It was with anger and sadness that I learned that Gavin McCrea was the victim of a homophobic assault at six in the evening in a leafy Dublin suburb. I have known Gavin all his life. And more recently had the pleasure of photographing him for the cover of his first published novel, Mrs Engels. Below is an e-mail from Gavin and an interesting and important article on the assault and how we as a society deal with it. (Check out Google Translate for this.)
“As many of you know, I was assaulted last Saturday (1 Feb) at 6pm while walking along the Dodder river in Dublin. A homophobic attack. A group of six 12- to 14-year-olds. They broke my nose and my cheekbone. Since the attack, I have been overwhelmed by the love and support I have received. I feel fortunate and proud to have around me such a community of big hearts and brilliant minds. One such brilliant mind is Andrea Rizzi, the International News Editor at El País in Madrid, who has written an article about the attack:
https://elpais.com/internacional/2020/02/07/actualidad/1581101417_997989.html?ssm=whatsapp
In the article, Andrea describes what happened to me (as recounted to him by me) before going on to make a few larger points: 1) recent advances in legislation in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe do not by and of themselves dissolve centuries of homophobia; 2) such homophobic attacks perpetrated by boys of such a young age highlight the need for more and better inclusion, tolerance and anti-bullying training in schools; 3) initiatives which would allow parents to veto such in-school training, such as those proposed by the right-wing parties Vox and PP in Spain, ought to be resisted; 3) research shows that homophobic bullying, abuse and violence remains a huge problem throughout Europe, especially in the East; 4) the recent rise of conservative and nationalist sentiment as a response to current challenges in Europe must not act as a cover for the legitimisation of homophobic and xenophobic sentiment
I am a private person and going public in this way makes me uncomfortable, but I felt it was the right thing to do. Please do pass the article along, especially to any friends you have in the Irish or English-speaking media.“
Wishing you a speedy recovery Gavin. And don’t let the bastards get you down.