Gay man attacked after Donald Trump supporters 'hurl homophobic slurs' on US election night
‘We got a new President you f***ing f****ts,' men reportedly yelled
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Your support makes all the difference.A gay man has been attacked in the US after supporters of Donald Trump allegedly shouted homophobic slurs at him in a bar.
Chris Ball, a film producer originally from Calgary in Canada, was in a bar in Santa Monica as election results came in on Tuesday night and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
“People started launching homophobic slurs at me from afar,” he told the Calgary Metro. “I mean, I kind of got into it, but I didn’t want to provoke them.
Warning: Graphic image below
“They were saying things like, ‘We got a new President you f***ing f****ts.”
When Mr Ball later left the bar alone, he said he was ambushed by a group of men in a nearby alley and smashed over the head with a glass bottle.
Photos shared by friends on social media showed his face and T-shirt drenched in blood before he went to hospital for treatment.
A photo posted on his Instagram shows five metal staples holding the wound together, with Mr Ball assuring friends he was “alive and well and still very gay”.
He was not able to identify who attacked him and said their motivation may have been more related to homophobia than support for Mr Trump.
One of Mr Ball’s friends, KC MacPherson, launched a plea for Americans to “keep the world free of hate” and fight for quality.
“I try hard to understand different points of views, perspectives, and avenues when it comes to politics, but when the realities of the time we live in are so stark it really breaks my heart,” he wrote on Facebook.
“This is real, and the mentalities and mindsets behind it are very real as well. This hatred, bigotry, and senseless violence all comes from the same part of America that voted in a demagogue who spits hatred as his rhetoric.”
Another friend, Noah Kentis, added: “I hope this is not what our future truly looks like.”
Santa Monica Police Department said it had not been contacted by Mr Ball and encouraged him to get in touch.
“We encourage the alleged victim to come forward and work with us if a crime did in fact take place,” a statement said.
“A check of local hospitals revealed there was no victim of any such incident admitted or treated as well.”
A spokesperson for the department could not immediately be reached for comment.
There are fears of an increase in attacks against the LGBT community following Mr Trump’s victory amid reports of hate crimes against Muslims, black people, Hispanics and other minorities across the US.
“Can't wait until your 'marriage' is overturned by a real president,” read a sign left on a car in North Carolina. “Gay families = burn in hell. Trump 2016.”
Days before the election, a transgender woman's truck was spray painted with the words “Trump” and set on fire in her driveway as she and her three-year-old son were inside their home in Tennessee.
There is widespread concern that the US could mirror a surge in hate crime following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, with analysts suggesting attackers may feel emboldened by Mr Trump’s election following his campaign statements on Muslims, Mexican “rapists and criminals” and promises of mass deportations.
Following a divisive campaign, the President-elect made an uncharacteristic call for unity in his victory speech.
“Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division…I say it is time for us to come together as one united people,” he told supporters.