Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Homophobia in the neighbourhood

John Toner of the Indy reports on the high levels of abuse that one couple receive on a daily basis:

A gay couple have told of their constant struggle with homophobia in Haringey.

Teacher Siobhan Wesley and her partner, charity worker Patricia Macleod, say they are subjected to threatening sexual and homophobic abuse in public on an almost daily basis.

The pair live separately in the Green Lanes area of Haringey but spend a significant amount of time together as a couple in public.

This has exposed them to an escalating level of threatening sexual behaviour from people, predominantly men, and violent threats and abuse purely because they appear together in public as a gay couple.

Ms Wesley, 29, said: “All the time this happens, we’re just walking along the street and we get people yelling sexual insults at us, men shouting what they’d like us to do to them and people just screaming ‘lezzers’ at us.”

Recently the couple were saying goodbye at the end of Siobhan’s street when a man exposed himself to them and began to sexually insult them for no apparent reason.

I'm sure I'm not alone in feeling that it is upsetting to read of this homophobic behaviour in the neighbourhood.

What should be done, as Ms Wesley suggests, to make local people aware that "queer people exist in this area, that it’s completely normal and that the comments they make are offensive and against the law."

UPDATED Sat 11th April

From GayHarrin website

Report it!

POLICE
The local police station for Harringay can be reached on:

0208 345 1858

If you or someone else feels in immediate danger, do not hesitate to call 999. If there is no immediate risk, call 101.

You may report the incident as a hate incident or crime.

More information at adviceguide.org.uk

ASB REPORTING LINE
If you have witnessed or experienced harassment, report it by calling the Anti-Social Behaviour Reporting Line:

020 8489 1000

If you are making the report on behalf of someone else, you'll need their consent, along with the following details:

Name
Address
Email address /telephone no.
Brief description of people involved, location and what was done or said.

More information at haringay.gov.uk

GALOP ONLINE REPORT FORM

If you would rather remain anonymous, GALOP offers an anonymous hate crime reporting form that can be submitted online or by post.

Your details will not be passed to the police unless you wish them to be.

Access the form on the galop.org.uk website.

Tags for Forum Posts: homophobia

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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on April 10, 2015 at 10:10

This news item was a bit of a surprise. Of course, I am not a young woman and I am not gay (although my daughter is both of these) but I have never heard of any incident of this nature and rarely encountered plainly objectionable behaviour in our streets.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on April 10, 2015 at 10:27

That doesn't surprise me. After last week's incident I came to work grumbling the next day. Told a couple of my white, straight male colleagues and they were blown away. Especially when I said it was far from the worst abuse I've encountered (out for a run, guy shouting "run faster, you fat f***ing c***", rep ad nauseum). Or the male colleague (in a previous job) who asked overly personal questions and harassed women in the street (while in uniform too).

Other male friends of mine, once their eyes have opened to this sort of thing, have started noticing it more and more. I almost feel sorry for them as they seem to be a bit exhausted by suddenly seeing the world through a woman's eyes!

I hope your daughter doesn't encounter any abuse (which is, of course, hate crime). I wonder if she would tell you if she did?

I think it's important to talk about it. Because unfortunately, the solution can only come from men.

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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on April 10, 2015 at 11:37

You seem to have had some pretty horrible experiences and I hope things improve for you.The fact that I rarely witness such things may not be because my eyes have not been opened. It could also be because I don't behave that way myself and perhaps that discourages such behaviour in others in my vicinty. My daughter who lived with me and her gay partner and a gay man felt sufficiently at ease in this neighbourhood that, in the Salisbury quiz, they called our team "Hornigay". Quite a good choice as our house is half way between Hornsey and Harringay stations.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on April 10, 2015 at 10:39

Yes I agree, my partner didn't realise until I pointed it out to him. Much the same as I didn't realise how bad road-rage and violent confrontational driving was on the same stretch of road, until I took a ride as a passenger in his car.

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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris on April 10, 2015 at 11:10

Poor behaviour by drivers I have seen many times while walking our streets although I doubt whether it is a distinguishing feature of Harringay.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on April 10, 2015 at 11:23

I think it is tbh. I used to work in Haringey and live in Camden. In my work I had to drive a white van. Nightmare, people were very rude. But now I work in Camden and live in Haringey, and I can see it's not just the white van effect. Zebra crossings are only a suggestion in Haringey! The driving is frankly scary. Camden feels much safer. Just a bit of horn honking at school run time in Camden Town.

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Permalink Reply by Lauren on April 10, 2015 at 11:33

I disagree. Green Lanes is a melting pot of aggressive testosterone "culture" macho-men/wideboys, leering idiots, and comedy wannabe-gangstas. It's like a parade ground for strutting cocks showing off just how macho and testosteroney they are with their silly matt-black BMWs etc.