Battlefront You're Already Involved

Hi Jodie, thanks a lot for your comment. It's really cool that you're supporting this campaign, especially as you say it's your friends that are gay, you must be a great friend to have! And if any of your friends want to support the campaign, we're really looking for people's stories on coming out: aahb-advice@live.co.uk Keep in touch!

Rachael and David, 05 December 2008 22:10

Hi Emma, it's horrible isn't it? But we should let you know it's not just the Vatican that would like to see homosexuality criminilised. It might shock you to know that homosexual activites are still illegal in 87 countries! Worse still, in 7 of them, it is punishable by death! http://lesbianlife.about.com/od/lesbianactivism/f/DeathPenalty.htm What stronger case for trying to fight homophobia is there? Thank you so much for your kind words, and for your support.

Rachael and David, 05 December 2008 21:51

hya i read ur page an i think its great i wish their were more people who could accept it great work i support it all the way

brian, 05 December 2008 11:56

Hey Celia. It's actually great to have the support of people who themselves aren't gay as it helps the campaign a lot. It's also really cool (but unfortunately rare) that your friend has been treated with such respect at your school. Again, if she would like to contact us with her story of coming out the address is aahb-advice@live.co.uk

Rachael and David, 04 December 2008 21:48

Hi Andy, thanks for your comment. As you may be aware, the word "homophobia" is not a term we coined ourselves, but the recognised word for an irrational hatred or fear of homosexuals (although we should point out that strictly speaking we're using the term to cover the lesser-used "biphobia" and "transphobia" too). A big part of the motivation behind this campaign is to get people thinking about the issues, and we're eager to get as many people involved as possible, and people will have different opinions. We believe that's fine and are happy to debate them. We don't expect that anybody can like every person, and it's fine that you might find certain people irritating, but we think the sort of thing you're describing is more an issue of individuals' mannerisms than their sexuality. That said, we are trying to spread a general message of tolerance and we're happy for everybody to express themselves however they feel comfortable. While many men may seem "camp" but are in fact completely heterosexual, and some are gay but seem completely masculine, we take the general point. In all likelihood, men who have come out as gay acting in the way you've described isn't some sort of rite of passage that is required of them, they just feel more comfortable now that they can be open about themselves. We won't attempt to speak on behalf of all gay men, but this is just our interpretation. We must make it absolutely clear that we're not trying to take away from the fact that racism remains a huge problem. We're not trying to push this issue to try and compete. We're simply putting forward our argument that homophobia is, like all prejudice, a serious social ill. And we must disagree with your assertion that bringing an issue to the public light will make it taboo- we feel that things are taboo when they're not to be discussed. We believe if we want to tackle this problem, getting people thinking more about it is an important first step. And we certainly don't want people to be scared of mentioning sexuality- indeed this is a major part of the problem as it stands (for example, the effects of Section 28 are still being felt today, even after it's repeal). On your next point, we must again respectfully disagree. We don't think it's right to say that we should simply accept homophobia. Again, that's why we are undertaking this campaign- if no effort is made to challenge it, it will remain ever present. Finally, we welcome the progress that has been made over the years, but there's still a long way to go, we hope we can play a small part in giving things a nudge in that direction. Thanks again for taking an interest.

Rachael and David, 04 December 2008 21:35

Hi Clare, sorry to hear about what happened to you, we hope things worked out okay for you. It's really important that people see just how serious a problem homophobia can be. Thanks very much for your support, if you'd be willing to share your story with us to help get our message across, that would be awesome. You can email us at aahb-advice@live.co.uk Thanks again!

Rachael and David, 04 December 2008 20:26

I'm totally in with your campaign, i came out about a year ago and i got a lot of hassle from people in my school and i think its about time people realised that its how people are and that we cant change it. You've got my support all the way and best of luck that it gets the results you want xxx

Luke , 04 December 2008 12:08