A lesbian couple was viciously beaten on a London bus when they refused to kiss each other to entertain a gang of men — and authorities have made arrests in the case, local police announced Friday.
Melania Geymonat, 28, originally from Uruguay, and her girlfriend, only identified as Chris, an American — were on their way back from a date late last month on the top of a double-decker bus when the group began to harass them, Geymonat shared in a Wednesday Facebook post.
“We must have kissed or something because these guys came after us,” Geymonat wrote. “I don’t remember if they were already there or if they got on after us. There were at least four of them. They started behaving like hooligans, demanding that we kissed so they could enjoy watching, calling us ‘lesbians’ and describing sexual positions. I don’t remember the whole episode, but the word ‘scissors’ stuck in my mind.”
She said that she started making jokes in an effort to calm things down — but to no avail. The men began throwing coins at the pair and becoming even more enthusiastic, she said.
The situation quickly escalated to violence.
“The next thing I know is that Chris is in the middle of the bus fighting with them,” she shared. “On an impulse, I went over there only to find her face bleeding and three of them beating her up. The next thing I know is I’m being punched. I got dizzy at the sight of my blood and fell back. I don’t remember whether or not I lost consciousness. Suddenly the bus had stopped, the police were there and I was bleeding all over. Our stuff was stolen as well.”
Geymonat said she’s not sure if her nose was broken in the fracas, but she hasn’t been able to go back to work.
She told Metro UK that she was shaken by the homophobic assault — because she’d always felt safe as a gay woman in London.
“What upsets me the most is that VIOLENCE HAS BECOME A COMMON THING, that sometimes it’s necessary to see a woman bleeding after having been punched to feel some kind of impact,” Geymonat wrote. “I’m tired of being taken as a SEXUAL OBJECT, of finding out that these situations are usual, of gay friends who were beaten up JUST BECAUSE.”
Geymonat moved to the country in February and is on a year’s sabbatical from her medical studies, according to the Metro report. Chris is also now living in the UK, and the couple was heading to her place in Camden Town when the assault occurred.
London’s Metropolitan Police have issued an appeal for witnesses, or anyone with information about the attack.
In a Friday tweet, the police department’s Roads and Transport unit shared that they had made a break in the case.
“Arrests have now been made and the investigation remains ongoing,” the tweet said.
London mayor Sadiq Khan condemned the assault in a Friday tweet.
“This was a disgusting, misogynistic attack,” he wrote. “Hate crimes against the LGBT+ community will not be tolerated in London.”