Straight V's Gay

I am a gay man who went out around Sheffield on Friday with my partner. We ended up going to Dempsey's and after a bit of a dance we decided to go to the Chicken Shop. Normally I feel safe around that area, but after waiting for a taxi we were approached by 2 "Straight" lads who asked us if we wanted a fight. They kept asking more after realising that we were gay. They girlfriends were stood behind them laughing like school kids and silly bimbo's. I want to know what is wrong with society..............I understand that some people will never accept gay people, but its a wonder Sheffield is so far behind cities such as Manchester and Birmingham.

Whilst I wouldn't endorse violence, a fist containing a bunch of keys, smashed into their faces wouldn't have gone amiss here.

I think the scum you unfortunately bumped into were representing a very small minority !

I am sure most would agree Sheffield is a very accepting city of all human beings no matter what colour, sexuality or religion.

I remember the late 70s and early 80s, I had a gay mate who was terrified of letting others know about his sexuality in case he was attacked.

We both worked in a very "Manly" job and the other blokes would have torn him to shreads for it.

We used to to around the straight pubs with our friends and for a couple of nights each week, we`d go to the Cossack, just him and me and then go to a gay night club in Attercliffe called Lydias. Our other mates flatly refused to go because they were scared of someone seeing them and thinking they were "Poofs" and maybe even beating them up.

I used to often get left on my tod in Lydias because my buddy pulled some bloke and left with him and once he got himself into a stable relationship it was no longer neccessary for me to "Escort" him to these places.

I still went with them though because I had got to know quite a few people and they were brilliant.

Eventually my friend "Came out" at work and we braced ourselves for some real aggro, but our workmates who were basically as rough as badgers backsides accepted him and said they sort of guessed he was gay all along.

Things have moved on since then though, people are more accepting of others with a different sexuality but there are and will always be knuckle draggers around unfortunately.

I was my friends pet knuckle dragger who would have harmed anyone who attacked him, and I suppose that was neccessary sometimes back then, but today? I hate the thought of those creatures doing that to you.

The morons would have used another excuse to challenge you if you weren't gay, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Sadly, there's scum on the streets and we all have to confront it at some point.

Chin up, Darren.

I would like to thank people for their suppotive comments, if only people were there last night!!!! It is good to know that there are men and women who are supportive and dont care!

Big time morons mate - don't let it get to you! Guys like that aren't worth sh*t.

As another comment said, I think they would have been up for fighting anyway. Unfortunately Sheffield can be a bit like that sometimes, lets hope when the Moor is demolished, the chavs are too!

I'm not defending anyone who acts like scum and threatens anyone else, but it goes both ways. My housemate was once messing about with his classmate one afternoon on the grass next to the Cossack. They were doing something stupid like students do and throwing an old traffic cone at each other.

When a couple of men came out of the cossack and one got hold of him and hit him hard on the side of the face with something metal and shiny. Then they shouted something at them and walked off hand in hand.

My mate spent the rest of the day in hospital, they had split his ear in half with the object and he had to have stitches, he nearly lost his ear. That was quite afew years ago now and I haven't seen anything like that myself.

I have spent 20 years drinking in and around sheffield with lots of nights in town and I can honestly say I can count the fights I have seen during that time on half a hand. I have always had the impression that Sheffield is a very safe city, and I have never met anyone from other cities who doesn't think that either.

Sorry to hear you've had this bad expereince- dont let it tarnish your outlook on sheffield, its an amazingly open, welcoming and safe city on the whole. There'll always be a couple of idiots trying to ruin it for themselves, walk on through the storm I say.