A UK gay couple have shared how they were violently beaten by a group of teenagers in an unprovoked homophobic attack on December 4.

Jamie Edwards and Damian Hampton from Southampton were visiting a shop that morning when they were confronted by three young men wearing balaclavas. As the group began hurling homophobic abuse, Jamie and Damien left the shop, but the gang followed and the situation soon escalated.

In an interview with the Southern Daily Echo, Jamie shared, “It happened so fast, within seconds they had caught up and punched Damian in the face. They ripped my clothes and wouldn’t stop kicking us while we were on the ground. We had never even seen or spoke to them before, it was a totally unprovoked and unexpected attack.”

During the four minute assault, the couple were repeatedly kicked in the head, leaving them heavily bruised and cut. Jamie continued, “I had to watch my boyfriend being booted on the floor and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.”

After a police investigation into the assault began, CCTV footage from the shop where it took place thankfully provided some leads. As Jamie shared on his social media: “Thank you to Hampshire constabulary, We have today received an update the CCTV has been viewed by the police and the people who done this are very well known to them.”

Unfortunately, the homophobic attack on the UK gay couple is far from an isolated incident. A few months ago in Ireland, a young gay man was brutally beaten with a steel bar when a group of people saw him kiss his boyfriend goodnight.

In response to this, any many many other attacks, the LGBT+ community held a ‘kiss in’ protest in front of the Dáil calling for hate crime legislation to be enacted.