Trans man harassed in local pub by man ‘upskirting’ him after Pride
A trans man who had just taken part in the local Pride parade was harassed in a pub where he had gone with a friend.
Felix Fenlon was feeling cheerful when he entered the pub on Saturday (July 21). He was wearing a t-shirt promoting his community group, Trans Youth Hull, his favourite kilt, and the Pride march had gone well.
“The whole support around Hull city centre was amazing. Everyone was cheering at it was lovely,” he told PinkNews.
While his wife went home, Fenlon went to get a drink with a friend in a pub which he described as being located in “straight town.” He was not worried however, as he is usually able to go around without issues, having transitioned several years ago.
But as he came out of the toilet to head to the bar, a man addressed him as said: “Are you going to show us your c**k then?,” Fenton recalled.
“I was so shocked I just carried on walking because I didn’t want any problems,” he said.
Then, as he proceeded to order another drink, he felt his kilt lifting up. “I pushed it down very quickly and I said: ‘how rude,’ to the guy who had done it,” he said, adding that there were two women sitting next to the man who “upskirted” him—a different person from the one he met in the toilet—and they were all laughing.
The women also harassed Fenlon, asking him “What have you got up there,” to which he replied: “Plenty, but it’s staying there.”
Fenlon said the response shut them up, but when he pointed out what happened to the bartender, she just giggled.
“I had to laugh it off because I didn’t want to make a fuss out of it, I just wanted to make a point it shouldn’t be happening.
“It shouldn’t matter what pub you’re in who you are, no one should be touching you and trying to look at what you have under your skirt or you kilt or whatever. It’s undignified, it’s horrible,” he said.
Fenlon was not sure about reporting the incident right away due to previous unpleasant experiences with the authorities. But then, the following weekend, he had a similar experience in a different pub.
A man spotted him in the crowd and called him out: “Hey love we’re here! Are you going to flash us your c**k?,” Fenlon said.
He could not tell whether this was the same man who harassed him the previous week, but he thought the wording of the statement was too similar to be a different person altogether.
“I thought, these can’t be the same people, but why else would they say it? It was exactly the same thing.
“I couldn’t believe it. I had my shorts on, I just looked like everybody else. They tried to out me in the pub because it was a straight pub. I felt a bit gutted,” he said.
That accident finally convinced Fenlon he had to file a report. While the authorities could do little more than put it on file, Fenlon felt he was given the support he needed.
Fenlon described the incidents as “humiliating, degrading and embarrassing,” but he refuses to be intimidated. “It won’t stop me going in again,” he said.
This article was updated to correct a typo in Felix Fenlon’s name.
