Days after two women were assaulted on a London bus, a second same-sex couple has been attacked in the UK.
Actors Lucy Jane Parkinson and Rebecca Banatvala were both set to appear in the award-winning play Rotterdam, which centres around a young gay woman.
While on their way to a matinée performance at the Nuffield Southampton Theatres in Hampshire on Saturday afternoon (local time), Parkinson kissed Banatvala as they walked down the road.
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As she did, the occupants of a passing car called out to them and threw what's believed to have been stones at the couple.
"The car was coming past and they shouted something and something hit me between my eye and my temple," Parkinson told the BBC.
"It knocked me to the floor and I could hear them laughing as the car was driving off."
She said she believes the culprits were "young boys". While she received only minor injuries, she and Banatvala were deeply shaken by the unprovoked attack.
Nuffield Southampton Theatres cancelled all of Saturday's performances of Rotterdam in response to what they called a "cowardly, homophobic hate crime".
"We are devastated that this kind of behaviour is still so prevalent, a fact which reinforces the importance of this play's message," the producers said on Twitter.
While Parkinson and Banatvala seemed to have been targeted for kissing in public, two other women were attacked by a group of teenage boys when they refused to kiss.
Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris were punched and robbed on the top deck of a London bus on May 30. A harrowing photo of the women with bloody noses was widely circulated on social media.
Four men between the ages of 15 and 18 have been arrested for the assault and robbery.
Newshub.
