TVs:AM - Part Deux by Eyho on Mixcloud

Last week Jamey Rodemyer took his life because of the effects of homophobic bullying, his case follows a string of LGBTQ young people in America who have done the same.

Alot of the focus around these cases have been trying to outreach these young people through a string of youtube videos titled 'It Get's Better' - although made with good intent these are only largely viewed by people who wear the 'queer' name badge (despite questioning doe's it really get better in a world where homophobic attacks, murder and oppression is common place?).

As a mouthy 14yr old expelled from school for being a nancy, I took solace in Faceparty. Faceparty was a online community of teenagers with profile pictures attempting to make themselves look older, cooler and more 'out' than the other. Being 'out' seemed to be the done thing, it came with it's risks (like Nathan from 'Queer as Folk' at the time) but it also had kudos. I started to work with a theatre company called Spare Tyre, who were running theatre workshops for LGB (as it was then) teens who were bullied. These drew out stories that would become the focus for their teachers training program 'Thinking Pink'.

'Thinking Pink' was a free teaching programme offered to every school and education authority in the UK and Ireland.  It's aim was to equip teachers, teaching assistants and governor's with the language, skills and processes in dealing with homophobia in schools. The workshops were offered during teachers Inset (In Service Training) and were i stress FREE. Two schools in the whole of the UK offered to take these up, one in Camden and the other a primary school in Islington - this was hardly the demographic we needed to outreach. Later in the project I managed to get within a school in Brixton who had a code of conduct that ruled homophobic language was unacceptable. I was to find 'that's gay' 'you're well gay' was prevalent and not tackled by any members of staff, 'gay' meaning rubbish or horrible was an accepted 'youthism' here and a 'normal part of school culture' as one teacher proclaimed.

How are we ever to stop young people like Jamey believing 'it gets better' if our education system and its employees don't actively pursue homophobia out of schools and empower them with a support system? These young people are looking for support from its educators who are supposed to help install a moral compass but its ignored and opens up a can of worms they don't have time to deal with effectivly. As a young person who fell out of the education system because of my perceived sexuality it annoys me that 12 years on it's still happening to young people around the world. 

How we make sure another Jamey isn't the victim of bullying is not difficult, we make homophobia an unacceptable part of our society- we have all been guilty of not saying anything when called a 'poof'. The answer I don't think lies in doing a 'it gets better' video, tweeting about how horrible bullying is or writing a blog. The next time your are called a batty boy on the tube, top deck of the 55 or walking down the high street, turn and say 'Yes I am, Thank you' - it's the first step, but a brave one.

This week I have been running some workshops for professional artists at part of DIY8, My aim was to mix cabaret or variety artists with academic and live artists to generate communication, ideas and share skills. I chose to run this workshops in a small theatre near my home called Camden Peoples Theatre (CPT),  I have a very special place in my heart for this space as it was witness to the first time I ever performed.

Back in the 2000, I was recently expelled from school and was looking to fill my time. Camden at that point were running 'Summer Universities' - these were free, week long courses that were open to under 25's. I applied with my friend 'Big Alan' to CPT's youth theatre because "I liked singing" and it was the course that was furthest away in the borough - exciting. When I arrived I was greeted by lefty long haired queers, middle class rebels and university arty types that were producing new risk taking work. The course was well received and CPT continued to run our youth theatre outside of the Summer University.

Aside from showing me that rolling around the floor in jam is a job and you should be paid for it, it also demonstrated that theatre, performance, live art or "I like singing" didnt need to be on a stage, in a theatre or adhere to rules - things that are very much still apart of my mantra. An example of a performance we created was titled 'The Zoo' - audience members were led into a basement, blindfolded and subjected to 'System of a Down' while we flicked water in their faces. After these acts of torture we exited up a series of steps and waited until the audience got bored and followed, as they creeped up the darken staircase we took Polaroids of them, at the top of the stairs they we led into the light to find chalk drawn bodies (the kind you see in films), the Polaroids that were taken were laid on these.

Today when I asked one of the performers to find a space to perform a piece she had devised in the workshops she chose those darkened stairs. To my surprise I was confronted with my 15yr old hand writing in chalk, my experiences at CPT flashed before me and I realized how worried I was at 15 of being a fat poof that didn't fit in, it also made me realize how important the youth theatre was in developing my confidence, politic and career.

'I'M HUNGRY' - not much has changed in 10 years?!

Thank you CPT.  X

http://cpttheatre.co.uk/