Stonewall have launched a national campaign to tackle endemic levels of homophobia in Britain’s workplaces. Featuring two people at work, the campaign states clearly that: ‘One is gay. If that bothers people, our work continues’.
The campaign comes in response to YouGov polling which shows that in the last five years 2.4m people of working age have witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work. A further 800,000 people of working age have witnessed physical homophobic bullying at work.
Further polling shows that over a quarter of lesbian, gay and bisexual people are not at all open to colleagues about their sexual orientation.
The posters will appear on nearly 650 buses in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh as well as on 4,000 adverts on the London Underground. The campaign features workers from across various careers and professions – including construction workers, footballers, priests, police officers and firefighters. Campaign posters will be made available to Stonewall Diversity Champion members, with Stonewall calling on organisations to tailor with their logos and reproduce in their workplaces and offices.
Stonewall Deputy Chief Executive Laura Doughty: ‘After securing equal marriage in England and Wales people mustn’t forget the huge amount of work still to be done. No one should be under any illusion that it’s ‘Mission Accomplished’. In workplaces right across the country, gay people still don’t feel able to be themselves. It’s time to change that once and for all.’
Posters will run throughout January and will also be sent to Stonewall Diversity Champions – who together employ more than 6 million people in Britain.
For further information you can visit www.stonewall.org.uk/LotsToDo or join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook by using #LotsToDo
