Thug shouts torrent of abuse at non-binary person ‘for wearing rainbow outfit’

Pigeon Woods, 20, was on their way home when a white, middle-aged man began insulting them.

“I was just on my way home and this guy starts on at me and starts being extremely homophobic. [He was] saying he’s sick to death of these gays and I’m a disgusting lesbian who ‘probably goes around scissoring’,” Woods told Edinburgh Live. “He was also going on about my outfit.”

Woods said their clothing choices have nothing to do with their sexuality or gender, and that the man was clearly provoked by their rainbow-dappled outfit.

He reportedly claimed Woods was “shoving it down his throat” as he shot homophobic remarks at them.

“He genuinely was just filled with so much hate, it was horrible,” said Woods.

Woods reported the incident to Police Scotland who are investigating. The entire interaction was recorded on camera and authorities have pleaded with the public to come forward with information.

“I’ve reported [it] to the police… and they’re coming… to take a full report on it. The guy only sat outside it for a minute or so before walking off,” said Woods.

In Scotland a hate crime is defined as being motivated by malice toward a social group. In 2021 Scotland passed the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act which consolidated and extended protections for marginalised groups, and made “stirring up” hatred an offence.

A report found that between 2019 and 2020 the number of hate crimes recorded in Scotland was 6,448. Of that number 20 per cent included a sexual orientation aggravator and one per cent was because of a person’s transgender identity.

However these numbers only reflect the crimes reported to police, not the actual number of LGBTQ+ people being harassed or abused in Scotland.

Stonewall found more than 87 per cent of LGBTQ+ people who experience a hate crime or incident did not report the incident to the police.