ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Far Right

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The ‘faFar Rightr right’ continue to use whatever methods work for them, and there is little reason to believe that an appeal on moralistic grounds will work, remember, they believe they are on the moral high ground. If we need to beat them then we need to adopt strong tactics within the law, but we have to be as smart if not smarter than them.

‘Conservative Candidates Promoted Petitions That Sent Personal Data to European Far-Right Group’

In an article by Philip Baldwin, in the Gay Times [now no longer a print-based magazine, I am sorry to say] he said that

…the British Government is increasingly moving towards an agenda which, in his view, is profoundly lesbophobic, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic…

[Are LGBTQ+ people under siege in the UK?] (dated 

Then we have William Koenig who claimed that the LGBTQ people are prepping children to be”groomed and sexualized” and that COVID is God’s “judgement” for U.S. being “so pro-LGBT”

You, no matter where you turn you can see what appears to be a backlash against the LGBTQ+ community and the affirmation of our rights. 

Tonight EMMA POWYS MAURICE , has reported in the Pink Paper ‘ Police are investigating after three people were reportedly whipped with belts by a group of men in a suspected homophobic attack.‘, and before this ‘The Independent‘ reported that attacks on LGBT people have surged by almost an 80% increase in the UK over last four years.

For so many in the LGBTQ+ community we have been living through what appears to have been an enlighten ‘rosy’ period; we have been legally recognised [though at different times in the various parts of the UK], different sectors have recognised us within the working world [i.e Gay and lesbian citizens have been allowed to serve openly in the Her Majesty’s Armed Forces since 2000], same-sex marriage has been recognised and performed in England and Wales since March 2014, in Scotland since December 2014, and in Northern Ireland since January 2020.

And because of these wins, we in the LGBTQ+ community have become complacent.  We go on our Pride Parades, and forget that these were originally Marches to fight for our rights!  IN the past we also had local magazines and Gay News was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), this ran until 1983.

We don’t have these resources anymore, we depend on social media outlets, but remember in the main these are written by ordinary people and not journalists.  It also means that we are limited often in the in-depth research articles that we need.

Protection of our community is down to you the community, you need to report things of consequence to our community, to take a stance against things that are wrong (and let others know about your stance), and lastly, yes enjoy Gay Pride when it comes around, but remember this is to show everyone that we are not going away and that we have a right live as equal people.

 

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Gay man spat at, insulted and hit with stones in Faversham

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“Are you gay?” “Yes.” “Then die.”

This is the latest episode of abuse a young homosexual man living in Faversham has had to endure.

The 24-year-old, who only wanted to be named as Rob, has spoken out about the persecution he has suffered since he was a child.

He says that the discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in small communities such as Faversham often goes unreported and unseen. The bullying started at primary school.

 Snap 2015-11-16 at 11.39.01
Rob, who has been the target of hate crime

Rob said: “I was a little bit different from the other boys. I hung around with groups of girls and I wasn’t into playing football.

“It was the first time I was branded ‘gay’ but I was so young and I wasn’t even sure what that was.

“Eventually, the bullying got worse and I was forced to move schools.

“For a while, everything was fine until I moved on to secondary school when it started up again and it was worse than before.

“There were a lot of crude remarks which at 11 I didn’t fully understand.

“The most heartbreaking thing for me in school was being in a classroom with the teachers completely ignoring the fact I was being targeted.

“The fact they chose to ignore what was going on meant that to me it reinforced what the bullies were saying. I started to think that I deserved the abuse, that I was the one in the wrong.

“They have a duty of care in the classroom and they failed me in that way.”

Groups of teenagers would insult him, throw stones at him and spit in his face.
Rob started having counselling sessions and began taking anti-depressants at just 14.
“It was a hard time. Being a teenager is hard for anyone but I think as a young gay person, it was very difficult,” Rob said.
“I felt something was wrong with me and for a time I really didn’t want to be gay.
“That was the worst thing that could happen to me. For a long time I thought if I was gay, I would be proving the bullies right.”
Rob was forced to move schools again but he soon started to come to terms with his sexuality, coming out to a small group of friends at 14 and telling his parents when he was 15.

 Rob, who has been the target of hate crime

Rob says the quiet town of Faversham can be homophobic

He began meeting more people from the LGBT community and after finishing school at 16, he started working with vulnerable and elderly people, a venture he says gave him a new sense of worth.

Rob is happier since his school days but the persecution hasn’t stopped.

Strangers yell names such as ‘batty boy’ and ‘faggot’ at him in the street and heartbreakingly, Rob, who has lived in Faversham his entire life, says he would never take a partner to a local pub or restaurant for a date or walk hand-in-hand with another man through the town.

He said: “There are people of every aspect of the LGBT community in Faversham but it is a very quiet community.

“Faversham comes across as a very tolerant place but that is simply just on the surface. I do think they could help out more.

“When I’m abused in the street and nobody calls it out, that takes me back to the classroom. I have to constantly remind myself I am not the problem.”

Rob has been following LGBT charity Stonewall’s campaign called No Bystanders, which is a pledge now signed by more than 16,000 people which says that the public should call it out if they hear or see any homophobic behaviour.

Rob added: “Britain is a very progressive country which is brilliant but it’s mostly in a political sense and not socially.

“When I’m abused in the street and nobody calls it out, that takes me back to the classroom. I have to constantly remind myself I am not the problem” – Rob

“The fact is that this bullying behaviour towards the LGBT community is still going on and everyone is responsible for making that happen.”

Suicide statistics among the LGBT community are harrowing – suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10-24 but LGBT youth are four times more likely as their straight peers.

Rob says he’s not surprised by the stats and says he feels lucky that this didn’t become his fate.

He added: “I think there must be a lot of people out there at school going through what I went through and I feel lucky that I had such a good support network around me, but there are others who won’t have that and you just don’t know what situation they will end up in. It’s scary.

“Youngsters need to be taught in the classroom that this type of bullying is unacceptable. If people don’t call it out, say it is unacceptable, then it’s never going to stop.”

To find out more about national Anti-Bullying Week, from Monday to Friday, visit anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk