Homophobia on campus: the harsh reality

Speaking to The Tab, a Greenbank fresher has told us how he has suffered horrific homophobic abuse since starting uni.

| UPDATED greenbank Homophobia university of liverpool

Having suffered violent homophobic abuse before starting university, Michael* told us how he came to Liverpool hoping for a fresh start.

Instead, since arriving in September, his terror has continued. In halls and in town, Michael has received increasingly violent attacks.

Opening up to The Tab, he says how the homophobic attacks began in a club during Freshers’ week, when he was approached by a group of men he didn’t know.

“One of them kissed me and then tried to punch me.”

Michael thought the abuse would stop when he got to university

They told him they had trashed his room. Michael says, “I just had to get out of there because I was so upset.”

The following evening, the student having stayed in to try and recover from the horrific incident, another episode occurred.

“I was woken up about one or two in the morning by the same group as the first night, hammering on my window, shouting basically death threats through the window.”

Terrified, he rang the hall’s security, who arrived half an hour later.

But the response was pitiful: “It was only one person.  All they did was come into the room, said ‘where are they?’ and went upstairs. Not even five minutes later, he came back down and said to us, ‘oh don’t worry about it, it’s all part of the fun.'”

“Oh don’t worry about it, it’s all part of the fun”

Having reported the incident to the Residential Advisor, Michael left it in the hope it would all blow over.

Just a few days later, he was approached by another unknown group in a club.

Michael told how the group pointed at him and approached him, saying “you’re the faggot, aren’t you?” Terrifyingly, they said “we’re going to come and knife you.”

The group knew his name and room number.

The abuse continued and escalated, until Michael was eventually forced to report it to the police following a physical attack.

“I was grabbed by a group of six who swung me round and started shaking me. They said, ‘we’re going to fucking kill you.'”

Michael accuses the University of inaction. Despite reporting every incident to the Residential Advisor, nothing was being done.

“They were increasingly involved in the whole situation and to be honest, they didn’t do anything.”

“They basically said, if you don’t know who they are, they can’t really do anything.”

A few weeks later, the police contacted security asking for CCTV but the University refused to give it to them as the CCTV footage is recorded over after a five day period.

He wasn’t allowed anywhere on his own.

Abuse continued, to the point where Michael was being targeted by passers by as he used the bathroom. He was told by his halls that he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere on his own, “even to the loo.”

“They actually said I’m not allowed to use the toilet. I’ve had to go to the top floor, third floor, to use the toilet.”

Michael was even told he would need to have someone in the bathroom with him. Of course, he found this “just absolutely ridiculous”.

After increasing death threats and shocking violent attacks, the police interviewed and handed out harassment warnings to two of the people involved.

Not even an hour later, Michael’s case was closed. But two days later, he was punched by a stranger who yelled hateful abuse at him.

“To be honest, I don’t know if the case was reopened or what. I haven’t heard anything.”

The events were reported to Student Support on several occasions by the LGBT society, who have been “a huge pillar of support”.

Yet when Michael went to Student Support himself, he was told “there is no record of anything”.

“There’s been a catastrophic break down of communication within the University.”

“It’s [been] three months, and nothing has been done.”

Within the last five minutes [19:42 14/01/2013], the Liverpool Guild of Students has issued a statement in which they refuse to pass comment on the individual case, instead, tweeting vaguely: “no student should have to face homophobia and bullying. Such behaviour is unacceptable.”

UPDATE: University statement

A university spokeswoman told The Tab the university took disciplinary action against one student, and the police “interviewed and advised” others.

She said: “The University is committed to equality and diversity and does not tolerate homophobia. We take any instances of hate crime extremely seriously.

“Following a number of crimes committed against a student in Derby and Rathbone Halls at the beginning of term, we conducted a full investigation with Merseyside Police.

“Disciplinary action was taken by the University against one of the students involved and a number of others were interviewed and advised about their conduct by the police.

“Hate crime is completely unacceptable and may result in disciplinary action and prosecution. We would encourage any student who is a victim of hate crime to report it immediately to the police.”

Like The Tab on facebook and follow us on Twitter.

If you have any information in regard to other instances of abuse on campus, homophobic, racial, or other, please email [email protected]. All information given will be treated as confidential.

*Michael is not the student’s real name.