Gay London Life | August '26 Edition - Magazine - Page 46
Topher Taylor
On Saturday, 25th July 2026, at around 10 pm, 21-year-old Abdul Ballout got
into a van and drove into people celebrating at Berlin Pride. The van struck a
crowd, killing a woman and injuring 29 others - some critically - before hitting
a tree. After exiting the vehicle, Abdul continued the assault on foot with a
machete, before fleeing. He intended to do as much harm as possible.
It’s now Monday 27th July. Abdul was shot dead by police yesterday
after running at them with a knife. This anti-LGBTQ+ terror attack has sent
shockwaves through Europe, especially for those of us with friends and
business associates who were there.
If you look at the comment sections online, you’ll see laughing
reactions from people revelling in the brutality. There are two reasons:
they don’t care it happened to LGBTQ+ people, and they’re revelling in
the attack being carried out by a radicalised Muslim man. It’s become a
sadistic ‘gotcha.’ Empathy has been replaced by cruelty. It’s heartbreaking
and suffocatingly frustrating.
It’s now very normal to dehumanise the suffering of queer people. The
landscape has changed so fast that I’m not sure we can grasp it yet.
Early in July, I stood in Soho during London Pride feeling more cautious
and anxious than ever. We were surrounded by thousands of queer people,
dancing, celebrating, unapologetically visible. For many, Pride is the one
Topher
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day they feel safe enough to dress a certain way – a day to be seen. I always
enjoy seeing that. But I worry, every year, about them travelling home.
That’s the Irish mother in me.
I was more anxious because of the political and social landscape
of the past few years. It felt like it was all coming to a head. Queerphobia
is acceptable again. People are building careers off the back of it - even
queer people. The ‘pick me’ ones, who want straight acceptance more
than self-love.
Each year, more independent YouTubers and social media attentionseekers come into Soho to antagonise people for content. They’ve been
radicalised online and are intent on recruiting others into their hate-cults.
I was included in some Gollum-looking trans-obsessed guy’s video last
year because I clocked him filming without permission. I put a swift stop to
it. It isn’t illegal, but it’s immoral if you’re using people to create content to
insult them. It’s spineless and pathetic.
He tried to doxx me by including my personal Instagram. The intention
was to send hate and danger my way. I received none, probably because
not many people can sit through 45 minutes of a lonely guy shouting at
clouds during Pride - it’s just depressing. Rather than reflecting on why he’s
alone, he pointed the finger at trans people. And me. But nice try, bitch.
I only found out about it six months later when someone researching
homophobic transphobes DM’d it to me.
Did I think a YouTuber would assault or murder someone? No. But they
carefully curate content that antagonises people. These clips get shared
everywhere and make uneducated people very angry. We see more antiLGBTQ+ sentiment at Pride events. People are being radicalised within
their devices at such a rapid speed that I don’t think we have the data to
fully understand it yet.
I spoke to our security company and asked them to make sure
Clonezone’s guards were extra vigilant - looking for suspicious behaviour
outside the store. I need to be totally transparent: I feared someone would
come into Soho specifically to harm people. I worried about a radicalised
vigilante. My Mum worries about something bad happening every year, and
I usually roll my eyes. This year, I shared her fears.
Yesterday, a van ploughed into a crowd at Berlin Pride. One woman
dead. Twenty-nine injured. Lives ruined forever. It’s what we’ve been
scared of.
A few years ago, it would feel outrageous to believe something so evil
could happen. But now, not so much. We’re entering a ‘new normal’ that
requires us to look out for each other.
Pride exists because we marched in the streets and refused to be
invisible. Now, many of us are terrified of being found.
@tophertaylor
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