Brand new Public Service Announcement for NoHomophobes.com aims to get viewers to question whether anti-gay slurs are still acceptable.
The University of Alberta in Canada, the institute behind the website NoHomophobes.com, has released its first public service announcement to draw attention to the language we use in day to day life.
Words like faggot, dyke, and homo are just a few slandering words still casually used in everyday speech. In response, a new television commercial has just hit the airwaves asking why we continue to tolerate homophobic language. The commercial is the next phase of a “No Homophobes” campaign developed by the University of Albertaʼs Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services (iSMSS).
In a statement Dr. Kristopher Wells from NoHomophobes.com said,
“We no longer tolerate racist language, weʼre getting better at dealing with sexist language, but sadly we still see and hear homophobic and transphobic language in our society,” says Dr. Kristopher Wells, the Instituteʼs Associate Director. “While this language might not always be meant to be hurtful, we must not forget that words like “faggot” contribute greatly to the continued alienation and isolation of sexual and gender (LGBTQ) people, especially our youth.”
The commercial also directs viewers to www.nohomophobes.com, the iSMSS site that tracks homophobic words on Twitter. The site, which shows actual live tweets, has tracked over 6 million tweets containing “faggot” since July 2012. Nohomophobes.com itself has had remarkable worldwide attention since launching in September 2012, with media coverage coming from Western Canada to the UK and Italy to Cambodia.
The commercial was produced with generous support from Global Television.
“We are proud to be part of this campaign,” says Tim Spelliscy, Senior Regional Director Global News Edmonton and Prairie Region. “This is a pressing social issue that has been swept under the surface for far too long.”
Nohomophobes.com was honoured in this year’s New Year’s Recognition list by TheGayUK for its services to LGBT activism, awareness and politics.
