One man has been arrested in a hate crime attack against a lesbian couple in Chicago over the weekend but as many as nine more male suspects remain at large.

The women were pinned against a car in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side of the city on Saturday (6 July) as the group taunted them for their sexuality, threw punches and landed kicks.

‘It was punches, kicks, everything being thrown at us,’ one of the women told the Chicago Tribune. ‘We just held each other until somebody said, "Here come the police."’

The women are 23 and 25 and one of the victims knew one of the men from high school.

The former classmate began taunting the couple as they walked by, yelled anti-gay slurs and daring them to fight. Another man soon joined him and punched one of the women.

The couple initially fought back but the men were soon joined by a group of men and they were far outnumbered.

‘I didn’t think we were going to make it out,’ the 23 year old said.

One had her shirt ripped off, both had their phones and cash taken. The attack stopped when someone said the police were coming. The group then ran off, laughing.

One woman had swelling in her ribs and legs while the other was not seriously injured in the attack.

Police have arrested 24-year-old Terry Glover and charged him with two counts of felony hate crime and two counts of felony robbery. Bail has been set at $1 million.

‘It really shouldn’t matter who I like or who I love,’ the younger victim said. ‘I should be able to walk the streets wherever I want to go and talk to whoever I want to talk to.’