A gay couple who defended the gay male couple was present at an event on Sunday evening, April 7, when an unexplained male began shouting anti-gay slurs at two men who were thought to be gay couples with children on a Rail train as it left the Dupont Circle Station.
According to Mishka Espey, who witnessed the incident with their partner Gianna Gronowski, who claimed the man yelled abusive things at the Washington Blade and that he and his partner became concerned that the man might have physically assaulted them and the gay male couple, and that because of his loud yelling of anti-gay names and his irate facial expressions, they became concerned.
Espey claims that he did not physically assault them or the gay couple, and he left the Judiciary Square station shortly after the gay couple had stopped a few stops earlier, perhaps at Metro Center or Gallery Place.
Espey and Gianna used Gianna’s phone to record a portion of the incident, which Gianna posted on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and which, according to D, has been viewed more than 5 million times. C.’s Channel 7 News, which has reported the incident.
According to Espey, a Metro police officer called Gronowski to tell them about the incident after they learned of it from the X posting.
Gronowski posted on X on how she saw a young child being scolded for having two fathers. “This man yelled that everyone on the train should ‘be sick’ that this ‘innocent child’ was being raised by two fags – we yelled at him to get off the train, the family departed, and he followed them,” Gronowski states in their post.
Espey and Gronowski yelled at the man to divert his attention when they saw him attempting to follow the gay couple as they left the train, hoping he wouldn’t be a victim of sexual assault.
He reportedly yelled at this couple who was standing right in front of us, saying,” He was very angry and loud and aggressive.” “And he got closer to them. They were horrified,” said Espey. He appeared to be following them off the Metro as they exited it. And at that point, me and my partner started yelling at him,” Espey recalls. Espey, who uses the verb ‘they,’ said,” And he turned his attention to us and began yelling at us.”’
He was actually in the doorway of the Metro when we started yelling at him, and he came to a stop right in the middle of the doorway and was holding up the train, according to Espey. He then exited the train, went down the opposite direction of the car, and then returned to the train, Espey continued.
According to Espey, Gronowski and their son recorded the second scene of their video from their phone at that time. “And that’s him just glaring at us from the other side of the Metro,” as seen in the video. At that point, I was a little worried that he would follow them all the way home to the Silver Spring Metro station, which they were traveling to.
But instead, the man got off the train at the Judiciary Square station, Espey points out.
The Blade contacted Metro Transit police for comment on the incident, including whether the hostile name-calling without a physical assault committed by the unidentified man constitutes a hate crime, including a hate crime designation.
Metro Transit Police, according to Channel 7 News, has informed Channel 7 that it is “investigating the alleged incident.” ”
Anyone who witnessed the incident onboard the train, or who may have seen the video of the man who called the X posting, and who may be able to identify him can call Metro Transit Police at 202-962-2121.
Under D.C. Despite how offensive it may be, a statement on the D.C. website states that calling someone a “reckless crime” and a “hate crime” by itself. C. Metropolitan Police Department website. According to the MPD, a hate crime is not a crime by itself, but rather serves as a motivation for an underlying crime like assault, murder, or vandalism.
The D.C. Office of the US Attorney C. which prosecutes D.C. a statement from Crimes states that an underlying crime could be an “assault or a threat,” but it does not specifically define a threat.
Espey told the Blade that the man on the Metro threatened them and their partner Gianna, and that they also believed the gay male couple also faced threat.
After leaving nearby Stead Park, where they played kickball as part of the LGBTQ Stonewall Kickball League, Espey and her partner Gianna boarded the metro at the Dupont Circle station.
Gianna Gronowski’s X posting can be viewed here:
Just witnessed a youngster being verbally abused by a man for having two fathers. We yelled at this man to get off the train because he yelled that everyone on the train should “be sick” that this “innocent child” was being raised by f@gs. The family left, and he followed them (1/2) pic.twitter.com/tqv7UZoaE6
— Gianna Gronowski (they/she) (@gmgronowski) April 7, 2024
