Visibility and the fight for gender identity is increasingly taking center stage in the world of celebrities. However, and despite the fact that more and more people are encouraged to share their sexual orientation or gender identity, homophobic attacks continue to go unpunished in many countries that continue to oppress the LGTBIQ community.
Precisely, with the aim of fighting discrimination against the group, many celebrities have decided to “come out” publicly or report situations through the media and social networks where they have been attacked because of their sexual orientation. These are some examples of celebrities who reported suffering homophobic attacks:
The designer and former collaborator of the Cámbiame program reported last March that he had suffered a homophobic attack by a taxi driver. And as he reported on the Socialité program, the television presenter was in a taxi while returning from Paris Fashion Week when the taxi driver began to insult him. While yelling “fucking faggot” at him, the driver also tried to attack him.
“I run out of the taxi, I take out my suitcase and at that moment he grabs me by the neck, throws me to the ground and starts ‘fucking faggot, you’re going to find out,'” the stylist said after specifying that the insults occurred after the taxi driver’s refusal to charge him with a dataphone. Despite the incident, the intervention of a girl, who the stylist classified as “his guardian angel,” made the driver let Pelayo pay with a card and everything ended in a bad situation.
Another of those affected by LGTBIphobia was Blas Cantó. The artist reported during June 2023, that is, during LGTBIQ Pride month, that he had suffered a situation of discrimination. In the same way as in the case of Pelayo Díaz, the singer was also verbally attacked by a taxi driver during a trip with the mobility company Uber.
After the publication of an Uber tweet in which the company congratulated Pride Day with the message “Happy Pride!”, the interpreter decided to respond with another tweet where he reported the event he experienced in one of the company’s vehicles. “Last Saturday I was the victim of a homophobic attack by an Uber driver. All the details are in the complaint. Happy pride to you too. ????”, given these statements, the company contacted the artist, who had previously filed a complaint with the police.
The world of sports is not exempt from these homophobic attacks. This is the case of Borja Iglesias and Aitor Rubial, two Betis footballers who received discriminatory insults after choosing a bag as an accessory. Both footballers attended the wedding of Eneko Agudo, one of the members of the team’s coaching staff, with a suit that they combined with a bag.
After sharing the photo on social networks, the comments on the looks of the two players did not wait. As a result of the discriminatory content of the messages, both footballers decided to denounce the insults and condemn the homophobic acts with the objective of eradicating them. “Those who at this point continue to exhibit behaviors of this type urgently need help. They have the problem because of their intolerance and their complexes,” this is how Aitor ended his statement on Twitter.
Actor Elliot Page began his transition as a transgender man in 2020. However, before identifying with the male gender, Elliot Page identified as a lesbian woman, an orientation with which she suffered great discrimination in her beginnings in the world of Hollywood. . During the publication of his memoirs, he decided to remember one of the first homophobic attacks that she experienced as a lesbian woman.
The interpreter remembers this attack that happened in 2014 while he was at a party. There a man approached him and said: “You are not gay, that does not exist. You are only afraid of men. “I’m going to fuck you so you realize you’re not gay.” Elliot did not want to reveal the name of the individual who questioned his sexual orientation, claiming that “he would find out about this and know it was him.” Through his book, the actor denounced the reality that queer and trans members of the collective deal with.
The Italian group Måneskin was also a victim of homophobic harassment after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2021. The band led by singer Damiano received harsh criticism from Belarusian television. Not only did it receive criticism, but the presenter of the Baltic channel CTV launched some intolerable insults towards the rock group.
“Perverted homosexuals, garbage that tastes like AIDS,” this was one of the ways in which the network host addressed both the festival winners and the organization of the contest. In addition, he assured that the viewers of the format and the audience were “perverts.” Måneskin responded at the time through his social networks, being happy about Belarus’ non-participation in the festival: “thank God.”
The actor from La que se cerca confessed in the Viva la vida program to having suffered homophobia through social networks. In the interview he declared that they had even wished him dead for showing himself as he is. “I understand that they can give their opinion about my professional life because one exposes it and anyone can give their opinion,” he stressed at the beginning of the interview.
He also admitted: “Once I got heated, when I said I was gay, it was because they told me ‘die of AIDS, you red shit.’” The interpreter also acknowledged having felt affected by the comments in the past and lamented that these things continue to happen: “We are progressive and advanced and terrible things continue to happen. Homophobia is there.”
In 2017, the well-known collaborator of Mediaset Torito made public the homophobic attack that she suffered with her husband and son while they were walking through the Chueca neighborhood. A neighborhood known for being the gay neighborhood of the capital par excellence, where it is not the first time that these attacks among citizens have been reported.
According to the television broadcaster, he was walking with his family when a worker from the Grupo Lorrio company addressed them with the cry of “Faggots!” The Telecinco collaborator did not take long to denounce the facts and launch the following message through his social networks: “This is my family. It is only possible to defeat hate with love. They may call us a thousand things, but our son will never be an orphan of affection.
The episode of homophobic aggression by Los Javis happened during the broadcast of Operación Triunfo 2017. According to what the film directors told one of the academy’s students, a man insulted and physically attacked them while they were walking down the street. The man bumped into them to provoke a fight and took the opportunity to yell at them: “Faggots!”
When Javier Ambrossi asked the individual for respect, he grabbed a plate from the table of a nearby bar and threw it at his back. “We defended ourselves like lions and nothing serious happened,” they said after the incident became public. At the end of the statement the couple added: “There are people who suffer real homophobic attacks and do not even live to tell about it, and we fight for all of them.”
“I want to believe that the death of Bimba Bosé is a divine punishment for @BoseOfficial because God hates homosexuals,” this was one of the many messages that the singer Miguel Bosé received after the death of his niece Bimba Bosé in 2017. The The messages were so serious that even Twitter users requested the intervention of the Police and the Civil Guard at the time.