Start Talking About Homophobia
Whether you're gay or straight, whether or not you have gay friends or family, whether or not you've been affected by homophobia, we want you to start talking about homophobia.
Tell Us What You Think About Homophobia, Homophobic Bullying and Gay Hate Crimes
Share your views with other visitors to the Silence Is Not Golden website: help break the silence surrounding homophobia and help raise awareness of the impact it has on people's lives. Tell people your feelings on homophobic abuse, give your views and short comments about homophobia, sum up your thoughts on how best to tackle homophobia within society. Say something now.
You don't need to enter your email address or use your real name and may enter only your first name if you prefer. We may contact you further but will never give your email address to anyone else. Please note that we check every message before approving it for publication and reserve the right to edit or remove comments.
Where you live:
I am not homosexual but I do have friends who are gay. I love all people no matter who or what they are or claim to be and I just wish that our world would stop all of this hatred. I am on your side, no matter where you are or who you are. I love each and every one of you out there. Keep your heads up.
—She'anna, Maryland, United States.
You have no control over who you feel for, no matter what anyone tells you. You should be free to live your life. You have the right to a life as any straight person. In fact you are a minority and need protecting. We must all fight against homophobic incidents. In fact any religious group that is condoning or supporting homophobic abuse should be prosecuted under the law. I was appalled when I read what the "Christian Voice" had to say. It presents a negative image of homosexuals that is false.
—John Elfed Hughes, Ceredigion, United Kingdom.
I live in a small town in Dorset and after reading some personal experiences about how people are treated by the police I am shocked. I am a police officer and a Lesbian and Gay Liaison officer, we are around to help people who have suffered hate crime etc, if you have troble from the police ask for your force LAGLO officer or someone from the diversity team to talk to, they may have a better understanding of what has happened to you. Also report what happens to you.
—Neil McKenney, Dorset, United Kingdom.
I'm a teacher, and am astounded how much homophobic abuse of pupils (and others) by their peers is tolerated by the "system". Similar racist or sexist bullying would be stamped on immediately. My school even displayed a commercial anti-bullying poster listing types of bullying that did not even mention bullying about sexuality. I am gay but not generally out to my colleagues or pupils. When I made this comment about bullying to a senior pastoral colleague, it was just plain ignored.
—Jez, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.
I was recently saying goodbye to friends after an evening out in Soho. The usual hugs and kiss as we all prepared to go our separate ways. A man opposite shouted as he saw me kiss my friend. I thought he was joking, but soon realised he was not as he shouted abuse and told us that we are "breaking the law" to hug and kiss in public!! I told him to go away (not quite that politely) but it really hurt after as I thought how abusive he was... who would have thought... in Soho of all places.
—David, London, United Kingdom.
Great resource - thanks for organising it. My partner is a Police Officer himself, and is currently the subject of some extremely unpleasant and disruptive homophobic bullying. It's worth mentioning that police themselves can be the target of this form of hate crime. The police service unfortunately sometimes still suffers from the worst kind of prejudiced treatment of it's own, despite what police public relations might want us to believe. Kind regards, Ben
—Ben, United Kingdom.
I am doing my part to raise awareness by writing an extensive essay about homophobia and homosexuality for my "straight" college English class. I am the only lesbian in my class and I am prepared to come out to my class in order to get the word out. I will be reading this in front of my class next week. I hope that once I am finished I can report back to you that I got lots of support and awareness.
—Jannah Garrison, Virginia, United States.
I was once a victim of verbal abuse in the street. My boyfriend and I were hugging and a group of boys aged 10-12 shouted across asking if we were gay. We responded with a "Yes" to only be given a collection of inappropriate sexual comments demeaning our sexuality. What is worrying is that these children have probably being brought up by their parents to believe that homosexuals are repulsive or immoral.
—Christian, Devon, United Kingdom.
I go to an all girls school and get called a lesbian daily. I'm not ashamed to be called that even though I am not a lesbian. I have gay friends and I don't know why people cause so much havoc over someone's sexuality.
—Brooke, New South Wales, Australia.
The tips on this site for staying safe are sensible. However, it's all too easy to play safe by hiding outward signs of being gay. Unless the world gets used to gays behaving socially as heterosexuals do, we will remain only tolerated at best, rather than accepted and celebrated. I've recently been encouraged by seeing gay couples holding hands around London well outside Soho, but this involves being brave in a way straight people never have to. Only by taking such risks will we alter society.
—Andrew, London, United Kingdom.
While I think homophobia is deeply ingrained in British society, that doesn't mean we have to accept it. By enforcing postive imagery in schools for future generations and removing the stereotypical images from the media we could go a long way into changing the perception of the past. As a straight woman I admittedly struggle with some concepts, that doesn't go to say that I don't admire and wouldn't encourage expression of identity from within this community. Education is essential.
—Kerry, Redcar and Cleveland, United Kingdom.
It's time we came together for once and acted like a real community and fought this together. All homophobia is unacceptable and it's time we fought back. This country is becoming more not less hostile. Let's challenge this once and for all.
—Scott Harrison, Cheshire, United Kingdom.