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I Kissed a Boy star shares his homophobic attack in London – and reveals NOBODY helped or cared
"That almost stayed with me more than the initial homophobia."
Dan Harry, one of the stars and winners of the UK reality dating series I Kissed a Boy, opened up about some homophobic abuse he recently endured while at London's King's Cross Station.
Harry shared his story to the BBC, saying the incident happened after a date while he was waiting to take the London Tube home. Three men reportedly followed him down an escalator onto a train platform and began to whisper "horrible, homophobic slurs" in his ear.
"As the train was getting closer, I could feel them getting closer and closer to my back, and they were almost nudging me forward to the platform edge," he shared. "I remember feeling really scared and I didn’t know what to do."
Harry, who is also one of the subjects of the new documentaryHIV, PrEP & Me, said that nobody around him "helped or said anything to me, and that almost stayed with me more than the initial homophobia."
Harry also shared that he was so "overwhelmed" that he didn't alert the police.
"If I could go back, I absolutely would report it," he said. He later told PinkNews why he held off. "Reporting helps with two things: it bring[s] justice and hopefully deter[s] people from committing hate crimes again, and it contributes to broader statistics that accurately illustrate the fundamental problem that needs to be addressed."
He added that "the hardest part about what I experienced was hearing my mum’s reaction to me telling her what happened." His mother "always worries about these things happening to me because she knows LGBTQ+ people are targeted but I think most of my peers would agree that experiencing homophobia is something that’s unfortunately a part of our lives, and something we’ve become accustomed to and have our own coping mechanisms to handle."
Harry concluded that "the incident at King’s Cross was particularly hard because I felt I was in danger, literally on the edge of a train platform, and [people] were just standing by, watching it happen."
He urges "anyone that if you happen to be sitting on a train platform, or a bus, or walking down the street, and you see someone experiencing homophobia, offer them some kindness and ask if they are OK."
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
