Sam Serrano says homophobic incidents in public have become “commonplace” (Instagram/@samserranoham)
Young gender-fluid comedian Sam Serrano says they were called a homophobic slur and spat on in front of children for wearing makeup in public.
Serrano, 20, has been wearing makeup since they were 17 and performing in local comedy clubs for the past four years.
They were travelling to a gig in Ormskirk, Lancashire, last Sunday (20 September) when they were confronted by a homophobe in an alleyway.
“I was on my way to a gig and I felt someone tap me on the shoulder,” they told the Liverpool Echo. “I turned around and there was a man standing there. He called me a f****t and spat at me.”
Serrano described their attacker as aged between 30-40 and wearing a tracksuit. They believe the man’s aggression was triggered by the makeup they were wearing at the time.
A group of children also witnessed the incident, but Serrano is unsure if they were accompanied by the man.
“It was upsetting but I wasn’t surprised by it. I get comments or snide looks in the street so often that it’s quite commonplace,” Serrano said. “What annoyed me most is that I wasn’t surprised it happened.”
The rate of LGBT+ hate crime in England and Wales, including offences like assault, stalking, and the harassment Serrano reportedly experienced, increased by 144 per cent between 2014 and 2018.
Serrano has decided to speak out against the latest incident to draw attention to the rise in such attacks and the impact they have on victims.
“It’s knocked my confidence as I had started to feel a bit more comfortable recently wearing makeup out and about, and it’s just knocked it straight back down,” they said.
“But it’s sad that I feel it’s so commonplace now that I wasn’t that shocked by what happened. I wear makeup in public as it’s just a part of my life, and I shouldn’t feel I have to change how I look in public to avoid that kind of thing.”
“It should be those people making the change, not me.”