Gay men assaulted for singing ‘Wicked’ on Manchester tram

Two gay men were assaulted in Manchester city centre in the early hours of Saturday morning (November 1).

Jean Claude Manseau and Jake Heaton were singing the songs of Wicked on a tram service from Bury to Manchester when they were subjected to verbal abuse by another passenger, the Manchester Evening News reports.

When the pair alighted the train at Piccadilly Gardens they were approached by the passenger, who proceeded to call over a group of 15 others. The group then began physically attacking them.

Manseau was knocked unconscious and sustained a number of head injuries during the attack, while Heaton was punched in the back of the head. An onlooker called the police, who arrived at the scene shortly after. However, the pair had to travel to hospital by taxi as their ambulance only arrived 90 minutes after it was called.

Manseau said of the attack: “It has destroyed every bit of confidence I have. It will be a while before I go anywhere on my own. I don’t know when I’ll feel safe to go into Manchester again.

“They split my forehead, my lip, broke my nose. My eyes are black and swollen. My ribs are painful, I can’t move much. My face is going to be scarred for life. That has upset me.”

Heaton added: “It was terrifying. They crowded round us and it probably only last a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime. It’s completely shocking. Nowadays you think people are mostly accepting of people’s sexuality, especially in a big city like Manchester.

“We did nothing to provoke it. We were just having a laugh and a sing on the tram. It was definitely homophobic. Throughout it all they were hurling abuse at us. I don’t feel safe now. You feel like you can’t be who you actually are when there are people like this walking the streets.”

The London School of Economics recently lost £22,000 of funding over “sexist, homophobic and classist” leaflets handed out by the men’s rugby club – read more here.

Meanwhile, a gay couple were recently told to get off a London bus when the driver took offence to them kissing – read more here.