Drunk homophobe tells gay couple: ‘You live in Trump country now’
Tourist on a scooter is said to have chased, rammed and hurled insults at two men who were cycling home from dinner
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Your support makes all the difference.A man in Florida attacked a gay couple in a suspected hate crime, telling them “you live in Trump country now”, according to the alleged victims.
Kevin Seymour, 38, and Kevin Taylor, 49, said they were cycling home from dinner when a "drunk tourist" riding a scooter started following them and shouting homophobic slurs, according to local media reports and a Facebook post by Mr Taylor.
Mr Seymour was said to have been knocked to the ground by the man who rammed the rear wheel of his bicycle in the incident in the early hours of the morning. There is believed to be CCTV footage of the incident and a witness who corroborated their account has also reportedly come forward.
“We were victims of a hate crime last night biking home from dinner,” Mr Taylor said on Facebook, quoting the attacker as saying: “I bet you f****** voted for that b**** Hillary – well you live in Trump country now."
The man also made “a slew of other anti-gay remarks” and “kept stopping and swerving into us,” Mr Taylor continued, saying that when he threatened to call the police the man said “if you do that, I’ll cut you up”.
He added that Mr Seymour was finally able to get ahead of the man, who then pushed him off his bike.
“Luckily it happened right in front of a business with lots of cameras and also there was a witness on the porch that gave a sworn statement to the police,” he said, giving the scooter licence plate number. "I think the cops will be able to track him down."
He added that he was “thankful Kevin is okay and our emotional wounds will heal”.
Police have said they will check CCTV footage for an image of the attacker, according to the Miami Herald.
The suspect has been described as a white man in his 30s with a southern accent by the victims, and by a witness who corroborated the story.
Since Donald Trump was elected president, reports of hate crimes in the United States have risen.
Last week, an Indian engineer was shot dead and his colleague was injured by a man who is reported to have shouted "get out of my country" before opening fire.
A report by the Southern Poverty Law Centre found the number of far-right hate groups in the United States had increased in the past year, and attributed this to the "incendiary rhetoric" of Mr Trump's campaign.
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