A female holidaymaker has accused a group of men of slinging homophobic slurs at her during a Ryanair flight.
Laura Muldoon was flying from London Stansted to Seville, Spain, when she said the group called her a “miserable b***h”, a “dyke” and a “lesbo”.
The social media manager for the Museum of London took a picture of the men she claims made the homophobic remarks, most of whom are smiling and swearing at the camera.
Ms Muldoon shared the photo on social media, tweeting: “First holiday snap! Of this bunch of lads who chanted that I was a “miserable b**ch”, “d**e” and “lesbo” (very well observed!) on Ryanair flight 12.27 from Stansted to Seville today.”
She added: “Oh yeah, flight crew did nothing.”
Ryanair tweeted in response to Laura’s post, saying: “Hi Laura, we are sorry to hear this. Please submit a complaint here contactform.ryanair.com where our customer service department can investigate this.”
The Independent has contacted Ryanair for comment.
Social media users were quick to condemn the men’s behaviour and offer support. Twitter user Ann Miller responded: “You’re very courageous to have taken this photo. I hope Ryanair takes serious action against them. Have a lovely holiday.”
“They should have been asked to leave the plane. There and then,” wrote another, called Lorn Dey.
The story comes after new analysis suggested homophobic and transphobic hate crimes have more than doubled in England and Wales over the last five years.
These include stalking, harassment and violent assault.
High profile homophobic attacks in recent months have raised awareness of the issue: Lucy Jane Parkinson reported being pelted with stones thrown from a moving car while kissing her girlfriend in Southampton, while two women were beaten and robbed on a London bus in what police called a “disgusting” homophobic assault.
Photos showing the two women covered in blood quickly went viral on social media.
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