Content warning: This story may include topics that some readers may find uncomfortable.
Four students from Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge were victims of a suspected homophobic attack.
According to Varsity, the university’s newspaper, the horrific incident occurred during the early hours of 23 February.
After a night out at the local gay club Glitterbomb, the group of friends embarked on their journey home.
When they arrived in Market Square, they were ambushed by five men and one woman who shouted anti-LGBTQ+ remarks at them.
According to the students, the unidentified assailants specifically targeted two members of the group, a gay man and a non-binary person.
After making transphobic comments towards the non-binary individual, one of the attackers began to assault them physically.
The others then joined in, which resulted in all four students sustaining injuries.
One of the victims, a 24-year-old woman, was consistently hit in the face and repeatedly kicked after collapsing to the floor.
Due to the severity of her injuries, she was sent to the hospital with a fractured nose, concussion, bruised eyes and a partially deviated septum.
Shortly after the attack, Wolfson College encouraged students to “be alert” and revealed that the assault took place “without provocation.”
The Cambridgeshire authorities also released a statement and announced that they were “investigating the assaults… which are alleged to have taken place in Market Street and Market Passage.”
The hateful attack comes a few months after new data revealed that homophobic hate crimes increased by 210 per cent.
According to a report from Vice World News, hate crimes based on sexual orientation tripled and transphobic hate crimes quadrupled over the last six years.
The alarming figures stemmed from data sent by 43 out of the 45 UK police forces.
Sasha Misra, associate director of communications and campaigns at Stonewall, described the concerning statistics as a “wake up call.”
“We need to do more to tackle rising hate against lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people,” Misra told the publication.
“It’s worrying to see such a stark increase in reports of hate crimes, especially during a pandemic which caused so many of us to live through multiple lockdowns.
“This can’t continue. As a society, we all need to do more to combat anti-LGBTQ+ violence and call out abuse, harassment and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment wherever we see it.”
Galop is an LGBTQ+ charity there for those who have experienced abuse or have been the victim of a hate crime. They can be contacted Monday to Friday from 10am-4pm on 0207 7042040 or at HateCrime@galop.org.uk. You can find out more about them here.
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