Attitude magazine speaks up for bullied gay youth
Daniel Radcliffe returns to the cover of Attitude magazine for next month’s issue, which is devoted to tackling homophobic bullying and telling the stories of bullied gay youths.
The March edition asks leaders of the three main political parties to meet with the parents of bullied children to hear their stories first-hand.
Radcliffe, who has been honoured for his work promoting suicide-prevention charity the Trevor Project, is among those discussing bullying in next month’s issue.
The actor, 22, says the prevalence of teen suicides is “not surprising when you consider how accessible a bullying victim is now. You used to be able to escape at the end of a day: now you can be hunted by mobile phone, Facebook, Twitter. It’s terrifying.”
The Harry Potter star says people should not define themselves only by sexuality: “Don’t define as straight or gay, define yourself as people and help another person if they’re in trouble.”
On equality in marriage, he says: “The ultimate reason gay marriage should be legalized everywhere is because, as a kid, you look to your mum and dad and they’re married; then you look at the gay couple who’ve been together for the same amount of time, but because they can’t get married their relationship doesn’t seem the same.
“Yes, gay marriage is about symbolically blessing a relationship, but the larger issue is about transmitting a fundamental message about equality. Gay people should have equality in law everywhere.”
Editor Matthew Todd told PinkNews.co.uk they had chosen Daniel Radcliffe to be on the cover of the issue “because he speaks directly to the masses and because he is a patron of the Trevor Project in New York and so genuinely passionate about helping to stop homophobic bullying.
“Anyone who thinks that its gotten significantly better in schools should read the stories in the new issue of families whose lives have been devastated by homophobic bullying. We know these kids are out there – we were all young and gay once – but their voices are never heard. Often in the past the parents have been too distraught to speak out or just not wanted to.”
The issue will also contain interviews with the parents of bullied children and one of the final interviews with the late anti-bullying campaigner Roger Crouch.
The father of schoolboy Dominic Crouch, who killed himself in May 2010, had become a prominent voice in the fight against homophobic bullying alongside his wife last year.
He was honoured with a Stonewall Hero of the Year Award in 2011 but would go on to hang himself only a few weeks later.
Todd says: “Like everyone else, we are devastated by his death but I think some good can come out of it if it helps all of us refocus our efforts so that in schools homophobic bullying becomes as unacceptable as racism is.
“The current situation is unacceptable. Schools are not doing enough. We’re calling on the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and Ed Miliband to meet these parents we’ve interviewed and to do something about it.
“We specifically need to see LGBT equality issues taught to teachers during their training, something which is not currently mandatory. I’m hoping this issue can spur us on for a wider discussion about what else is needed.”
The March issue of Attitude is out on tablet from today and in stores from 8 February.
