A drag queen who recently appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK says she was the victim of a "homophobic attack". Elektra Fence, who is known as Julian Riley outside of drag, told her Twitter followers she was subjected to abuse while on a train from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on Sunday, April 24.
Elektra, from Burnley, Lancashire, said a man "jumped out" at her and hurled homophobic slurs while she was going to get a cup of tea on the Avanti West Coast service. Other members of the group the man was travelling with later "grabbed" Elektra and pulled open her jacket on her way back to her seat, the drag queen said. She said the alleged attack left her feeling "totally helpless".
Speaking to the MEN, she said she was still upset about the incident but wanted to express that she is determined to remain "strong and resilient" despite what happened. “I haven’t felt like this since I was at school,” Elektra explained.
“I keep having moments where I get a bit scared or emotional just thinking about it, but what annoys me the most is how these people felt they had the right to do that to someone. I’ve been through worse but that still doesn’t diminish what happened.
“The thing that scared me the most was when their hands were on me, and my jacket was opened. I had no clue what they were going to do. I was only able to get out of it because of a self-defence move I learned on TikTok. Imagine if they’d done this to someone who was already really struggling with being LGBTQI+ and this was the thing that tipped them over the edge.
“I was so surprised that these were young people doing this – like they looked to me like they could be my friends or the people I’d hang out and enjoy a glass of wine with. That just blew my mind.”
Elektra said the incident had been reported to police and the on-board train manager, Lee. She said she felt an impulse to change her clothes to "blend in" after the alleged attack.
She explained: “I was ready to go into my suitcase and change my outfit completely, but then I thought to myself ‘Why? Why am I doing this?’. I shouldn’t have to do that for anyone and I feel like it would also be me essentially sticking two fingers up to those who have fought so hard for our rights over the years.”
Since the incident, Elektra said she had been "inundated" with messages of support from her followers and fellow Drag Race stars. Michelle Visage, Lisa Scott-Lee and Russell Tovey are among those to reach out to her.
“I’ve never felt so much love in my life,” she said. “People are ringing me and reaching out to me to check if I’m okay. I’m overwhelmed with the support I’ve received.
"We’ve surrounded this bad thing that’s happened with love. I was emotional about what happened, but now I’m emotional about the love and support I’ve received.
“I also cannot thank Avanti and Lee enough for what they’ve done to help. She told me the same group had been using racist slurs earlier and had refused to pay for their ticket. They shouldn’t have to endure that. But Lee made sure to let me know they’d got off the train, which was such a relief to me as I was scared that they would follow me and beat me up.”
Responding to Elektra's tweet, Avanti said: “We are really sorry to hear that this happened on board one of our trains, Elektra. No one should have to experience that. Really glad to hear our [train manager] Lee was there to support you.”
Elektra said she has been told by Avanti it is looking into the matter and will be involving the police. She added: “The reason I want to talk about this and make a deal out of it is because this shouldn’t happen in this day and age. It’s absolutely crazy that this still happens.
“People say that ‘Oh, you don’t need Pride anymore’ but this shows why we have Pride and why it’s still needed. We can’t let this happen, this is not okay. I’m not allowing this to happen to anyone else.
“I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t cried about it. I’ve been really upset over what happened but I want to remain strong and show that this can’t happen. There’s millions of homophobic and transphobic people still out there and I don't want this to be a witch hunt on those who did this to me, but we just need to remind everyone that this isn’t okay. This cannot happen."
Elektra participated in series three of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, finishing in 11th place. She will next be appearing at the Pride of Manchester awards on May 10.
