Sydney’s LGBT Community Fears For Their Safety After Verbal, Physical Attacks On Oxford Street
Image: (Left) Men allegedly harassing drag performers on Oxford Street. (Image: Twitter/ @zeldacrybaby) and (right) Taylor Square, Sydney. (Image: Destination NSW).
Oxford Street in Sydney, known as Australia’s ‘Pink Mile’, has been the site of at least three incidents in the past couple of weeks targeting the LGBTQI community, including two over the weekend that involved verbal abuse and assault.
Residents and Sydney’s LGBTQI community members are now afraid of walking alone at night in the city’s iconic gaybourhood.
after a night out on Oxford Street in the early hours of Monday, April 17, 2023, morning.
Two Men Arrested
On Sunday morning, a physical altercation occurred between two gay men and unidentified men who were passing through Crown and Riley streets.
A spokesperson for NSW Police told the Star Observer that around “2.15 am on Sunday, April 23, 2023, police were called to Oxford Street at Darlinghurst, following reports of a fight between at least three males.”
“Security from a nearby licensed premises separated the males before police arrived. Police arrested two 21-year-old men and a 19-year-old man, who were later released, pending further inquiries.”
According to the police, “an 18-year-old man was treated at the scene by NSW Ambulance Paramedics for minor injuries.”.
It鈥檚 been reported that security from Universal stepped in and separated the men before police arrived.
‘They Pushed My Boyfriend To The Ground’
鈥淲e were walking and then one of the guys said 鈥榣isten to your bitch鈥� to me and I said something back to them,鈥� one of the gay men, who identified himself as Dafydd,聽told gaynewssydney.
鈥淎fter this, they started trying to fight me but my boyfriend was pushing them back. They [then] pushed him to the ground and started trying to punch me but I dodged them all. I then slipped to the ground.鈥�
The 21-year-old went on to say that their 18-year-old partner hit his head on the concrete. Police later arrived on the scene and informed the pair that paramedics were coming.
The incident occurred near Crown Street, towards the direction of the Universal Sydney nightclub and it finished close to the club
鈥淲e鈥檙e both okay. Just wish I fought back instead of being a smart ass and laughing and mocking them when I dodged or blocked their punches,鈥� Dafydd later wrote in an Instagram post.
They Tried To Intimidate Us
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The second incident occurred at Taylor Square on Sunday when two drag queens were approached by four unknown men. The men proceeded to hurl abusive words such as 鈥減aedophiles鈥� and 鈥渨aste of sperm鈥� at them.
A video of the part of the insect was posted by drag performer Verona Summers.
One of the drag queens told gaysydneynews that the men 鈥渢ried to intimidate us by being aggressive, puffing out their tiny little chests and shouting over us.鈥�
鈥淎s a 34-year-old gay man, there is a point you reach where you say to yourself 鈥業鈥檓 not taking this anymore鈥�. That was the moment for me.鈥�
From there, the drag queen confronted the main instigator and said 鈥淲hat are you gonna do about it c*nt?鈥�
More words were exchanged and soon escalated as the four men threatened physical harm. Thankfully, others at Taylor Square began backing up the queens and telling the men to 鈥渇*ck off.鈥�
Police were involved but no arrests were made.
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I find it hard to believe in either incident that no further police action was taken against the offenders. In the first incident they were released and in the second no arrests were made.