Damilola Taylor case highlights reluctance to deal with gay children

Silence about homophobic abuse suffered by Damilola exposes a society in denial, says OutRage!

10 December 2002

LONDON – As the case returns to the headlines this week, the media, the legal fraternity and The Church have said nothing about the homophobic abuse suffered by 11-year-old Damilola Taylor shortly before his murder in November 2000.

At the time, Damilola’s mother told the Independent newspaper that Damilola had been the victim of an assault a few days before the fatal attack in which he had been accused of being gay. Other newspapers including The Guardian and The Telegraph, as well as BBC News reported the homophobic bullying and taunts of “gay boy”.

But the extensive media coverage of the trial and the subsequent investigation into the failed prosecution - led by the Bishop of Birmingham, John Sentamu – seems to have blanked out this information and failed to highlight the problem of antigay bullying in schools.

“This silence is evidence that the public is unwilling to confront the reality of gay children as well as the abuse and aggression faced by children who are either gay or perceived to be gay,” says OutRage! spokesperson Brett Lock.

“This case is as important and as significant as the Matthew Shepard case was in the USA,” says Lock, “but it is not being treated as a hate-crime.”

OutRage! believes that the reason for this is a social prejudice that renders gay children invisible. It seems that people are willing to accept the existence of gay adults because society still believes that sexual orientation is purely a behavioural issue and only an active (same)sex-life is “proof” of a person’s sexuality.

“Logically,” says Lock, “since most experts agree that sexual orientation is set either before birth or in early life, gay children must exist. In fact most gay people, when asked when they first knew they were gay, will tell you that they felt ‘different’ ever since they could remember.”

“While society seems ready to address the concerns of gay adults, heterosexual parents seem to be in denial that tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of them will have gay children. Their needs are completely ignored, and when one of them dies – as Damilola did – because he either was, or was perceived to be, gay (it makes no difference) – everyone scurries around trying to find reasons other than the obvious one staring them in the face,” argues Lock.

The Damilola Taylor case has been made primarily a race and an immigration issue and undoubtedly there is a great deal to question about how the police handle crimes in the black community and how immigrants are treated. These are very important questions, but this should not mean that the obvious is ignored: Damilola Taylor was set upon because, in the words of his tormentors, he was a “gay boy”.

Whether he was gay or was simply perceived to be is not the issue. The fact of the matter remains that all evidence seems to point to the fact that it was this perception that cost him his life.

Why was this not treated as a probable hate-crime and why will no one mention the atmosphere of homophobia that surrounded Damilola’s last days?

With regards to irregularities in the prosecution, Bishop Sentamu’s investigation hopes to find the truth, but can the whole truth emerge where there is no honesty?

© OutRage! News Service. 2002 For more information, contact OutRage!
Telephone: 020-824-00-222
Email: media@outrage.nabumedia.com
Post: P.O. Box 17816, London. SW14 8WT

REFERENCES:

29 November 2000 - The Independent Ms Taylor said teachers at her son's school, Oliver Goldsmith, in Peckham, failed to take complaints about bullying seriously. She said pupils had accused her son of being gay and had beaten him last Friday.

The Telegraph, 07 December 2000 Mr Taylor described his son as a boy "who loved reading and playing football. He loved going to the church. He was a friend to everyone. And back in Nigeria he was loved by everyone". Damilola had been having problems at school, Mr Taylor said. "I spoke to him and he was crying that he was being bullied and being called names. He was being called 'gay'. What was gay? Because in Nigeria the word is not prominent. It is not known by kids."

The Telegraph, 03 December 2000 "They said he was half-caste and called him gay. He didn't even know what gay was."

Saturday December 2, 2000, The Guardian "My wife says there were three of them. They saw Dammy as different. They said he was half-caste and called him gay. Gay! He did not know what that meant."

Sunday December 3, 2000, The Observer The culture of mindless machismo, where Damilola was called 'gay' and pushed around because he was eager to learn, is a culture which traps everybody.

BBC News, Wednesday, 29 November, 2000 "My son told me kids were calling him names like 'gay boy' and saying things about his mother," she said.