In a phone interview with The Huffington Post, Koirala explained that she began filming after she became concerned for the safety of some of the passengers:
"[The older man] started to say things like, if you were in Iran you would be killed," Koirala said. "Just very anti-gay, very homophobic, very violent comments."
She said that if the situation escalated, her video might help protect the passengers.
As the video shows, over the course of several minutes, the confrontation does escalate. One of the men struggles with Koirala for her phone, and she yells that she is an attorney. (Passengers eventually intervene.) There is also a physical altercation between one of the two men and a female passenger, who exchange insults.
"I'll f**king kill you here," the other man later yells at the woman. "I hit you so hard in your face you'll die."
No one was seriously injured this time.
Few would be naive enough to think lgbt hatred and prejudice would subside overnight, simply by the passing of a few laws; however, with phone cameras and a bit of courage we can help fight hate crime, by taping/reporting it when we see it - if we feel safe enough to do so. We can also share videos like the one above, to bring awareness to the masses, via social media. I doubt much time will go by before these two men are identified. Phone cameras and YouTube once again, prove to be a pretty powerful double-edged swords in the pursuit of justice.
Anit-Violence Project/APVin NY encourages the public to report crimes.