13 Feb 2008

some people are gay. get over it!

That is the tagline which is now appearing on 600 billboard panels across England, Scotland and Wales to educate the public against discrimination of gay men and lesbians.

Developed in collaboration with 150 secondary school pupils and teachers for Stonewall, the posters feature the tagline in bold capital letters in white and black against a striking red background.

The posters are from a campaign which was originally launched in Nov 2007 as part of Stonewall's Education for All campaign to tackle homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools. Posters, stickers and postcards were distributed to all 5,000 secondary schools across England and Wales at the time.

For the first time, the posters will appear on billboards for two weeks, from Monday 11 February 2008.

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive, says: "Homophobia is almost endemic in our schools and blights the lives of people throughout society. It makes sense that this zero-tolerance message should be extended to the wider public. Across urban and rural Britain, this plain-speaking slogan will remind people that discrimination against gay men and lesbians is no longer acceptable."

Stonewall, a gay lobbying group was founded in 1989 by a small group of women and men - including actor Sir Ian McKellen - who had been active in the struggle against Section 28 of the Local Government Act which was designed to prevent the so-called 'promotion' of homosexuality in schools.