“I’d just stand there and laugh and ask them to hit me harder.”
If you’re looking for an excuse for a good cry, you might want to pop on RTÉ2 tonight.
First Dates Ireland is back tonight and will see Welshman Jamie chatting to his date, Anthony from Canada, about the homophobic bullying he’s endured.
We’ve come so far in terms of LGBT acceptance that it’s easy to forget how not long ago, things were very different for gay people.
In a clip from the show, Jamie talks about how he was attacked over his sexuality when he first came out at the age of 16.
“It wasn’t all roses. I came out at a time when it wasn’t the done thing to do.
I got queer-bashed quite a few times. Just smile and laugh, always smile and laugh. Yeah punch me again, hit me harder. What are you proving by doing it?
“OK so it’s taken seven of you to punch me in the face to prove you’re a bigger man than me.
It was never one person, it was always groups trying to prove that they were bigger or harder, or because that I was gay and they were straight it made them somehow more of a man than me.
“And I’d just stand there and laugh and ask them to hit me harder because in my head, if I’m standing there laughing at you and asking you for more, you’re not hurting me.
Jamie’s date Anthony
“I’m just making you look stupid. It hurt the next morning but on a principle level and a mindset level, they achieved nothing by doing that.
“Actually, I could stand there and say, ‘You didn’t really hurt me in the grand scheme of things.'”
“I think it made me a lot stronger about who I am as a person.”
A fairly brilliant response to the ignorance of others, we reckon.
First Dates Ireland continues at 9.30pm on RTÉ2 tonight.
