Sunday, 17 May 2015

Hop for Hope

Hop against Homophobia, Bi- and Transphobia




 

17th May is the International Day against homophobia, bi- and transphobia. You can find more information here.
http://dayagainsthomophobia.org/


Hope

There is still a great deal of prejudice in the world, but I wanted my post today to be about hope. it may be a rather obvious thing to state, but I’m a great believer in democracy. I don’t always agree with the results, but as a history teacher for over thirty years, I know what people have done to allow me, a woman, to put a cross in a box. Over those thirty years, I’ve also seen great changes in attitudes. When I started teaching there were no out teachers or students. I’m pleased to say that by the time I finished that situation had changed. Some students no longer hid their sexuality, and it was a great privilege to have young people feel able to talk to me about themselves. Maybe it was the pictures of John Barrowman and Captain Jack Harkness, or my well known hatred of students using the word gay as an insult that made them feel safe talking to me. I don’t know. I’m just glad that they did.

Last week, one of those brave young people was elected to a local council. He had the courage to put himself up for this role and his victory made me smile. Democracy had allowed a young gay man to openly work for the betterment of society. On a bigger scale, the UK became the country with the most openly LGBTQI representatives in the world. The UK has its problems, but this fact makes me proud to be British. The sexuality of a candidate should not matter anymore than the gender of the candidate, or the colour of their hair or eyes. All that matters is that they want to do the job.

Hopefully, sometime soon, this blog hop will no longer be necessary. To more and more young people prejudice on the grounds of sexuality is something they do not even think about. At least some of the results from last week’s election give me hope that some things have already, and will, get better.
 
You can find more information about this blog hop here
http://hopagainsthomophobia.blogspot.co.uk/


Anyone who makes a comment on this post before 24th May will be entered to win a signed copy of my book Sporting Chance or an amazon gift voucher for £10 depending on their location. Please leave your e-mail address for me to contact you.

Thank you for supporting this important cause. This link will take you to other participating blogs
http://www.simply-linked.com/listwidget.aspx?l=644125FF-AACF-4A13-A08A-696A562D8FB3
 
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32 comments:

  1. Bronwyn17 May 2015 at 02:50

    Lovely post, thank you, im glad youve been able to see such a change threw your years of teacher :)

    Beeheeley(@)gmail(.com)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alexa Milne17 May 2015 at 03:36

    Thanks, and yes I could see the changes.
    Alexa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gay Book Promotions17 May 2015 at 04:25

    The world and many people's opinions are gradually changing for the better.
    Thank you for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne18 May 2015 at 05:44

      Thanks for commenting and I really hope things are getting better.

      Delete
  4. Debby17 May 2015 at 04:43

    What a great post! I have seen changes for my daughter.
    debby236 at gmail dot com

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    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne18 May 2015 at 05:45

      Thanks - I'm glad your daughter has seen those changes too.

      Delete
  5. Unknown17 May 2015 at 06:27

    Must be a really amazing feeling to know you've helped young people be more secure with their sexuality and helped bring forth an actual change at your workplace. Congratulations! Keep up the good work. The world needs a lot more people like you :D
    shayla.mist@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne18 May 2015 at 05:45

      One of the best parts of the job seeing positive change. Thanks for commenting.

      Delete
  6. KimberlyFDR17 May 2015 at 15:10

    Thank you for your post and participating in this blog hop.

    kimberlyFDR@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous18 May 2015 at 06:12

    Thanks for this post, Sad that we need it, but you are right there are some changes and i hope it will continue so this blog tour won't be necessary anymore.

    ahpg(at)ziggo(dot)nl

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alexa Milne18 May 2015 at 11:56

    Thanks for commenting. The more we can do to help that change the better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Alaina18 May 2015 at 20:06

    Great post! I love seeing the changes that are happening! Thanks participating in the blog hop!
    aegger.echo(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dannyfiredragon19 May 2015 at 04:51

    Thank you for the great post.

    dannyfiredragon@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne19 May 2015 at 05:07

      Thanks for commenting and glad you liked the message of the post.

      Delete
  11. ShirleyAnn19 May 2015 at 07:24

    Thank you for the post and I'm hopeful to that soon as you say there won't be any need for this kind of blog tour.

    ShirleyAnn(at)speakman40(dot)freeserve(dot)co(dot)uk


    ReplyDelete
  12. Jen CW19 May 2015 at 17:15

    Thank you for the post and being a part of the hop. It's always wonderful to see progress being made. I hope and continue to do what I can to ensure things improve. I would love to see the day that hops like this won't be necessary anymore.
    jczlapin@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne20 May 2015 at 05:44

      Thanks for commenting and taking part in the hop too.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous20 May 2015 at 17:03

    Thank you for taking part in the hop! It's always a positive sign when change happens. Hopefully the day we won't need the hop will come soon.

    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  14. Alexa Milne21 May 2015 at 03:28

    Thanks for commenting and I hope so too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Unknown21 May 2015 at 06:57

    There are more and more LGBTQI politicians,especially in Europe...and I'm glad to see that,because one of the best ways to change opinion of older generations is through some kind of role model,or a person they respect. It's the best way for them to see that LGBTQI people are perfectly normal,that they're people just like the rest...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown21 May 2015 at 06:58

      milicawho0805@gmail.com

      Delete
    2. Alexa Milne22 May 2015 at 03:20

      I agree. It's good to see that MPs don't have to hide their sexuality these days.

      Delete
  16. Denise Dechene22 May 2015 at 12:43

    It's great that you have seen a change. Unfortunately more is needed. Hopefully there will come a day when we won't need days or hops like this. Thanks for the post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alexa Milne23 May 2015 at 02:51

      Thanks - hoping for good news out of Ireland today.

      Delete
  17. Lee Todd23 May 2015 at 04:26

    thanks for being part of the hop!

    leetee2007(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sherry24 May 2015 at 08:58

    Thanks for the wonderful post and being part of the hop.
    sstrode at scrtc dot com

    ReplyDelete
  19. Alexa Milne25 May 2015 at 03:47

    OK I've given everyone a number from 1-15 in order of comments and put it in a random number generator and the winning number is number 7 - Alaina so I will be e-mailing you to see if you want the signed book or voucher.

    Alexa

    ReplyDelete

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