Drag Race UK star feels ‘more wary’ after four homophobic incidents in one month

A RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestant is speaking out after experiencing four separate incidents of homophobic and transphobic abuse in just one month, including one occasion which ended in physical violence.

Pixie Polite, who is best known for appearing on Drag Race UK season four back in 2022, told PinkNews that among the four separate incidents of abuse she’s experienced in the past four weeks, two of them occurred on the same train journey.

The 32-year-old drag star revealed on social media on Monday (28 July) that she had gone to hospital after being “punched in the head” in a “homophobic” assault in a Tesco in Colliers Wood, south west London.

She suffered head injuries in the attack, including bruising on the back of the neck.

The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed to PinkNews that it is investigating a report of assault and verbal abuse, and that the incident was being treated as a hate crime.

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A post shared by Pixie Polite (@pixiepolite)

Pixie, whose out of drag name is Mark Wickens, explained that the assault began with two men making “wisecracks” about her while in the queue at Tesco.

Despite Pixie ignored the men, one of them touched her on the arm.

“I just sort of turned and I said ‘Please don’t touch me.’ and turned away,” Pixie explained. “That’s when one of them started to mouth off, making comments at my expense, mimicking me in a very effeminate voice.

“I had enough of him mouthing off behind me. I’m fairly privileged enough as a fairly tall, quite big man to be able to challenge that kind of behaviour, whereas other people might not feel safe enough to do so. So I felt like I had to say something.

“I did lose my temper and I shouted at him,” she explained. “That’s when the slurs started coming out. The first go-to was to start calling me the F-slur.”

As Pixie attempted to leave the shop, she had to walk past the man, and that’s when “he got violent”.

“To be fair, I was probably still mouthing off at him to be honest, and that’s when he swung around and hit me. He punched me one time in the back of the head/neck.”

A bystander prevented the man from doing anything else, while Pixie took a photo of him and instantly called the police, who arrived at the scene in ten minutes. No arrests have been made yet.

While the incident is the first time Pixie has suffered physical violence as a result of discrimination, it’s sadly far from the first time she’s experienced verbal homophobic and transphobic abuse.

In 2023, a man in south London threatened to stab her with a whisky bottle after throwing anti-gay slurs her way, while several other incidents – including a threat of assault – have occurred in the past few weeks.

“I’ve had four incidents in the last month where I’ve had verbal abuse, both in and out of drag,” she shared.

She recalled travelling from Colchester to Liverpool Street in London following a gig at the end of last month, and while waiting on the train platform in Colchester, she heard a group of young men loudly sharing “right-wing talking points about trans people and drag queens”.

Pixie, who was still wearing drag make-up at the time, then heard one of the group suggest that they “beat” her. 

“[They were] talking about how I’m going to give them AIDS and they should beat me up and all this, but they don’t want to touch me ‘cause I’m dirty, that kind of thing,” she said.

She contacted the police. Yet, after arriving at Liverpool Street station, a different person shouted a homophobic remark at her.

In Pixie’s view, the rise in anti-trans rhetoric – reflected in government policy, and in the recent ruling by the Supreme Court to exclude trans people from the legal definition of the term ‘woman’ in the 2010 Equality Act – is “bleeding into homophobic” abuse.

“Even when I’m not in drag and I’m just out in my normal visage, [homophobic tropes] are starting to creep back in about us about the community being more likely to be predators,” she said. “It is all just history repeating itself.”

Despite reporting the incident in 2023 and incident at Colchester station to the police, no suspects were found. However, the drag star urged LGBTQ+ folk to continue reporting whenever such abuse happens, and to talk about it on social media.

“It is important for the community to realise that we’re in hot water,” she said.

“Every time any of us experience anything like this [and] we’re reporting it, those crime statistics go up for hate crimes. They’re talking about it in parliament or in your local council office or town hall. Those are the things that will be relevant to the conversation that will help turn the tide on those issues.”

There has been a fall in the number of homophobic hate crimes in England and Wales, with the number reported dropping by 8.5 per cent between 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. Yet the number of recorded incidents remains significantly high compared to data recorded pre-2021.

Pixie Polite said that she has until recently “always felt safe” wearing make-up to her gigs, but she has noticed that she has “started to feel more wary”.

“I’m a lot more on edge and aware of my surroundings,” she said. “I have started to try and be more vigilant. I have a few times perhaps just gotten ready at the venue if I’m doing drag.

“It has made me change my behavior as of recently but not in the sense that I’m hiding away, because I still want to be just as visible just as a big FU to those people.

“Just because they’re making us scared I don’t think that should force me to hide myself. As a person with some privilege in regards to my safety, I need to be at the forefront of protecting other people who can’t advocate for themselves and protect themselves. So I’m gonna keep talking about these instances.”

Anyone who has witnessed or experienced a hate crime is urged to call the police on 101, Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit the True Vision website. In an emergency, always dial 999.