New York Man Accosts Gay Jewish Activist In Shocking Rant Caught On Tape
A New York activist shared a video of the homophobic passerby who stalked him on the street, an effort he hopes will raise awareness about the bigotry marginalized groups continue to face in 2019.
Adam Eli, who is gay and Jewish, tweeted a video of the confrontation early Monday. In the clip, viewable below, an unidentified man approaches Eli on a staircase of a Manhattan subway station and demands he remove his pink yarmulke.
“You’re desecrating the name of God,” the man, who has not been publicly identified, shouts at Eli as he exits the station. “Any man that lays with another man is an abomination. You’ll be murdered for it! Take the kippah off!”
THREAD: Trigger Warning: violent speech, harassment. I got harassed, followed and threatened on the street today. Someone was upset that I was wearing a pink kippah, carrying a purse and had a pride patch sewn onto my jeans. I am sharing the encounter for three reasons. pic.twitter.com/Y9HWiX2nSs
— Adam Eli (@aewerner) September 9, 2019
As the clip progresses, the man grows increasingly agitated toward Eli, who also carried a pink purse and wore jeans emblazoned with a rainbow patch at the time of the incident.
“Stay in the closet,” the unidentified man demands after reciting parts of the Book of Leviticus. “Make sure your closet is in another closet ... this is not Judaism!”
As of Tuesday morning, the video had been viewed more than 740,000 times. It also caught the eye of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who shared Eli’s original tweet.
“There’s no place for hate in this city,” he wrote.
It takes courage to confront homophobia and tell a story like this.
I’m sorry you had to go through this, Adam. But we’re proud of how you responded.
There’s no place for hate in this city. https://t.co/9SqgfRQhJd— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) September 10, 2019
A writer and activist, Eli is a known figure in the global LGBTQ community as the founder of Voices 4, an advocacy group aimed at magnifying the voices of queer people around the world through social media. He initially founded the group in 2017 in response to the alleged persecution of gay men in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
The 28-year-old did not file a police report regarding the incident. In a series of Monday tweets, however, he said he felt compelled to share video of the confrontation as a reminder that the struggle for LGBTQ rights isn’t over.
2. This is a fraction of what our trans + GNC family get every single day. In this moment I was able to stand up to my attacker NOT bc I'm brave but bc I'm a white resourced man in a heavily trafficked place. We know what happens when a white man attacks a black trans women.
— Adam Eli (@aewerner) September 9, 2019
3. cont Racism, transphobia, xenophobia, islamophobia, anti semitism and ableism hold hands. Our ancestors taught us none of us are safe until all of us are safe. Queer culture is not going to Equinox and getting brunch. Queer culture is about fighting for ur community
— Adam Eli (@aewerner) September 9, 2019
In an interview with New York television station Pix 11, he said that he’d like the video to draw attention to to the ongoing epidemic of violence against transgender people, particularly women of color, across the U.S.
“I’m cisgender, white ... I have resources and that’s the type of violence that I’m getting,” he said. “If that’s the type of violence that one of the most privileged members of our community is getting, can you imagine what it’s like every day in the subway to be a trans person or a gender non-conforming person or a queer person of color?”
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.