No to Hate in the Advertiser

Great piece in tonight's Norwich Advertiser about the No to Hate Vigil. I particularly like the way that Ann Nicholls from Look, See, Click Photography gets her own blue box acknowledgement for her photo. Ann worked for me on the Young Carers Big Day Out event earlier in the year capturing all the fun on camera. You can see some examples of Ann's work on her Blipfoto site: www.blipfoto.com/lookseeclick. Big thanks to everyone who helped at the Vigil - it's brilliant to see such a strong message from Abraham Eshetu at Norfolk Constabulary about tackling Hate Crime. My friends from Opening Doors also spoke. They are a self-advocacy organisation for people with learning difficulties and it was helping them to to film their Hate Crime conference in 2008 that inspired me to set up Norwich Pride. I was so appalled by the stories of hate crimes against people with disabilities that I felt I needed to do something. I realised that one of the things I had to face first was that I was part of an oppressed minority who also lived in fear of hate - I would think twice before holding my girlfriend's hand in public. So I needed to tackle my own fears first. Being involved in Norwich Pride has given me loads more confidence in myself and my sexuality and I love Opening Doors speaking each year at the Vigil - a reminder that the best way for us to tackle hate crime is for everyone to work together and say No to Hate.