Appendix 5

Metro Centre

LGBT History Month Project Overview

GALOP and The Metro Centre worked with the Metropolitan Police and Greenwich Picturehouse on a project inviting Young People educated within Greenwich borough to attend screenings of The Laramie Project, as part of PSHE/Citizenship.

The Laramie Project is a film based on the real murder of a young gay man and the subsequent trial of two individuals from the Laramie community. Adapted from an acclaimed play which has become the most performed production across American high schools, this powerful and moving film portrays the true story of the murder of Matthew Shepherd, a young gay man growing up in the small town of Laramie, Wyoming, USA. His brutal killing brought a wave of media attention on the issue of hate LGBT crimes not just in the States, but worldwide.

Abbey Wood, Plumstead Manor, Eltham Hill, Eltham Green and Greenwich Training participated, with pupils from Year 10 through to 6th Form attending.

The aim of the screenings was to raise awareness of homophobic hate crime and bullying as well as identify routes of support for young people.

Discussions were held after each screening and there was a Prize Draw to encourage completion of evaluation.

What is The Laramie Project?

The Laramie Project is a groundbreaking HBO Film that recreates the real life efforts of a New York theatre troupe to shed light on a western town's loss of innocence, following a hate crime perpetrated on a 21-year-old University of Wyoming student. Adapted from the acclaimed play of the same name, the film features an all-star cast, including Steve Buscemi, Christina Ricci, Janeane Garofalo and Joshua Jackson.

On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard met two men at the Fireside Bar in Laramie. Eighteen hours later, a cyclist found Shepard unconscious, severely beaten and tied to a fence. He never regained consciousness, and died five days later. Two Laramie residents, aged 20 and 21, were apprehended for the crime, which became front-page news around America and the World.

The director explains "This (film) is not about the case. This is about the town: why did this happen here, what are people saying, how do they feel and think about what happened."

The Laramie Project includes scenes from the separate trials of McKinney and Henderson, climaxing with an impassioned speech from Matthew's father at McKinney's sentencing. "I would like nothing better than to see you die, however, this is the time to begin the healing process, to show mercy to someone who refused to show mercy... I

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give you life in the memory of one who no longer lives."

Over the course of the theater company's one-year stay in Laramie, it is demonstrated how the Matthew Shepard incident exposed the raw nerves of prejudice and fear in a town that once believed - as so many other towns do - that such prejudice and fear do not exist, and that a hate crime "could never happen here."

Planning

Initial consultation was held with the local Met Police, Galop, The Metro Centre and Greenwich Picture House. Greenwich Education Services were invited to those consultations but did not attend. Jackie Foley from Galop wrote a funding bid with Teri Shipston (LGBT LO) which was submitted to the Met Police who agreed a budget of £1150. After further meetings, it was decided that the screenings would be offered to Year 10 students in schools across the borough. Six screening dates were offered: Wednesday 1st, Tuesday 7th, Thursday 9th, Wednesday 22nd, Thursday 23rd, and Monday 27th February.

Ben Woodward wrote to all educational establishments in Greenwich and followed up with telephone contact to senior staff and PSHE Co-ordinators.

Unfortunately, the film had a 15 certificate and it later became apparent that half of the Year 10s were not yet this age. This had not been made clear by Greenwich Education upon initial consultation with them. It became a contentious issue and as such, schools who had initially intended to bring large numbers of students (eg. Eltham Hill Technology For Girls had planned to bring all 200+ of their Year 10s), had to cancel their bookings.

The film had a 15 certificate purely because its content featured lesbian and gay people, despite it containing no nudity, no sexual content, no graphic depiction of violence and one use of strong language.

Upon discussions with the BBFC and Greenwich Licensing Authority, the only way of overcoming this problem would have been to submit the film to Greenwich Council to be re-certificated. This would have cost £120+ VAT and even then there was no guarantee that they would allow under 15’s to see it.

Another barrier emerged where several schools expressed concerns about bringing their students, claiming significant numbers were from religious backgrounds opposed to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Ben asked Greenwich Education if they were prepared to write to all schools supporting the event as part of LGBT History Month, and encouraging them to attend. Greenwich Education was not prepared to do this without seeing the film, which they were also not prepared to watch.

It was decided the best way forward was to open the screenings to Year 11 and 6th Form students. Greenwich Training was also interested in attending. Difficulties then emerged

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with the majority of Year 11s being preoccupied with Mock Exams.

A decision was then made to cancel the first three screenings and offer the last three. Several problems emerged due to lack of cohesive support from Greenwich Education Services.

Screening Timetable

Date / School / No of Students / No of staff
Wednesday 22nd Feb / Greenwich Training / 24 x 16-19 year olds / 2
Thursday 23rd Feb / Eltham Green / 50 x Year 10s / 4
Monday 27th Feb / Plumstead Manor / 18 x Year 10s (Health and Social Care students)
22 x Year 11s
20 x college / 2
As above / Abbey Wood / 36 x Year 10
(Drama students)

Discussions and Evaluation

The subsequent discussions with the young people attending the screening involved (but not limited to) talking about which characters were most tolerant and intolerant, wheither this crime could happen here, discussions about the death penalty in America and talking about how religious people were portrayed.

This was reinforced with the presence of the Met Police, explaining their role in tackling Hate Crime, GALOP – LGBT community safety charity. Galop continues to offer Third Party reporting within Greenwich.

Young people completed an evaluation, with the majority enjoying the film. They were asked how the film made them feel, where they would report Hate Crime and whether

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they (or someone they knew) had experienced homophobia. Statistics from this evaluation are included in this report. Further comparative information can be given on requested.

The Metro Centre continues to offer follow up work with the education establishments, supporting SRE and PSHE work.

Planning for LGBT History Month 2007 will start in the autumn. Funding for a similar, larger project involving more schools will be sort from the Met Police and/or Community Safety Team.