Johann Hari: Violence against gay people can – and must – be stopped
The answer lies in changing the culture of two institutions - schools and the police
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Independent Minds
NEIL WEBB
'It is not a coincidence that our schools are the one place where homophobic violence is still absolutely mainstream'
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The fight to win legal equality for gay people is almost won in Britain – yet the taste of champagne has been tainted by an unexpected dash of blood. In the past few years, gay people have finally begun to exercise the same rights as their straight siblings, yet there has been a sharp surge in violence against us.
In London, recorded homophobic attacks are up by 20 per cent. In Glasgow it's 32 per cent; in Liverpool it's 40 per cent; in Greater Manchester it's 63 per cent. James Parks is only the latest face to be kicked in by this trend: last week, the off-duty police officer left a club in Liverpool with his boyfriend and was lynched by a group of 20 teenagers who smashed his skull and left him close to death.
In a recession, violence always rises, and violence against minorities rises more. Attacks on Muslims, Jews, and black people are also spiking across Britain. But recorded violence against gay people has shown the most extreme rise. Last year, an 18 year-old hairdresser in Liverpool called Michael Causer was sleeping on a friend's sofa after a party when he was woken up. A witness testified that a group of teenagers yelled, "You little queer faggot!" They said they were going to cut out his body-piercings with a knife, and started burning his legs with a lighter. He was found bleeding to death later, dumped in the road outside, after having his head smashed in with a hardback book.
At the trial, one of the 19-year-olds tried for the murder said he was acting "in self-defence" – against a smaller, seven-and-a-half stone boy with no history of violent behaviour. A witness said that during the attack, he had yelled: "He's a little queer, he deserves it!" Yet the jury found him not guilty.
What can we do to stop this surge? The answer does not lie in new laws; these attacks are already highly illegal. It lies in changing the culture of two core British institutions that are still tolerating anti-gay bigotry – our schools, and our police service.
Almost all the new homophobic attacks have been carried out by teenagers who are in – or just out of – the education system. It is not a coincidence that our schools are the one place where homophobic violence is still absolutely mainstream. Ofsted says that homophobia is "endemic" in our playgrounds and our classrooms. A study by Stonewall found 41 per cent of gay children are beaten up, and 17 per cent have been told they're going to be killed (it's 10 per cent higher still in faith schools). The young people who attacked PC James Parks were simply taking that culture out of the playground and onto the streets.
This doesn't have to happen. Michael Causer's mother, Marie, says: "This generation of infants needs to be educated. You hear youngsters as young as four and five saying 'Go away, you're gay.' It might be a word to them, but their parents need to pull them up and tell them that it's wrong. They need better education to let them know that gay people are no different."
When this is tried, it works. The Stonewall study found that in schools with a consistent policy of punishing homophobic language, gay children were 60 per cent less likely to be attacked. That fall in violence could ripple out from the school gates - but today, only 6 per cent of schools adopt this policy. The Government should immediately make it mandatory.
What about the police? There are some terrific police officers who are appalled by anti-gay crime – I'm related to one – but they remain too few. A major 2005 study for the Home Office found that homophobia and sexism are "all but endemic within the police service". It was "not just in every force we surveyed, but in every part of every force". One of the authors, Professor Tim Newburn of the London School of Economics, said: "It is quite clear that gay and lesbian officers find themselves in a very uncomfortable position in the police service ... Sexist and homophobic language is now largely ignored and even tacitly accepted."
Little seems to have changed since the report. This week, a lesbian police officer called Sergeant Jasmine Stewart is appearing before a tribunal. She says her colleagues called her "a poof" and refused to work shifts alongside her. She gave evidence that a senior officer had said she had caused a "drop in morale" in the station.
If the police are happy to talk about "faggots" when the door is shut, what do they do when one of them walks through the door needing help? In too many cases, they do too little. To pluck one example: in Brighton a few weeks ago, two gay women – aged 18 and 22 – were repeatedly punched in the face by a gang of thugs. They went straight to the police – but it was 12 days before officers appealed for witnesses, long after the trail had gone cold.
Yet the 2005 report contained some good news. Racist language had "all but disappeared" from the police force. Why? "Because officers know it will lead to disciplinary action." Of course some racist attitudes remain, but they have been driven underground by a tough policy of requiring police officers to talk about black and Asian people respectfully. It means there are fewer cases like the Steven Lawrence abomination, and so fewer murderers walking our streets. The same could be done with gay people. All it takes is political will.
Of course, any move to ensure gay people are treated the same as everyone else is immediately labelled "political correctness" and smothered in exaggeration and distortion. The defenders of homophobia can no longer, in polite society, say they think gay people are disgusting and immoral. Too many people have grasped the simple, humane truth that every human society in history has had 3 to 5 per cent of people who were attracted to their own gender, and it does no harm to anyone. So the homophobes have resorted to other tactics. One that has been growing over the past year is to claim that gay people who are trying to stop bullying and intimidation are "the real bullies", trying to "silence" poor embattled homophobes.
The logic of this argument is rarely spelled out. Were Martin Luther King and the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan equally bigoted? The Grand Dragon was intolerant of black people; King was intolerant of racism. When you put it put like this, the bogus nature of this way of framing the debate becomes clear. To one side, there are people who believe an entire group of human beings is inferior and deserve lesser rights, simply because of a naturally occurring and harmless difference. To the other side, there is a group of straight and gay people who say sexual orientation is a trivial subject and we should all be treated the same. Yes, both sides should have the right to speak freely – but nobody should pretend there is a moral equivalence.
There are even people who hint that this violent backlash against equality is evidence that gay people should have stayed in the closet. With faux compassion, they say – well, this is what happens if you "flaunt" your sexuality by behaving like everybody else. Do they realise what they're saying? The great civil rights advances in the 1960s in the US were followed by a sharp rise in anti-black violence. Should black people have stayed out of the polling booths and at the back of the bus to avoid the wrath of racists? The problem is not with the victims; it's with the thugs attacking them.
We have come so far in this country thanks to the decency and compassion of most British people – but we have only reached the half-way point. The battle to change our laws was a crucial stage. Now we need to change our institutions. The people who oppose these humane measures hissing "PC! PC!" – or "it's my religion!" – should know what they are doing. They are ensuring more innocent people like James Parks and Michael Causer – or your son, or sister, or neighbour – will be lynched, simply because they were born gay.
You can see Johann Hari debating against Anne Atkins the issue of homophobic violence by clicking here
You can read Johann's latest article for Slate by clicking here
You can follow Johann on Twitter at www.twitter.com/johannhari101
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Comments
Th UK govennment should reject the protests of the religious conservatives and move to full marriage equality, as has happened elsewhere in the world. Separate but equal is not good enough. FULL legal equality will assist in changing entrenched attitudes in society, the playground and the police.
I teach history, and sadly gay people are practically completely absent from the materials I sue except when I make a deliberate effort to find the infomation and include it in my classes.
Khalid
Netty Sanger
Alongside such acceptance, it should be pointed out that gays etc, have directly contributed to the development of today's civilised society, in so many ways. They knew they were different, and their contributions were specifically different from the run-of-the-mill contributions.
I am emphatically a racist by nature - in a positive way, not the usual negative sense. Different people from all corners of the globe should be welcomed for their differences - provided they make a positive contribution, and are not a negative drain on society's resources.
Whatever the issue at hand, any minority group will find itself targeted by wider society when they push for change and civil rights.
Its the sad aspect of humanity.
andrea 2
Don't forget the huge changes in attitude being brought about by the end of globalisation and the collapse of our financial and economic certainties. These are occuring literally daily.
Witness the about turn by senior Nuliebor politicians on immigration for example.
Or Tory reneging over a referendum on Europe.
Scum the lot of them but that's the way it is.
Our MPs are carrer MP's who care not about what the people want nor our very succesful and ancient traditions that the world loved. IOnstead we have traded our freedom fot the most corrupt body in history where ACORDING TO THE EU'S OWN AUDITORS 95% of the Budget amnmounting to £trillions paid in by all 27 member states is unnacounted for/missing .... stolen?
You say that your parents and grandparents would be ashamed and scandalised, why would they be? As children we accept unquestioningly that what our parents and carers tell us about the world and other people is right. The best thing that we can teach our children is to question everything with an attitude of humility. and wonder.
When we humans attack others its because there are aspects of ourselves that we find unacceptable and intolerable. By looking for fault in others we attempt to distract ourselves from these unaceptable parts and comfort our selves by internally saying, "well at leat I'm not as bad as you".
So, the only violence that matters is where race, religion (although these two seem interchangeable) and sexual orientation are alleged to have been the cause or a factor. Kicking a Tory for being a "toffee-nose" or kicking a fat person for being fat, or kicking someone because he/she comes from a better home or talks differently is OK because it is not designated a "hate" crime.
Truly hating someone for their political affiliation, or social, wealth background is not hate, but calling somebody a name without any hateful intention is, because using a word, or the nature of the victim assumes hate with no need to prove the intention. No presumption of innocence - a thought crime has been committed: equality demands inequality.
Either everyone is equal or they are not. Giving some preferential treatment for any reason means inequality.
Hatred is a very strong emotion, and does not encompass, dislike, or disdain, or ignorant or irrational fear, or herd behaviour or name calling.
An act is either legal or it is not - there's no 'highly' about it.
Hari may not have noticed, or he has and he simply doesn't care, but its not just liberal cause celeb minority groups which have suffered an increase in violent attacks over the last decade. It's everyone, and that includes the much maligned straight white English males.
And surelt he should factor in that its the Liberal Left which control the government, the quangos, the media, the judiciary, the police, the educational system and the civil service. This is their world, this is Hari's world and it's what they in their infinite wisdom and arrogance have created over the last 12 years. Well done you people.
It's amusing to see Hari get hot about the collar over a murderer getting away with it scot free. Well join the rest of us, its a everyday occurance old boy. But do please try and remember that streak of indignation the next time its Burka clad terrorist walking out the court with a smile on her face (yesterday), or an illegal immigrant gangster walking out with his 'human rights' intack while his victim lies in the gutter etc etc.
Don't like violence, thuggary, an absence of the rule of law, lout behaviour, falling standards, drugs, crime, terrorism..? Maybe Hari has finally seen the writing on the wall and will start a "Bring back Margaret Thatcher" campaign. I can tell you Johann that being a conservative isn't as much fun as being a champagne liberal leftie as it's all about responsibility. You don't get to beat your breast, shed crocadile tears, or wear your heart on your sleave nearly as much, all of which is a bit of a drag, but at the end of the day you do have the knowledge that your way is the right way and that ultimately even the Hari's of this world will be forced to come round to your way of thinking.
Sounds like a definition of fascism to me. Thanks, but no thanks, arclight99.
Attacks by young thugs of both sexes is a problem for us all a s the family of the poor chap who lost his life over a halloween hat will testify so should we ignore homophobic attacks and put it down to the state of society? I think not because this is not just viuolence agains a person, there is an attitude now where some sections of young people (and older people too) see being gay as inferior. Where does this attitude come from? Partly is standard bigotry, partly its religious bigotry but I think a large part is down to the way the media portrays being Gay. We have the daily mail who always equate gay with sleaze. Programmes like "Life on Mars" where a 2 minute diatribe against gays is allowed because its a period drama but they kept the racist view of the 70's to a minimum. Its people like a certain DJ or the Top Gear Team who use the term Gay in a derogatory way just to be hip and of course there is the music that wants gays shot, stabbed and burned. Is it any wonder there is an increase in abuse against gay people.
This framing of the argument happens with racism as well. I have heard people say with a completely straight face that if you oppose the BNP you are a bigot yourself. Ridiculous.
Children and young people (and old people for that matter) are bullied because they are different. They may be slightly built, be late in achieving puberty, have girlish facial features, be 'arty' or ostentacious, have red hair, be intellectual, abstain from swearing, have black or brown skin (or in a mainly Asian area have white skin), be religious (or in fundamentalist societies be irreligious), be Catholic or Protestant, or even live in a different street. The blame does not lie with the victim.
Bullies often arise from the previously bullied, but not always. It is probably in all of our natures to behave like that; we have to be taught not to. Parents have the prime responsibility, but unfortunately good parenting seems to be a lost skill. Schools often have the duty thrust upon them and too often duck it. Let down by legislation that inhibits discipline for fear of prosecution, teachers would rather turn a blind eye to violence.
Society generally must not tolerate bullying. Harsh punishments for those convicted are not out of place. Intolerance of minor episodes is needed to force home the message that even in its unnewsworthy forms it is unacceptable.
Of course, gay people see this as something directed against them, but the gays are a powerful lobby group. There are many victims of bullying with no-one to fight their corner.
I didn't know it was called anything, I just knew I was different and that this difference was related to my attraction to men. Also I knew I had to keep quiet about it because when we played kiss chase and I wanted to chase or be chased by boys I was bullied for this.
Around the age of 8 or 9 I found out about "queers" and "poofs" etc.
I entered secondary school and was bullied and kicked-in and hit and spat on and set fire to on an almost daily basis. Because I had done something wrong or evil? No, because I was simply ME!
How can anyone justify that towards another human being, a child! Maybe your child or a nephew of a friend's child is going through the same daily hell.
My teachers were just as homophobic towards me too. It's sick sick sick.
And children do have a sexuality, it is not developed or predatory like an adults but they do have sexuality and they are aware of their sex and the roles they are expected to play.
I am 100% gay but I also tried heterosexual experimentation when I was young: I didn't grow up to be "as straight as a telegraph pole".
The lack of education and the absence of condemnation when this kind of thing happens confirms it and simply fuels the fire. The sad, sad thing is that there are many people reading this article who somehow think the victims have it coming to them.
The Labour movement should not have marched for justice or the right to strike, just stayed in the factories working 60 hours a week for little pay.
Get with the programme, we're here, we're queer and we want equality in the eyes of the law, not just a sup that we should be pleased about.
The spectacular rise in anti-homosexual violence is undoubtedly a backlash resulting from decades of ever-increasing homosexual propaganda being inflicted on children in our schools, most relevantly the schools attanded by the underclass.
To prescribe yet more homosexual propaganda is, in effect, to pour fuel on the flames. Most people loathe homosexuals. That's a simple fact. The best thing they can do is keep a low profile.
The best thing that THEY can do is keep a low profile, or they may get to experience first-hand what it's like to be bullied and abused...
This to me sums up a problem with anyone campaigning for equal rights, will you be satisfied with equal rights or will you treat any form of discrimination as something that must be overturned if you don't like it even if others rights are then ignored. The sacking of Lillian Ladele for refusing to conduct civil partnership ceremonies between homosexual couples was seen as victory by many. But what did it achieve newspaper headlines treating this as an atack on those who hold religious beliefs. If I was homosexual I wouldn't want a civil ceremony carried out by someone who didn't agree with it, so what difference would it really make if a minority chose not to perform them? Forcing people to accept the way you are does not result in tolerance.