homophobic attacks on the rise in 2022

Samuel still bears the scars of his assault. More than a month later, he still has trouble walking. That night, leaving a nightclub in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), he said he was violently attacked by two men because of his homosexuality. “I heard dirty gay, dirty gay; homophobic insults. After a while, I defend myself, and then there is an altercation that happens”he recalls.

184 cases in 2022

After driving off in his car, the assailant rammed Samuel at full speed. With 13 days of ITT, a concussion and some bruises, he says today he is living “constantly in fear”. For his lawyer, Me Hervé Seroussi, proving that the attack is of a homophobic nature is as essential as it is complicated. “It is ultimately often word against word”, he laments. These physical attacks on LGBT people are more and more numerous: 184 cases in 2022, or one every two days, a figure up 28% in one year.