harassment

Homophobe chases gay man out of subway and through the streets of New York in shocking video

By · 15 comments

Adam Eli was minding his own business when he was chased out of a New York City subway station by an angry homophobe telling him to “stay in the closet!”

The man was angry that Eli, a gay Jewish man, was wearing a pink kippah. He stormed after him, following up up the stairs and out onto the street, and accusing him of desecrating the name of God.

“Any man that lies with another man, it’s an abomination!” he ranted. “You’ll be murdered for it! Take the kippah off!”

Eli caught the confrontation on video and uploaded it to Twitter, along with the caption: “Trigger Warning: violent speech, harassment. I got harassed, followed and threatened on the street today. Someone was upset that I was wearing a pink kippah, carrying a purse and had a pride patch sewn onto my jeans. I am sharing the encounter for three reasons.”

Eli said he wanted to share the video to illustrate the harassment that many LGBTQ people still face, even those in cities like New York, which are often thought of as liberal safe havens.

“I spent the first 18 years of my life listening to people tell me I couldn’t be gay and Jewish,” he tweeted. “Today I love my queer jewish identity and nobody is taking that away from me.”

“This is a fraction of what our trans + GNC family get every single day. In this moment I was able to stand up to my attacker NOT bc I’m brave but bc I’m a white resourced man in a heavily trafficked place. We know what happens when a white man attacks a black trans women.”

Eli followed that up with a call to his “fellow cis white gays who generally ‘pass’ for being hetro in public.”

“This is whats out there,” he tweeted. “Most of the time we can get on the subway, go for a run or go on a date in peace. That does not mean our struggle for queer liberation is over.”

“Racism, transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia, anti semitism and ableism hold hands. Our ancestors taught us none of us are safe until all of us are safe. Queer culture is not going to Equinox and getting brunch. Queer culture is about fighting for ur community.”

Related: WATCH: Drunk woman slaps gay man & calls him a ‘fat f*ggot’ in disturbing video

Speaking to Queerty, Eli added:

“It was a very odd attack, because it wasn’t only homophobia, he was clearly a religious Jew who was upset I was being overtly queer in public and overtly Jewish.

“I was being overtly queer because I was wearing my denim jacket which says ‘Never Again is Now’ with a big, pink triangle, and I was carrying a purse from a fashion show that I’d done the day before, where I actually played a queer Jewish rabbi in the fashion show. And I was wearing my kippah and my nails were painted.”

He says he does not intend to report the incident to authorities.

“I can’t think of anything the police would do that would be helpful.”

“It was pretty clearly an intense attack that could have escalated had it been in a less trafficked place, and it made me think that if an attack like that can happen to me, it really shows how vulnerable so much of the queer community is.

“I have to be one of the most privileged members of the queer community … if that’s the kind of violence that I can get, it’s such a wake-up call to the violence that the less privileged members of our community, particularly trans and gender non-conforming and people of color, are subject to every single day.”

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Once Monthly Annually

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated