According to recent reports, a lesbian couple in Cork was confronted with a taxi driver who “sped towards” them while shouting homophobic abuse and threatening the pair.

As reported by Cork Beo, Irish burlesque performer Freya Femme posted a message on a Cork subreddit page recounting a disturbing incident in which a taxi driver started speeding towards her and her partner after seeing them holding hands and shouted homophobic abuse.

“A taxi driver, in his taxi with another person, saw us waiting to cross the road. He waited for us to be in the middle and then sped the car towards us threateningly to make us run and shouted homophobic things out the window at us,” the post read.

The performer added, “Taxis were supposed to be the thing that can get us home safe when we don’t feel safe walking the streets.”

The post went on to detail two other incidents that took place in Cork on the same week. One such incident happened in Oliver Plunkett Street “in broad daylight with loads of people around”, when the author of the post witnessed a gay man being verbally abused “with the most vile homophobic filth”.

Freya Femme described stepping in to walk with the gay man while the perpetrator continued to follow them, threatening their life and shouting.

She then wrote about another incident where one of her housemates, who is an openly queer performer, ended up in A&E with a cut on their hand after he was followed by a group of men who threw glass at him.

“Many many other people in my life have experienced a HUGE uptick in the frequency and severity of homophobic and transphobic hate-crimes recently,” Freya Femme stated.

She continued, “We need community more than ever right now and even though I feel nervous and reluctant to leave the house as an LGBTQ person these days, we can’t let them win and drive us off the streets. Much love to anyone who has suffered these attacks recently.”

Several people commented on the post by sharing similar experiences and voicing their concerns about walking in the street or displaying affection in public.

Freya Femme also appeared on the Opinion Line with PJ Coogan on Corks 96FM to discuss the homophobic incident with the Cork taxi driver and the wider issue of increased hate and violence that the LGBTQ+ community is facing. Speaking about how shifting attitudes online are part of the problem, she said: “A lot of stuff is happening on the internet. A lot of stuff is happening politically and internationally, and certain people are just feeling more confident about not hiding it.”

“The queer community in Cork is really wonderful. And they’re really just banding together the more and more stuff happens to us. Now I feel sometimes reluctant to go out in the street, but I don’t want to let them win,” she continued.

“I think we need to bring back a little more public shame or something because people can feel so emboldened the more that they can just say this stuff on the streets and get away with it.

“And I think… if there’s anyone in your life who you feel like may be getting radicalized or going down a bad path on the Internet, especially younger men, try to talk to them.”