it happens again that it is worse than it was before.
“It did scare me, but I thought ‘it’s just one of those things’.
“It’s happened again. What am I supposed to do about it?
“It happens everywhere. It’s my bad luck.
“I do look like a boy and I do act like a boy and there is no femininity about me at all. But I am not aggressive, or rowdy and I don’t pick fights.
“I have never opened my mouth to anybody.”
Anti-LGBT+ hate crime is surging.
Photographs of Graham, patches of blood on her face and knees, echoed a single snap that shocked the world last year.
A photograph of a couple covered in blood, their faces visibly distressed, leapt onto headlines and front-pages across the world.
Their names were Melania Geymonat and Christine Hannigan.
The same-sex couple who were beaten on a London bus for refusing to kiss and perform sex acts. (Facebook)
On a Camden-bound double-decker bus in the early morning last year, boys hurled lewd comments and chucked coins at them before punching and allegedly robbing them.
Chris was left with a broken jaw and battered nose. Geymonat, who is bisexual, was punched so forcefully her nose shattered.
Asking a sympathetic passenger to take a photo of them, they were both hospitalised afterwards.
