The Accept LGBTI Cyprus organisation has issued a powerful call for solidarity following a violent homophobic attack on a 17-year-old boy in Nicosia, declaring “We will not go back into the closets! We will not be silent!”.
The attack, which sent the teenager to hospital with facial and body fractures, marks the fourth known homophobic assault this year, according to Accept LGBTI Cyprus president Stefanos Evangelides.
“With this attack, it’s as if they’re warning us. We expect more attacks just before Cyprus Pride 2025,” Evangelides told philenews, noting that the incident occurred just two days before the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
The organisation is urging the public to participate in Cyprus Pride 2025 on May 31 wearing black as a sign of protest. “We want society beside us and against this onslaught,” Evangelides said.
According to the police report, around midnight the teenager was walking on a street in Lakatamia when two individuals approached him, verbally abused him, and then physically assaulted him.
The boy was taken to Nicosia General Hospital where doctors confirmed fractures to his face and body.
Evangelides emphasised that while there have been four reported attacks since the beginning of the year, he is aware of other incidents that have never been made public, as well as numerous cases of hate speech online.
“I continue to have faith in the citizens of Cyprus. We have seen their empathy in a questionnaire about how a same-sex couple could return to our country,” he said.
However, he criticised political parties which since 2023 have been “anxious to make decisions protecting individuals with specific characteristics, thinking that we are not ready”.
He claimed they have “created and fuelled the rhetoric of extreme elements, that since we are not ready as a society, anything beyond their own standards should be expelled”.
In its statement, Accept LGBTI Cyprus said: “We are living in an era where homophobia is being normalised,” pointing to fearmongering, fake news about LGBTQ people, hate crimes, verbal abuse, and institutional indifference.
The organisation announced that this year’s Pride event will return to its roots, adopting “a stance of protest and reaction, just as it began at Stonewall”.
The group called on LGBTQ individuals and allies to attend the Pride march dressed in black as a sign of protest.
“We are reclaiming the colour black! To send the message that we will not go back into the closet! We will not be silent! We are human beings and we fight for our existence with love as our weapon, not violence. Come, all of you, to deliver the message that ‘Love is not afraid!'”.
