Bournemouth Gay Life

Homophobia in public

By Navaniita Dhar | 07.06.2006

The incidents….

Richard Hawkins, 17, visits the area surrounding the Bournemouth Triangle regularly.
Richard is gay and likes to frequent the Triangle, the heart of Bournemouth’s gay life.

However in May, this year, Richard became a victim of homophobia in the Triangle.

The incident changed Richard’s perception of the Triangle being a safe place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Richard and his boyfriend, who visit a youth club at Over the Rainbows in St Michael’s Road near the Triangle, were standing outside the club when a bunch of young boys walking past the club started abusing them. “We were just standing outside and minding our own business when a few guys who were walking down the street started calling names and even threw banana peels towards us”, he recollects.

Incidents of homophobia, such as this are not restricted to Bournemouth alone.

According to a survey conducted by the Lesbian and Gay Liaison Office (LAGLO) of the Dorset police, there are about 106 incidents of homophobia reported to the police in 2005-2006. The figures have slightly increased from the last year’s survey which recorded around 93 incidents.

LAGLO officer, Martin Strange, feels that the rise in number of incidents being reported is a good indication of the growing awareness against
homophobia.

“If people are reporting homophobic incidents it means they know about it and are feeling free to come out and report it. It means we are succeeding in putting the message across”, he said.

The Triangle…

The Bournemouth Triangle is not only known for its gay community, it is also a business centre of Bournemouth. The shops the Triangle are a mix of new and old business establishments. These shops are witness to the everyday gay life which goes on around them.

One such shop which has been around for a long time now is Uptown Girl. Just next to Rubyz Cabaret Restaurant, a place famous among the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Uptown Girl has been there for the last 20 years.

Mrs Trilochan Lall who co-owns the shop along with her husband feels that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in the Triangle has only arrived recently compared to the time they had been there.

Mrs Lall says: “We have seen it (LGBT community) grow in front of us. But they have never bothered us or caused any troubles.”

However, according to Mrs Lall it was difficult for her to have two children growing up in such a surrounding. “I have two daughters and when they were growing up they saw the surroundings and asked many questions that were difficult for us to answer as parents. But now that they are grown up they understand it”, she added.

Another more recent shop in St Michael’s road is London off License. Fuat Kallay, 18, who runs the shop, says that he is not against the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. The shop is owned by his father and Fuat runs the shop when he is not attending the university.

“I think that they are very pleasing and kind. The shop has been here for the last four years and they have never created any problems for us” he says.

However, personally, Fuat feels uncomfortable living in the Triangle due to some situations he had to face. He said: “I find it difficult if a gay person comes up to me and proposes. Such things have happened two or three times and once when I was with my girlfriend I found it very disrespectful.”

Fuat feels that since he is Turkish, it can be his culture which makes it difficult for him to feel comfortable with gay people around. But he also adds that no matter what culture some one comes from, there is no excuse for homophobic behaviour.

The problem….

There are people like Fuat and Mrs Trilochan who are not bothered by the LGBT community around them but surveys and results show that there are people who are still homophobic.

LAGLO officer, Martin Strange said: “The fact remains that there is a lot of homophobic incidents happening around Bournemouth but the problem is that most of it is verbal abuse against which we don’t have a certain law.”

In a recent survey released in December 2005, LAGLO found that verbal abuse was the most experienced form of homophobia. The survey also made it clear that many of these abuses are not reported because people think that they are not important enough to be reported or they think that nothing would be done about it.

Even Richard Hawkins who faced such homophobic insults didn’t report it because he thought nothing could be done about it.

Mr Starnge says: “It is true we cannot do any thing about it unless there are signs of aggression, but it is very important to report it because the record can help us to change the law.”

New appeal….

In recent times one of the incidents that led to the murder of a south London barmen Jody Dobrowski, was aggravated by homophobia. Stonewall, an organisation who work for the equality and justice of lesbian, gay and bisexual people said that the incident reflect the amount of prejudice still existing in people.

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “To reflect this environment, we hope the government will now consider introduction of an offence of incitement to homophobic hatred. In that way, some good might come out of Jody's horrific death.”

Say no to homophobia

rally

Lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender activists at the triangle.

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