Lesbian couple beaten bloody on bus by men who wanted them to kiss: ‘We were entertainment’

Bloody attack on lesbian couple became flashpoint in gay community

Melania Geymonat, right, and her girlfriend Chris were beaten up by a gang of men on a London bus who wanted them to kiss. Now, the incident and the bloody photo of the couple are becoming a flashpoint for change in the gay community just as Pride festivities go on across the U.S.

A horrible, homophobic attack on two women in their 20s has become an international story amid gay pride festivities across the U.S.

UPDATE: 4 teen boys arrested in bloody, homophobic attack on lesbian couple

As Metro UK reports, the two women who are in a relationship boarded a bus in West Hampstead, London, around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

What happened next has shocked the conscience of England and word and the bloody picture of the beaten couple quickly went viral.

Here is the official statement from Metropolitan Police in London about the incident:

“As they sat on the top deck they were approached by a group of four males who began to make lewd and homophobic comments to them. The women were then attacked and punched several times before the males ran off the bus. A phone and bag were stolen during the assault. Both women were taken to hospital for treatment to facial injuries.”

The cold, official language of law enforcement doesn’t capture the shocking nature of the crime.

Metro UK published an interview with one member of the beaten couple, Melania Geymonat, 28, from Uruguay. She was left with a possible broken nose, while her girlfriend Chris, from the U.S., was also beaten up, Metro UK writes. Chris was not fully identified in the story.

The bus trip changed dramatically for the couple when what Melania called a gang of young men behind them saw they were a couple and started to demand they kiss while making crude sexual gestures, the newspaper reports, adding:

“They wanted us to kiss so they could watch us,” Melania told Metro UK. “I tried to defuse the situation as I’m not a confrontational person, telling them to please leave us alone as Chris wasn’t feeling well. The next thing I remember was Chris in the middle of them and they were beating her. I didn’t think about it and went in.

“I was pulling her back and trying to defend her so they started beating me up. I don’t even know if I was knocked unconscious. I felt blood, I was bleeding all over my clothes and all over the floor. We went downstairs and the police were there.”

The attackers also robbed the couple before fleeing the bus.

The men are described as being in their 20s or 30s. The police investigation and search for the men is ongoing.

Meanwhile, the incident is becoming a flashpoint for change in the gay community.

Here’s how Melania put it to Metro UK:

“We were seen as entertainment, that’s what makes me so angry. What upsets me the most is that violence has become a common thing, that sometimes it’s necessary to see a woman bleeding after having been punched to feel some kind of impact. I’m tired of being taken as a sexual object, of finding out that these situations are usual, of gay friends who were beaten up just because. We have to endure verbal harassment and chauvinist, misogynistic and homophobic violence.”

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