A journalist who was the victim of a homophobic attack has opened up on how it has led to him acting “more straight” due to fear of a repeat assault.

Herts Live journalist Jaimie Kay says on occasion he feels the need to remove a rainbow lanyard he usually wears and even change the way he walks because of concern he may be “randomly kicked, punched, beaten and otherwise attacked on the street”.

Jaimie, pictured, had his nose fractured after he was headbutted in a bar in Leeds by a man who called him a “little f****t”.

He has now opened up on the incident, which happened in 2018, in a piece for Herts Live after he “started to think about it more and more” recently following a spate of homophobic attacks in Liverpool.

In a first-person piece for Herts Live, Jaimie wrote: “In my situation, it wasn’t random, but it can be. Following the attacks in Liverpool it shows that gay people sometimes have to fear wandering the streets in broad daylight with people everywhere, and yet they can still be jumped on and abused.

“That doesn’t stop me though. I wear my rainbow pin, I wear my rainbow lanyard for work and I share everything I want to be online.

“I’ll be honest, on a few occasions I’ve walked past people and tried to become more ‘straight’ by removing my lanyard, walking differently and acting more like a ‘straight’ guy, all because I fear they may do something.

“But it’s 2021. LGBTQ+ people should not be worried that they will be randomly kicked, punched, beaten and otherwise attacked on the street.”

Speaking to HTFP, Jaimie said he had had “some really nice messages” from readers since the piece was published a fortnight ago for LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

He added: “I was a bit overwhelmed by the support and although a lot of the comments were things like ‘sorry you had to go through this’ or ‘thank you for speaking out about something so important’, it was the fact that it reached so many people.

“It can be difficult writing such an important story in an important month in a local paper or website as sometimes people aren’t interested or don’t really understand the need for it.

“But after recent events, as I say in the piece, it is very necessary as I was a lucky one and was also lucky to have a platform as a journalist to be able to write about it.”