Homophobic Harassment Campaign

About the Homophobic Harrassment Campaign

The campaign is a partnership of Victoria Police and  GLBTIQ community coalition comprising The ALSO Foundation, The Anti-Violence Project, The Victorian AIDS Council, The Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (VGLRL),and TransGender Victoria, Minus-18 and the Rainbow Network.

Supported by the City of Melbourne and Department of Justice..

The campaign has been designed in such a way as to ensure that it can be readily replicated in a variety of large and small settings regional and rural areas in particular. The campaign will use QLBTIQ media as well as large scale opportunities such as Signage, venue banners, billboards, etc

The campaign's objectives are twofold:

• Improvement of the level of reporting of acts of harassment and abuse - as recorded by either the Victoria Police or Anti-Violence Project.

• Improved awareness of the importance of reporting to the overall safety and well being of the GLBTIQ community

The groups behind the campaign recognize it is imperative that members of the community be encouraged and supported in formally identifying instances of abuse and harassment, if efforts to reduce this behavior are to be successful

Lyn Morgain, CEO {also}

The tram is only five minutes from home but when they screamed "ugly lezo's" out at us, we were left feeling afraid and unsure how to get home safely.

It was hard to tell at first whether their beef was with us but when of them came up close and said f** faggots we knew it was us they were pointing and yelling at. I think they might have become physical if we had reacted.

This is the second time the same homophobic names have been scratched on to my car parked outside my apartment.

Project participants

Why the campaign needed

Not Yet Equal; Report of the VGLRL Same Sex Relationship Survey 2005 A further analysis of GLBTI experience indicated that 80% of respondents had experienced public insult, 70% had experienced verbal assault, 20% had experienced explicit threats and 13% physical assault.

In "Enough is Enough" a study undertaken by the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights lobby in 2002, over 70% of respondents reported experiencing at least one incident of public abuse in the last five years.

Subsequent data derived from the "Private Lives"report undertaken by Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria and the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society in 2006 indicated that just under a quarter (23%) of respondents had experienced threats of violence or intimidation and physical attacks had been experienced by more than one in eight (13.7%). Having one's property damaged or defaced was reported by 8.5%.

For further information on reporting Homophobic Harassment go to the Anti-Violence Project website.