Recently, I watched a documentary on Channel 4 called Underage and Gay about young homosexual and transgender teenagers who have suffered or are currently victims of bullying. It really shocked me especially as I am only a year or two older than some of the teenagers featured. The other day, I was reading the Media Magazine that we get from school and inside the front cover was a competition to write and article of your choice, (around media obviously) with the winning article being published in the next edition. Now, I don't for one minute think I am going to win it but I really enjoyed writing it and I just thought i'd share it here. It is probably riddled with mistakes- even though I proof read it and sounds like it has been written by a 13 year old but I still have an ambition to become a Journalist some day and I guess this is good practice.
Underage and
Gay- A Channel 4 Documentary Reveals the
Startling Truth You Didn’t Know Existed.
“Followed you home, you better
sleep with one eye open and tell your mum the same.” These are the repulsive
words spat down 14 year old Beckham’s mobile phone from a stranger, during the
early hours of the morning. Why? Because he is gay.
A recent channel 4 documentary,
following five teenagers, explored the discrimination facing Lesbian, Gay,
Bissexual and Transgender youngsters today. Beckham, Michaela, Alex, Tameka and
Cariad have all suffered severe homophobic bullying throughout their young
lives.
I for one believe that prejudice
and discrimination is still very much alive in Britain and more needs to be
done to prevent it. It is easy to assume that there is growing equality for the
LBGT community in the UK, especially with encouraging developments such as the
legalisation of gay marriage, passed in July 2013. There is no denying however,
that the attitudes of society that need changing.
The average age for young people to
come out in Britain is just 15, but recent research published by Stonewall: a leading
LGBT charity, revealed that over 55 percent of all homosexual young people
experience homophobic bullying and a heart-wrenching, 20 percent of those have
attempted suicide on one or more occasions.
“I told him, don’t go out on the
streets and flaunt it because there is a lot of people that don’t like it, I
don’t want him getting bullied.” 14 year old Beckham’s mother spoke of her
worries of her gay son entering a relationship for the first time. The teenager
and his boyfriend were shown meeting discreetly in the woods, near his home in
Bradford, to avoid abuse from peers. His mother, although very supportive of
her son and his bravery to be open about his sexuality, is wracked with worry
on a regular basis that Beckham may be the victim of more horrific bullying and
it is not without reason.
Beckham is regularly subjected to
abuse and threats due to his sexuality, so much so that he has become hardened
to it. “I’ve just got used to it so it doesn’t upset me anymore, it’s always
going to happen. It’s just one of those things isn’t it?” It is this shocking statement
that really struck a chord with me. I find it alarming that a young person had
become so insensible to bullying and the inevitability of these fairly frequent
and unprovoked attacks. The question is how do we prevent this happening to
others?
The program also revealed a lack of
co-operation from schools and the police surrounding the issue. The police
seemed unwilling to take Beckham’s case seriously, branding the phone call
Beckham received as a “hate crime” and therefore unable to take action on the
situation. So maybe we should start here. If there is no deterrent or system in
place to stop the use of homophobic language and bullying then it is unlikely
to be resolved.
Unfortunately, Beckham is not the
only one to be the target of homophobia. 15 year old Cariad, also spoke of her
battle with the bullies. She said “When I first came out at school I was
ostracised by a lot of girls and a lot of boys just wanted to intimidate me and
see how far they could get to me...” She comes across extremely well in the
program as a confident and mature young adult, way beyond her years and it is
extremely encouraging to see how she has handled her situation. However, it
worries me that others may not be so resilient.
Both Beckham and Cariad have
support networks of good family and friends behind them to help them through
the hard times, but what happens when that support ceases to exist?
17 year old Alex is transgender, he
suffered domestic violence at home before being relocated and is now living in
a youth hostel in Neath. He said, “I Just wanted to cut myself off from all of
that and from the people who put me through that pain and just start again.” I
find it vastly troubling that there is still such a stigma surrounding the LBGT
community and worst still that there are young individuals facing life alone as
a result of it. Alex even admitted to having suicidal thoughts at a
particularly low point in his life. He does remain however, a hopeful and remarkable
individual seemingly void of any self-pity.
I feel that there is a positive
future ahead for all of the teenagers featured in the program as they all show
positive and promising outlooks on life where others may have crumbled. Above
all, the program highlights the stigma and prejudice that still exists in our
society surrounding Lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender young people that is
simply appalling. I believe that education is the key to combatting this
problem. If the next generation become accepting of homosexuality and
difference, just as we have become accepting of race and sex, then people may
never have to face this abuse again. After all, in the grand scheme of things
does it really matter what sex we are attracted to?
