In 2017, Stonewall released a report revealing hate crimes against LGBTQ people have shot up by almost 80 percent across England, Scotland and Wales since 2013.
The findings, based on a YouGov survey of more than 5,000 LGBTQ people in Britain, found 16 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people have experienced a hate crime or incident in the last 12 months, up from 9 percent four years ago. More than 40 percent of trans people have been targeted because of their gender identity in the past year, the report showed.
The results were as shocking as they stark. While there’s broad acceptance for LGBT rights in the UK (albeit with a lot of work still to be done) complacency is a big problem. Many allies of the LGBT community believed that this kind of discriminatory behaviour is a thing of the past. We needed them to understand that the fight for equality is far from over.
We asked ourselves: how do we get allies to stand up to hate and inequality? Our answer was a slogan and campaign that rallies allies and encourages them to become active and visible supporters: Come Out For LGBT.
Our work – the first major nationwide campaign for over a decade – featured a line-up of celebrities including GhostPoet, Sue Perkins and Ana Matronic, plus social influencers, senior British Army figures and faith representatives. Reaching out to everyone who supports LGBT equality.
Running across the UK on everything from the sides of buses to school common room walls, to cinema, OOH, TV and digital. The charity also created campaign materials that can used in faith communities, workplaces and schools. “Those groups can use the message of the campaign to help impact positive work for LGBT equality in their communities,” Matt Horwood, Senior Communications Manager at Stonewall said.
Within hours of the launch of the campaign, we had garnered support from allies as diverse as Russell Brand, JK Rowling, Manchester United, and the British Army – leading to over 54,000 social mentions.
The important work was covered everywhere, from the BBC to Sky to NBC News. And our Come Out for LGBT line is still being proudly used to activate allyship five years later.
