A lesbian couple in Halifax, Canada was assaulted by a group of men who were shouting homophobic slurs at them.
Emma MacLean and her girlfriend, Tori, were walking down the street celebrating one of their birthdays when a group of men made a rude comment at MacLean, CTV News reports.
“A group of men walking in the other direction and they made a comment to me,” said Emma MacLean. “My girlfriend, Tori, said, ‘Hey that’s my girlfriend.’”
This response led to the men making explicitly homophobic remarks at the two, taunting them both.
“They continued walking and then Tori followed them to basically verbally be like, ‘That is not okay,’” MacLean said.
That’s when the men started attacking Tori.
“I see Tori being pushed on the stairs right in front of the BMO Centre and they are cement stairs and she’s on her back, that’s when all the men started punching and kicking her,” she continued.
MacLean said that she yelled for them to stop before she got involved in the fight to protect her girlfriend.
“The fight or flight came in. Basically jumped on one of their backs and put them in a chokehold, trying to restrain them.”
A bystander alerted police shortly after the fight ended. They spoke with one of the men involved in the incident, and he told them that it was the two women who had initiated the fight. The rest of the men refused to cooperate and give IDs, however.
There are currently no charges as police are investigating the situation.
Both MacLean and Tori suffered injuries. Tori had bruises covering her body, while MacLean had a chipped tooth, a broken nose, and many bruises as well.
MacLean said, “I felt punches and kicks and then I felt it on my nose and there was blood. I just thought this needs to stop now. I went to emerge the night of and they basically said it was too swollen for surgery.”
“I’m terrified to go downtown again in Halifax. I just feel like it’s so out of your control on what could happen. It’s overwhelming. I didn’t expect something like this to happen, especially with it happening during Pride Month as well.”