BY ROB SALERNO – A woman in Britain was acquitted of gaybashing a lesbian after she showed the jury a photograph of a rainbow tattoo that she has on her butt.
Lauren Proverbs was accused of starting a fight with Gina Landon outside a fast-food joint after a night of drinking. The pair dispute who started the argument and who threw the first punch, but Landon accused Proverbs of calling her a “_______ dyke and ______ lesbian” before punching her in the mouth and stomping on her ribs when she fell (sorry, the UK reports all censor the adjectives used to modify “dyke” and “lesbian”; you’ll have to use your imagination).
Proverbs admitted to punching Landon but says she was acting in self-defence and that she’s absolutely not homophobic. She produced the photo to back up her claim, explaining that she got the tattoo in 2008 in Spain when she was involved in a lesbian relationship herself.
The jury couldn’t agree on the charges, and the judge found her not guilty. The crown has decided against pushing for a retrial.
This isn’t Proverbs’s actual picture, but it is the least bad thing that popped up when I Google-searched “gay rainbow butt tattoo.”
In other news, over at The Walrus, former Xtra writer Michael Harris has a must-read article, “AIDS at 30,” which chronicles changing attitudes toward the disease, and what that means for the younger generation of the gay community. It’s a fascinating piece of writing, which unexpectedly becomes a more thoughtful version of the arguments that sprang up in the wake of Toronto’s great “Beyond Gay” debate of 2011.
Why you can trust Xtra
