Stonewall, working with celebrities, workplaces and schools, is calling on individuals and organisations to tackle abusive language this Anti-Bullying Week by supporting the NoBystanders campaign. The campaign has already been backed by celebrities including Stephen Fry, Nicole Scherzinger, Perez Hilton, Sinitta, Clare Balding and David Walliams.
The campaign comes in response to shocking figures from Stonewall research that reveal more than 75,000 young people will be bullied this year simply for being gay, and 21,000 of these will attempt suicide. Homophobic bullying and abuse can have a devastating impact on young people’s self-esteem, with one in three gay pupils who experience homophobic bullying changing their plans for future education because of it.
The charity has sent Anti-Bullying Week education packs, which contain NoBystanders pledge posters and guidance on how to mark Anti-Bullying Week, to more than 1,000 schools and local authorities. 700 Stonewall Diversity Champions – who together employ more than six million people – have also been sent materials to help them tackle abuse in the workplace.
James Taylor, Stonewall’s Head of Policy, said: ‘This Anti-Bullying Week we’re asking individuals and groups to do their bit to tackle abuse and prejudice that still blights too many lives.
‘More than half of gay pupils experience verbal bullying and one in six experience physical abuse. People can show their support for the campaign by tweeting using #nobystanders and by ordering their free pin badge at nobystanders.org.uk.’
Stonewall will also be marking Anti-Bullying Week with a Twitter Q&A – using #InfoLineLive – dedicated to discussing bullying on Tuesday 18 November at 6pm
You can also hear from schools that have used the NoBystanders campaign effectively by visiting www.stonewall.org.uk/abw. Additional content will be shared throughout the week via Stonewall’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts (all @StonewallUK).
You can sign and share the NoBystanders pledge by visiting www.nobystanders.org.uk.
