THE MAN WHO was the subject of a homophobic slur in a shop on Dublin’s Baggot Street has spoken out about the incident.
Yesterday Colm, who does not want to reveal his surname, posted an update to Facebook where he described how two customers in a Spar called him “a faggot” because of the way he was dressed.
The shop assistant came to his aid and refused to serve the man who insulted him.
In an interview with The OutMost, Colm said that his status was not meant for public consumption and admitted that he chose his words badly.
The post was shared by his friend, drag performer Panti Bliss, leading to it going viral and #SparGuy starting to trend on Twitter.
“I wrote that status when I was walking out of Spar, and hadn’t given too thought to it. My facebook feed isn’t even public. Only friends can see what I post and I did not write a piece for the public eye. Someone screen grabbed it and shared it,” he said.
“The guy was asked to leave. The whole thing happened in about 8 to 10 seconds, like it was so small. But I was so impressed by the Spar guy and I thanked him and bought my stuff.”
Colm said that since the story went viral, he’s received several homophobic messages.
I have suspended getting messages from people I am not Facebook friends with, because I have been getting messages from strangers saying that I was ‘oversensitive’, I ‘brought it on myself’, that I was ‘making the story up’. Some were threatening violence and suggesting that I kill myself.
Spar has tweeted about the incident, saying they are “very proud” of how the assistant handled the situation.
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