Father Is Livid After Son Is Harassed By A Homophobe, Shares The Harrowing Incident On Twitter
Spring break is one of the most exciting weeks of the year for children. Finally, a week where homework is replaced with rewatching “Encanto” every evening, and daily rides on the school bus are substituted with a family road trip or journeys to local amusement parks, zoos and museums. Spring break can be a wonderful time for families to bond and relax while enjoying the season’s first days of warm, sunny weather. Unfortunately for one family, their spring break plans were rudely interrupted by a hateful stranger.
While Robbie Pierce, his husband and their two young children were 9 hours into an Amtrak ride embarking on their spring break adventure, a stranger suddenly approached and began spewing homophobic hate speech. Robbie shared the story in an upsetting Twitter thread last week, and many readers have chimed in with their opinions.
On what was supposed to be a fun spring break trip, this family was suddenly harassed by a homophobic stranger
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
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Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Image credits: Robbiepierce
Stories like this are never easy to read. It can be difficult to understand how someone can harbor so much hate towards innocent strangers. Unfortunately for members of the LGBTQ community, harassment like this is not unheard of. Particularly in the UK, there has been a frightening rise in homophobic and transphobic crime since lockdown began in 2020. Compared to January-August in 2019, in the same time in 2021, the number of homophobic hate crimes recorded increased by almost one third. The number of transphobic offenses reported in this same time period increased by over a quarter. Sadly, the number of incidents are assumed to be even higher due to under-reporting.
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Many tweeted their shock and disgust in response to the story, while pouring sympathy towards Robbie and his family
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In the United States, a similarly frightening rise in homophobia has been observed recently. According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, anti-LGBTQ hate groups saw a stark increase from 49 groups in 2018 to 70 groups in 2019. One potential explanation for this rise in the US was “anti-LGBTQ groups [becoming] intertwined with the Trump administration”. Though spokespeople for the White House adamantly denied this at the time, the report stated that Trump “fully embraced anti-LGBTQ hate groups and their agenda of dismantling federal protections and resources for LGBTQ people”. Two examples of such groups are the Family Research Council and the Alliance Defending Freedom. The FRC has a long history of sharing homophobic rhetoric such as comparing same-sex marriage to marrying a horse and claiming it “cheapens and degrades the real thing“. Meanwhile, the ADF is a law firm with a long history of fighting to minimize LGBTQ rights. Trump attended the FRC’s annual summit in 2019 and opposed the Equality Act, a bill that would extend nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people, and has backed the ADF on multiple cases concerning gay and trans rights.
Robbie revealed the man was later arrested for refusing to leave the train
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What can we do to protect LGBTQ communities and prevent homophobia from flourishing? As mentioned in several of the tweets, being an active bystander can be powerful in situations like this train ride. As scary as it can be to speak up, it can be much more dangerous to let hate speech go uncorrected. We can also create safe spaces for loved ones who have been targeted by hate to feel comfortable coming forward and reporting it. Encourage conversations about how prevalent homophobia and transphobia still are, and educate friends and family on the risks that the LGBTQ community still faces today. It can be easy for those unaffected to be blind to these attacks, but that can allow hate to be normalized.
Some readers even shared tips of what to do when witnessing harassment in public
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Even after reading Robbie’s story, some Twitter users wanted to play devil’s advocate
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There is never a valid reason to attack others with prejudiced hate speech, but children especially should be protected. We must remember we have a responsibility as bystanders to confront strangers if we witness harassment. And as Robbie suggested, allies should strive to “shut down this rhetoric everywhere”. Until individuals no longer feel they can attack others with hate, homophobia must be actively combatted.
Robbie responded to the critical comments by defending his family yet again
Image credits: Robbiepierce
I get it! the words we have to guess are "pedophile" and "rapist" !!![stop hiding words it's makes it harder especially for non native english speakers]
Agreed. I had trouble for a bit figuring out what was censored even with the context clues and I'm a native english speaker.
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The crazed idiot who harassed the family is a problem, for sure, but the secondary problem are the bystanders who pretended nothing was happening. If we want this to stop happening, we have to stand up and speak out together. Make it harder for people like this, who clearly just want to terrorize others.
Agree. If you don't stand up to injustice, you're no better than the one perpetrating the injustice.
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I share all the outrage, but also need to highlight the incredible (& appropriate specifically for children who have already experienced past trauma) parenting that went on there. Kudos to them! Their children are lucky. The practicing screaming loud enough for help? Empowering. Golden. *chef's kiss
Um, sorry, I know this is a minor detail, but wtf does JK Rowlings have to do with any of this? Yes, I know she has made some misguided comments regarding the trans community, and I am not too keen on that position, but seriously, including her in this crowd is taking things too far (or clickbait)
Transphobia, particularly making comments about how transwomen are a danger to cis women allows a space for people to attack other members of the LGBTQIA+ community ie Homosexual men are pedophiles.
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Bystander intervention is key to reducing the number of most types of harrassment, whether it is homophobic, sexist, racist, or anything else. Dr. King once pointed out that, "All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing."
And these people usually call themselves Christians. Like no sir, you are doing literally the opposite of what Jesus preached.
This poor man and his family didn't deserve to be harassed by some jerk. That man is a horrible person. Anything he said was not true and everyone in lgbtqa+ community is valid. (Other than M.a.p.s. and other fake things. I know they aren't a part of the community and I just want to clarify that I don't support those people and no one ever should.)
The reason he blamed the right is bc they are the ones allowing this to happen. They are the ones attacking people that are not straight white fake religious violent men even the women he named are attacking everyone but straight white fake religious men. Jk Rowling was name bc of her uneducated opinion about trans people. It's all a part of the attacks straight white religious men w power have started to implement. Dave chapelle another trans phobe also said that white straight fake religious men would start their attacks as backlash for metoo trans people not wanting to be killed and racist cops killing unarmed black people. This is now a concerted effort from the right who is made up of straight white fake religious men w power. They claim the are being oppressed bc they are facing consequences so now they are using the power they have to terrorize everyone else.
Incredible parenting, on the part of the dads. Bravo. But the guy, yeesh. He needs to get his head out his butt. It isn't normal to see out your throat.
For example the city that Im from Bratislava (irronically called "the city of peace"), was in the 90ties terrorized by skinheads. They woud randomly attack skaters, kids with baggy pants, anyone different basicaly. Seeing someone openly gay was not even possible, they would get hurt somewhere for sure. And! if you would get beaten up and the police would actually come and you would tell them what happened, their reaction would allways be "so why do you have to dress up like blacks or punks so that you provoke them boys so they have to chase you around?" - no joke. A strong antifa movement grew up from that. People started to hunt down these individuals, websites would be created to identify these people and for a decade or two it seemd that we got rid of them. But anytime you would get harrased or beaten up in the public, there could be a thousand people on the street and nobody would even look at you, no help never.
Maybe a post traumatic communist syndrom of fear or something like that, what do I know. But I hated people of Slovakia for beeing this way. Now am 6'5 and weight a 100kg and problems like these avoid me because aggressors like these are cowards, but if by any chance I witness something similliar I always step in. But facism and russophilia are on the rise again in my country and I feel its getting stronger than beffore and we have them in parlament already. Young people are becoming nihilistic and they dont vote, but nazis shure do vote. I think this is going to be bad again.
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Thanks Trump - he made life so much worse for so many discriminated groups by empowering the Haters -.-
Of course the comments of the people playing "devil's advocate" are obviously conservative. 🙄 they have never understood oppression
wtf? i couldn't tell if this was about race or being gay... honestly, I've been gay all my life, been taking care of kids, adopting them since I was 18 {foster family, and home life, at this point in life the last one is already 20 and gone} and I have never got yelled at for being gay or any of my bf's or my ex-husbands being with me and my kids, and as for race, I'm Japanese, and my kids were all diff races, so i never got any of those comments too
Dude was arrested for not exiting the train? How about dude should be arrested for terrifying small children and harrassing a family.
He states very specific right wing fomenters, yet some commenters are quick to claim he is "blaming the entire right". If I were there, I would have started screeching "GAYS ARE NOT PEDOPHILES! GAYS ARE NOT PEDOPHILES!"
The GOP has figured out if you give them something to hate and feel superior about, the masses will ignore the facism and how all their wealth is being siphoned to the billionaires and their enablers.
Maybe it's always been this bad but we are just hearing about it more because of social media and people taking a stand against 'these kind of people' (ie racists, homophobics, etc) but does anyone else feel that there is some correlation to an increase in this kind of behavior when Trump was elected president? It's like he gave permission for right-wingers to be more vocal with their views. I'm not even American and I've noticed a definite shift in the wrong direction. Then the pandemic has made that gap between 2 sides even wider. We should be much further along with peace, love and understanding of all races, sexual orientation, gender identity and non-traditional families by this point. It's disheartening.
i have a genuine question its not a hate comment i am really genuinely curious if Trans women are women and trans men are men why call them trans and not just call them women or men and also why refer to biological men who identify as men and biological women who identify as women as CIS i get non binary because they dont identify as either but if you identify as male and you were born female why say your trans why not just say i am male i really want to know
Okay, Male and Female are biological terms, they are the biological sex of the person/animal in question. Men and women are social terms (I'm not sure how to make it sound any simpler) , so biological men would be a bit incorrect to say in this context. If you're born female and identify as a man (not Male, unless you also had a sex change), then you can't just say that you're male since it would be a biological term which you of course, aren't if you're born female and didn't have a sex change. CIS gender is if you're born female/male and ALSO identify as man/woman. I hope that helped, I tried to make sure that it's as easy to understand as possible. If you need to ask more, feel free to reply to this comment and ask. If I accidentally misused a term, please feel free to correct me. And no, that doesn't include "if you're male you're a man, trans is just a confusion" type of "corrections".
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This is what's so turned me off to even read anything on the internet. The emotional roller coaster, then the counter attacks that make you question if almost puking at first reaction. The cruelty exists in every way it can. I am so exhausted after 10 minutes of just trying to find something funny to start my day with a smile. I found just by not touching my phone I can exist in a much brighter place. The chance to unite us globally, to learn, to connect, has become the biggest, ugliest and deadliest display of just how stupid and useless all the wars before and to come were in accomplishing any real change. And for what. We kill our own after they come back home from killing, broken and changed. The dumbing down of man by giving him a tool with limitless possibilities to learn how big a world he lives in. But he can't allow someone different to disrespect his tiny little neighborhood he guards. Im going to go put my phone away. Im going to actually live life.
One day the Yanks will find out the truth of what J K Rowling actually said and how in GREAT BRITAIN this cult has brought the Police and Judicial system in to disrepute. Look up Harry Miller or Kate Scottow.
The little boy is 6 years old and yet you expect him to stand up an an adult screaming obscenities at his family?
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The accusations are far from false. She is on record as being anti-trans.
Load More Replies... I get it! the words we have to guess are "pedophile" and "rapist" !!![stop hiding words it's makes it harder especially for non native english speakers]
Agreed. I had trouble for a bit figuring out what was censored even with the context clues and I'm a native english speaker.
Load More Replies... The crazed idiot who harassed the family is a problem, for sure, but the secondary problem are the bystanders who pretended nothing was happening. If we want this to stop happening, we have to stand up and speak out together. Make it harder for people like this, who clearly just want to terrorize others.
Agree. If you don't stand up to injustice, you're no better than the one perpetrating the injustice.
Load More Replies... I share all the outrage, but also need to highlight the incredible (& appropriate specifically for children who have already experienced past trauma) parenting that went on there. Kudos to them! Their children are lucky. The practicing screaming loud enough for help? Empowering. Golden. *chef's kiss
Um, sorry, I know this is a minor detail, but wtf does JK Rowlings have to do with any of this? Yes, I know she has made some misguided comments regarding the trans community, and I am not too keen on that position, but seriously, including her in this crowd is taking things too far (or clickbait)
Transphobia, particularly making comments about how transwomen are a danger to cis women allows a space for people to attack other members of the LGBTQIA+ community ie Homosexual men are pedophiles.
Load More Replies... Bystander intervention is key to reducing the number of most types of harrassment, whether it is homophobic, sexist, racist, or anything else. Dr. King once pointed out that, "All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing."
And these people usually call themselves Christians. Like no sir, you are doing literally the opposite of what Jesus preached.
This poor man and his family didn't deserve to be harassed by some jerk. That man is a horrible person. Anything he said was not true and everyone in lgbtqa+ community is valid. (Other than M.a.p.s. and other fake things. I know they aren't a part of the community and I just want to clarify that I don't support those people and no one ever should.)
The reason he blamed the right is bc they are the ones allowing this to happen. They are the ones attacking people that are not straight white fake religious violent men even the women he named are attacking everyone but straight white fake religious men. Jk Rowling was name bc of her uneducated opinion about trans people. It's all a part of the attacks straight white religious men w power have started to implement. Dave chapelle another trans phobe also said that white straight fake religious men would start their attacks as backlash for metoo trans people not wanting to be killed and racist cops killing unarmed black people. This is now a concerted effort from the right who is made up of straight white fake religious men w power. They claim the are being oppressed bc they are facing consequences so now they are using the power they have to terrorize everyone else.
Incredible parenting, on the part of the dads. Bravo. But the guy, yeesh. He needs to get his head out his butt. It isn't normal to see out your throat.
For example the city that Im from Bratislava (irronically called "the city of peace"), was in the 90ties terrorized by skinheads. They woud randomly attack skaters, kids with baggy pants, anyone different basicaly. Seeing someone openly gay was not even possible, they would get hurt somewhere for sure. And! if you would get beaten up and the police would actually come and you would tell them what happened, their reaction would allways be "so why do you have to dress up like blacks or punks so that you provoke them boys so they have to chase you around?" - no joke. A strong antifa movement grew up from that. People started to hunt down these individuals, websites would be created to identify these people and for a decade or two it seemd that we got rid of them. But anytime you would get harrased or beaten up in the public, there could be a thousand people on the street and nobody would even look at you, no help never.
Maybe a post traumatic communist syndrom of fear or something like that, what do I know. But I hated people of Slovakia for beeing this way. Now am 6'5 and weight a 100kg and problems like these avoid me because aggressors like these are cowards, but if by any chance I witness something similliar I always step in. But facism and russophilia are on the rise again in my country and I feel its getting stronger than beffore and we have them in parlament already. Young people are becoming nihilistic and they dont vote, but nazis shure do vote. I think this is going to be bad again.
Load More Replies... Thanks Trump - he made life so much worse for so many discriminated groups by empowering the Haters -.-
Of course the comments of the people playing "devil's advocate" are obviously conservative. 🙄 they have never understood oppression
wtf? i couldn't tell if this was about race or being gay... honestly, I've been gay all my life, been taking care of kids, adopting them since I was 18 {foster family, and home life, at this point in life the last one is already 20 and gone} and I have never got yelled at for being gay or any of my bf's or my ex-husbands being with me and my kids, and as for race, I'm Japanese, and my kids were all diff races, so i never got any of those comments too
Dude was arrested for not exiting the train? How about dude should be arrested for terrifying small children and harrassing a family.
He states very specific right wing fomenters, yet some commenters are quick to claim he is "blaming the entire right". If I were there, I would have started screeching "GAYS ARE NOT PEDOPHILES! GAYS ARE NOT PEDOPHILES!"
The GOP has figured out if you give them something to hate and feel superior about, the masses will ignore the facism and how all their wealth is being siphoned to the billionaires and their enablers.
Maybe it's always been this bad but we are just hearing about it more because of social media and people taking a stand against 'these kind of people' (ie racists, homophobics, etc) but does anyone else feel that there is some correlation to an increase in this kind of behavior when Trump was elected president? It's like he gave permission for right-wingers to be more vocal with their views. I'm not even American and I've noticed a definite shift in the wrong direction. Then the pandemic has made that gap between 2 sides even wider. We should be much further along with peace, love and understanding of all races, sexual orientation, gender identity and non-traditional families by this point. It's disheartening.
i have a genuine question its not a hate comment i am really genuinely curious if Trans women are women and trans men are men why call them trans and not just call them women or men and also why refer to biological men who identify as men and biological women who identify as women as CIS i get non binary because they dont identify as either but if you identify as male and you were born female why say your trans why not just say i am male i really want to know
Okay, Male and Female are biological terms, they are the biological sex of the person/animal in question. Men and women are social terms (I'm not sure how to make it sound any simpler) , so biological men would be a bit incorrect to say in this context. If you're born female and identify as a man (not Male, unless you also had a sex change), then you can't just say that you're male since it would be a biological term which you of course, aren't if you're born female and didn't have a sex change. CIS gender is if you're born female/male and ALSO identify as man/woman. I hope that helped, I tried to make sure that it's as easy to understand as possible. If you need to ask more, feel free to reply to this comment and ask. If I accidentally misused a term, please feel free to correct me. And no, that doesn't include "if you're male you're a man, trans is just a confusion" type of "corrections".
Load More Replies... This is what's so turned me off to even read anything on the internet. The emotional roller coaster, then the counter attacks that make you question if almost puking at first reaction. The cruelty exists in every way it can. I am so exhausted after 10 minutes of just trying to find something funny to start my day with a smile. I found just by not touching my phone I can exist in a much brighter place. The chance to unite us globally, to learn, to connect, has become the biggest, ugliest and deadliest display of just how stupid and useless all the wars before and to come were in accomplishing any real change. And for what. We kill our own after they come back home from killing, broken and changed. The dumbing down of man by giving him a tool with limitless possibilities to learn how big a world he lives in. But he can't allow someone different to disrespect his tiny little neighborhood he guards. Im going to go put my phone away. Im going to actually live life.
One day the Yanks will find out the truth of what J K Rowling actually said and how in GREAT BRITAIN this cult has brought the Police and Judicial system in to disrepute. Look up Harry Miller or Kate Scottow.
The little boy is 6 years old and yet you expect him to stand up an an adult screaming obscenities at his family?
Load More Replies... The accusations are far from false. She is on record as being anti-trans.
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