We provide this alert to community members and fellow LGBT & LGBT allies in regard to suspicious perceived homophobic discriminatory phone calls. The Network received such a call today, and wishes to alert community members and other community supportive organisations and groups. The particulars indicate a religious fundamentalist and/or political entrenched anti-LGBT perspective and approach. The caller may contact you to ask ‘are you a Homosexual group’! They will say they have found from a recently bereaved friend that they have ‘much high quality Homosexual material’ and don’t know what to do with it, and therefore ‘I made an internet search on Homosexual groups and found your number’ hoping I could provide you with the material.
An offer was made to provide our contact email so the individual could give all particulars on his request: who he was, where based, what the nature of his purpose of contacting was, etc. This invitation to provide an email to the Network, that we made, was Not taken up, nor was there interest from the unknown contactee in taking down the Network contact email address that we sought to provide.
The individual who did not provide or offer his name, then proceeded to say that the material was clearly ‘high quality homosexual porn,’ and included a blow-up doll! This we found highly offensive and made very clear that the contact made on such a basis by the contactee was unwelcome, unwholesome. Said contactee continued ‘it is such a pity that such good quality material [including the doll] should not be given to [homosexual] people, and would otherwise need to be thrown away.’
The Network has very great experience in the nuances of the still all too endemic forms of never directly stated but very real homophobic indirect hate and hate crime which causes still so many community members extreme distress on a daily basis. We as do most (particularly independent orientated organisations and groups) know exactly the type of tactic that was being attempted, and we are actively considering taking the particulars to the Police for this reason.
The Network regards such a contact as more than suspicious and that it demonstrated (somwhat cowardly as is the way nowadays with most homophobes) unstated homophobic motivation of the clearest kinds. Only hard-core homophobes particularly in religious faiths (and within UK immigration services and some judges within the related Immigration Tribunal) contexts use the perjorative term ‘homosexuals’ now: it belonged to the ugly pre-1967 era and is associated with the horrific tale of the de-facto manslaughter of the British patriot and national hero Alan Turing under state/systemic anti-LGBT persecution.
We ask community members and fellow LGBT equality and inclusion values supporting groups and organisations to be alert in case they are contacted too!
We also politely wish to communicate to those charged with counteracting or prosecuting anti-LGBT hate crimes. And this term understandably includes what community members regard as unambiguously clear contempt in direct AND indirect forms against who they are (sexual orientation or gender identity) — such as here the vicious rationale (used in almost all cultures and nations across the globe that have systemic anti-LGBT perspectives and statutory powers that are used often by the most violent to torture and kill LGBT people — that they take note that the incident detailed in this news item reminds that it is indirect prejudice and discrimination that is the main, and very serious continuing, means of those who actually cannot due to the Law, openly express what is in their hearts and minds regarding non-acceptance of those who are different to themselves.