VIDEO. Victim of a homophobic attack, Ryan, 19, testifies

Bruises and bruises punctuate the face of Ryan, 19 years old. The young man was the victim of a homophobic attack while leaving a nightclub in Avignon last weekend. Today he wants to talk about his story so that fear changes sides. Last Saturday, Ryan went out to a nightclub with friends and a boy he “frequent”. “Around 3:30 in the morning, I was dancing with the famous boy in question that I’m dating. We kissed and he said to me: “Be careful, we’re being filmed.” I turned around and saw a person I know well, who lives right next to me, filming us with the flash . I told him: “If you could take off your flash, that would suit me”. He began to become virulent in his comments, an argument broke out. Three or four times he repeated to me: “Furthermore, you’re gay.” The bouncers saw this. They kicked him out of the company”. Later, Ryan meets a friend of his attacker at the establishment’s bar who throws a drink in his face. “I asked my boyfriend if we could go in front of the club, just to get some fresh air and so I could smoke a cigarette. It had been a good 45 minutes since my attacker had been kicked out of the club. I go out and, unfortunately, (my attacker) was in front of the club.”

“I want people to talk about my story, to see my face and for people who do this to be afraid”

The latter shouts at him: “Should I fuck you now or later?” and delivers a series of blows to Ryan. ”He punched me in the face, I lost consciousness and fell. And once I was on the ground, he kicked me in the face. Honestly, I really thought I was going to die. I lost consciousness for at least, I think, 15 seconds”. The attacker threatens him by telling him that they would see each other again. “Because we live five minutes from each other” Ryan says. His friends and the boy he is dating call the police and ambulances. Since then, Ryan has lived in fear: “I don’t go out in town anymore because I’m afraid of running into him again. I do not go to school anymore. I feel permanently insecure”. What he wants is that his file “goes to court”: “If it is classified without followyou, I will have it there all my life, I think. And then regain confidence. I want people to talk about my story, to see my face and for people who do this to be afraid. I tell myself that since I’ve been in the media enough, now people will think twice before doing something to me.”.