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
Tags for Forum Posts: homophobia
Yeah, there's a guy in his 60's at my work who thinks it's perfectly fine to call me 'sweetie' 'gorgeous' and 'young lady' (I'm 37). I asked him quite nicely if he could just call me by my name and he got all offended. He is a really lovely man, but he doesn't understand and thinks he is being charming. I understand that, and I don't believe he is doing it to offend me and I did for a while mull over whether or not I should mention it. But I did, because it is unacceptable, and not because I'm ageist against older men. I'm sorry he got upset, but it is not my problem that he got upset. He no longer calls me those names, so I'm assuming it he accepts what I told him.
Liz's information post is very helpful and provides comprehensive advice on what to do if you are a victim or witness of homophobic crime. I would go further and suggest calling 999 straight away. It is a hate crime after all and should be a priority for the Police.
I am more sceptical about the ASB line for reporting sexual harrassment. This is perhaps more of a problem on green lanes in as much as it happens so frequently that it has become casual normalised behaviour. I don't think that lumping sexual harrassment in with other anti social behaviours is useful.
I think that it would be a good idea to meet up or discuss ideas to tackle these further.
There is a huge and damaging underlying hatred of women in this country - sometimes openly expressed in street harassment and violence, sometimes anonymously in the case of trolling, sometimes 'politely'(!) in parliament.
If harassment is coming from the guys working in shops towards their potential customers, then this needs to be 'outed', and security guards in the bigger shops need to be made aware of this as an issue. I am no longer of an age where it happen to me (more likely to get trodden on as though I am invisible..) but I see it all the time - yesterday a guy was almost salivating over an eleven-year-old girl in shorts and making vile 'kissy' noises at her. I can't imagine what it's like to be growing up as a girl these days - thank goodness feminism seems to be making a resurgence amongst young women.
What about organising some Kiss-Ins ?? A great way of attracting publicity.
They've been used very successfully here in Berlin: https://flic.kr/p/6mM4DC
The occasion of an italian run ice cream parlour refusing to serve two kissing women: https://flic.kr/p/6mM6U3
Notice more male couples than female turned out to support the women.
The sign above Dolce Freddo
Right at 14:00 a rainbow appeared in the sky. A sign from heaven? It was incredible.
Demo against homophobia
Dolce Freddo, Ice café, Maaßenstraße, Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany. (edited)
© 2024 Created by Hugh. Powered by
© Copyright Harringay Online Created by Hugh