Boy George is right: these things come round in cycles. And they come round regardless of the usual excuse of recession, economic depression, straitened times, etc.
Why is the West End now a pressure point for violence against gays and lesbians? The main reason would be that Soho filters into Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Why do those perpetrating violence wait for the denizens of Soho to reach world-famous public spaces before they viciously attack them? Is not the fact that the violence goes on in these public spaces a worrying signal that thugs are so hellbent on destruction that they will risk public exposure to fulfill their murderous intentions?
Boy George is right: why can't the Met assemble CCTV evidence against the attackers? The attack on Philip Sallon took place in an area under heavy surveillance as a result of terrorism and general crime. The Met does not think the attack was a homophobic crime, but it was unquestionably an attack against a person who looked different, and in the mind of the thug, difference usually equates to 'queer'. This would be difficult to prove in a court of law without concrete evidence, but in the wider world it makes perfect sense. Still, perfect sense is useless in a court of law. The suggestion that Philip Sallon was attacked like any other individual for being merely an individual within range of thuggish impulses is therefore disingenuous. Still, the need for concrete evidence will emerge, and if not from the CCTV system that just so happened to be without range, hopefully it will come from the victim himself, once he is ready.
The viciousness of the attack is consistent with the intended aim of causing irreparable damage to someone the attacker considers beyond mercy. Such an attack does not increase in physical viciousness because of circumstance; the viciousness is rooted in the homophobic animus of the thug, an animus upon which the thug can call without much premeditation when fulfilling his/her murderous impulse. The act is premeditated, it simply lacks an object. Once the object is located, the premeditation is let loose on the victim. By such a point, the premeditation has been dwelt upon, shored up by adrenalin. It is on the verge. Then the inevitable.
Boy George fears, like all of us should, for people who are different. I fear too that all too often public discourse about difference rotates the need to assimilate as the best possible solution for such crimes. The thug gets off twice: s/he pursues the attack and attacks, or s/he does not because their object is invisible, or as queer theory would say, illegible. The more this line of supposed reasoning is pursued the more we live in a society in which we half-sanction the actions of murderous bullies and thugs. The civilised are made to accommodate the crimes of the wild, if only for a peaceful life. All the while self-expression and self-determination suffer. Same old same old. It happens to goths, it happens to rape victims, it happens to women generally, it happens to gays and lesbians and trans people.
