Internet rallies behind lesbian couple attacked on a London bus

Thousands of people on social media are sending messages of support to a lesbian couple who were hospitalised for facial injuries and covered in blood after being attacked by a group of men for kissing on a night bus in North London.

Melania Geymonat, a 28-year-old cabin crew member from Uruguay shared a photo on Facebook in which she and her girlfriend Chris are covered in blood.

They had been travelling home from Camden after a date on 30 May when they were attacked by a group of four men after they refused to kiss for their entertainment.

Melania said: “We climbed upstairs and took the front seats. We must have kissed or something because these guys came after us. I don’t remember if they were already there or if they got on after us.”

“They described sexual positions [...] the word ‘scissors’ stuck in my mind,” Geymonat added.

Ms Geymonat said she tried to "calm things down" by "making jokes", while Chris pretended to be ill. She then describes how the attack escalated, with the gang of men punching them both in the face until they were covered in blood.

“The next thing I know I’m being punched,” Geymonat wrote.

I got dizzy at the sight of my blood and fell back.

Geymonat said she can’t go back to work, that her nose may have been broken in the assault, and her belongings, stolen.

The violent assault has left people online furious, and they took to Twitter to share their outrage – and support for the two women

Other people have criticised those claiming that members of the LGBT+ community have special privileges - quite the opposite

And there is renewed criticism against attempts to create a "Straight Pride"

The attack wasn't just homophobic - it was also explicitly misogynistic

One person pointed out the hypocrisy of being shocked at the homophobic attack, but promoting the idea that normalising LGBT+ people through education is "dangerous" to children

“I’m tired of being [seen] as a sexual object [...] these situations are usual for gay friends who are beaten up just because [of their sexuality]," Geymonat later said of the incident.

We have to endure verbal harassment and chauvinist, misogynistic and homophobic violence because when you stand up for yourself shit like this happens.