Brianna Ghey vigil ‘disrupted’ after vile homophobic abuse hurled at gatherers

A vigil held in memory of Brianna Ghey was temporarily disrupted after a group of young men hurled shocking homophobic abuse at hundreds of gatherers.

The men were seen spewing expletive-filled slurs, including ‘f*** LGBT rights’, at those in attendance at the vigil in Birmingham city centre on Friday evening (February 17).

A sea of mourners, which included members of the LGBTQ+ community, had poured into Birmingham's Gay Village to pay their respects to the 16-year-old girl from Warrington.

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Brianna was found with stab wounds in a village park in Cheshire on Saturday, February 11, where she was pronounced dead at the scene. A boy and a girl, both 15, have been charged with her murder and appeared in court earlier this week.

Footage from the vigil, which was shown to BirminghamLive but not publicly shared, saw individuals shout “f*** LGBT rights”.

Mourners in the crowd were heard responding: "no one's telling you to be here." Another is heard asking the group to ‘calm down now please’.

A further video shared on Twitter shared a separate moment where an interview with trans activist Eva Echo was interrupted by another group shouting "f*** LGBT f*** you all."

Speaking at the scene, Eva Echo said: "And that's exactly why we need to come together."

Addressing the solemn crowd on Friday February 17, vigil organisers said the loss of Brianna had 'deeply affected the trans community.'

"We stand with Brianna and send our condolences to Brianna’s family in this difficult time," said Adam Khan, co-facilitator of TranSpectrum. "[It] will leave a lasting impact on Brianna’s loved ones - this is a great loss to our community."

The sprawling crowd