Chairman of the Council, Cllr Martin Veal, hosted a reception at The Guildhall in Bath to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
The event took place on Friday 16th May, the day before International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.
It brought together people from a range of services within the Council, partner agencies including Avon and Somerset Police, and local community organisations.
The aim of the event was:
- To share what is being done locally to challenge and prevent homophobia / transphobia;
- To publicise the support that is available locally;
- To highlight the number of successful prosecutions in B&NES;
- To encourage the increased reporting of incidents.
There was also a ‘wall of action’ at the event: participants were invited to sign up to at least one action that they will commit to pursuing either as an individual or as an organisation.
There were presentations from: the Chairman of the Council, about International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia and why it is important to mark the day; Avon and Somerset Police on the recent successful prosecutions for homophobic hate crime locally, and also from the Chair of the Council’s Challenging Homophobia Steering group about the work going on locally to prevent and tackle homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools.
Cllr Veal said: “I’m delighted to be able to bring together all of these partner agencies to talk proactively about what they have done and what they are doing to tackle discrimination and harassment in our community. Discrimination does happen but I’m pleased that here in Bath and North East Somerset we are doing what we can to challenging its presence in such a positive way.”
Kate Murphy, from Bath & North East Somerset Council, is Chair of the Challenging Homophobia Steering Group. She said: “We have a very active Challenging Homophobia Steering Group with a plan of action to tackle discrimination and promote equality for children and young people. We’ve also got a new youth group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender young people called SPACE, which is run through Off The Record”
Norman Pascal, Chief Inspector, Avon and Somerset Police said: “The local Police take homophobic and transphobic crime very seriously – we have a dedicated officer who tries to ensure that victims are given a first class service. It can be really difficult to come forward and report such distressing crimes, so today’s event is a significant one in raising awareness of the help that is available.”
If you feel you’re in immediate danger, call 999. If it’s not urgent you can call the police on 101 any time of day or night.
There’s also a special police website for reporting hate crimes (anonymously if you want) called True Vision: www.report-it.org.uk. It passes the information to the police for investigation.
If you don’t want to report to the police in the first instance, you can contact SARI (Stand Against Racism and Inequality) via their telephone helpline for advice and support. Telephone: 0800 171 2272 (freephone) or 0117 942 0060.