A man who was battered in Liverpool city centre said the attack left him afraid to go out at night.
Josh Ormrod shared photos of his bruised face that went viral on social media after what Judge Recorder Andrew McLoughlin called a "persistent, unlawful, violent, drunken assault".
Only three days before Josh was attacked, his friend, Curtis Stewart, was battered on Lord Nelson Street in a homophobic attack after making sure his sister and a female friend got home safe. It was one of a number of similar incidents over the summer.
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Although the assault on Josh was not prosecuted as a homophobic hate crime, the homophobic attacks of last summer thrust Josh, who is bisexual, into the spotlight as he spoke in radio interviews, visited Downing Street and started a petition to increase the number of police officers patrolling the streets of Liverpool.
Josh, originally from Derbyshire, told the ECHO: "One day I was a student in Liverpool, and the next day, I was campaigning for gay rights. It was a sudden transition."
He added: "The more people speak out about them [homophobic attacks], the faster [changes] will come.
"My media rounds may have died off, but there'll always be someone else, unfortunately.
"Until there's not, we just have to keep being loud."
After the attack he suffered, Josh thought the fear was going to take over his life.
Josh said: "I was scared outside at night, or on my own in town, or a lot of the time.
"If I was on my own, I'd cross the road if someone was coming towards me.
"But I thought, you know, this is no way to live. He doesn't get to win like that.
"He doesn't get to have that lasting effect on me."
He said he feels unsafe at night down the busy streets around Concert Square where he was attacked, avoiding the area in favour of 'gay town' around Stanley Street.
Late last year, the 20-year-old returned to the spot on Fleet Street where he was assaulted. There he posed in front of his friend's camera.
Josh said: "We went back to where it happened and did a little photoshoot, sort of a 'reclaim the space' kind of thing.
"It was quite helpful. It was good to be back there and just try and reassign it to a good experience rather than just that one bad one."
What may come as a surprise is that Josh's life changed "dramatically" for the better since the attack.
Josh said: "It sort of gave me a chance to sit back and think.
"Obviously, the first question was, 'Do I still want to live in this city?', and I thought, 'Yeah, I love it here'.
"So I thought, 'Well, what do I want to change', and I came to the conclusion that I wasn't happy at university.
"I had a lot of time to myself after the attack while I was getting better. It gave me a bit of a wake up call, to be honest, so in a way, I'm grateful for it.
"You have to try and find some good from things like that, otherwise it'll kill you.
"I didn't know how long it would take me to get over it. It felt like it was going to take a lot longer than it ended up doing, which was scary at the time.
"But then I look back at it and think, I've really done quite well to come as far as I have since then."
After the assault, Josh didn't see his attacker's face until he read an ECHO article about the conclusion of the case in Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, January 19.
He provided a victim impact statement to the court, but he didn't attend the sentencing of 26-year-old Joshua McLaughlan, of Hawkshead Drive in Bolton, who pleaded guilty to assault.
The IT network engineer filmed or photographed himself repeatedly punching Josh in the head and body before leaving him lying unconscious at around 4.30am on June 17, 2021.
McLaughlan was detained by nearby door staff while other security staff gave Josh first aid.
McLaughlan was handed a 16-month custodial sentence.
