Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies

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'Rights and freedoms in the US now pale in
comparison to the UK. Our civil partnership
isn't recognised there,' says TV presenter
Amy Lamé

Lesbians united: Facing down homophobic bullies

Stonewall's 'Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!' campaign is tackling bigotry in our schools

By Rachel Shields

Sunday, 13 September 2009

Some of the UK's most prominent female writers, comedians and presenters, and one MP, are chatting over coffee and biscuits in a smart London bar. The topic of conversation isn't the latest play at the National, the current publishing sensation, or a piece of controversial legislation. No, these women are talking about sexual abuse; about insults scrawled on toilet walls; hate-filled letters published in newspapers; name-calling in the street: in short, about the harassment they have suffered as a result of their sexuality.

Like an estimated 1.8 million women in Britain, Stella Duffy, Rhona Cameron, Amy Lamé, Angela Eagle and Sarah Waters are lesbian or bisexual, and as some of the country's few prominent lesbians, the are fronting the gay rights group Stonewall's latest campaign, entitled: "Some People Are Gay. Get Over It!".

Timed to coincide with the start of the new academic year, the simple slogan was the idea of school pupils and is intended to highlight the problem of homophobic bullying in schools.

A taster campaign of the billboards saw some defaced with homophobic graffiti – reminding us that prejudice is still very much alive in Britain today," said Stonewall's Ben Summerskill.

This sentiment is backed by recent research by YouGov, which revealed that one in five gay people in the UK has been a victim of hate crime in the past three years. These statistics indicate that, while gay rights in the UK have improved dramatically in the 20 years since Stonewall was founded – decades in which Section 28, the controversial legislation that banned teachers from talking about homosexuality in schools, has been repealed, civil partnerships have been introduced, and the age of consent has been equalised – the struggle to eradicate homophobia from the streets and schools of Britain may not be over yet.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/lesbians-united-facing-down-homophobic-bullies-1786617.html