This activity uses Forum theatre to explore strategies that the target and bystanders can use when faced with an incident of homophobic hate.

What should I do?
 

Issues addressed

• Homophobia
• Taking action against discrimination

Aims

• To be more aware of different forms homophobia can take
• To explore ways of responding to harassment
• To develop empathy with the targets of hate

Preparation / Materials

• Copy the role cards for the players in round 1
• Paper and pencils for the observers
• Flip chart and marker

Instructions

1. Explain that we will be using Forum theatre to explore issues about homophobia and how to react to it.
2. Ask for nine volunteers to be the players who take roles for the first round. Give them the role cards and ask them to retire to another room to prepare their role play. Give them 10 minutes for this.
3. Ask for four volunteers to be observers. Give them paper and pencils and explain that their task is to record what happens in each round, especially the actions and responses of the different characters.
4. Explain that everyone else, “the public” will have an opportunity to participate in rounds 2 and 3 of the role play.
5. While the actors are preparing, ask the observers and public to set out chairs for them to sit on and to prepare a space for the stage with chairs or any other props to represent the bus.
6. Round 1: The players present the situation as a role play. At the end, don’t enter into any lengthy discussion, but check that the public and observers recognise the situation and understand what is going on. Move on to round 2.
7. Round 2: Explain that in this round, participants will explore the scenario where the young women take the initiative to respond to the bullies. Invite two volunteers from the public to replace the players of two young women, and run through the role play again, but this time with the women now responding to the bullying. The passengers and bus driver should respond to the new situation as they think fit. Again, at the end of the round, don’t enter into any lengthy discussion, but check that the public and observers understand what is going on.
8. Repeat with other players taking the roles of the young women until all the young women’s options and the consequences have been explored.
9. Round 3: Explore the options the other passengers have of taking the initiative. Invite volunteers from the public to replace any of the passengers and run the role play again several times to explore all the options for taking action and the consequences.
10. Round 4: It is now time to examine the options the bus driver has for taking initiative. This round can also be open to other suggestions from the public. They may invent new characters, for example, if the girls or passengers decide to call the police, someone can be the police officer. All options are open.

Debriefing and evaluation

Ask the observers to report on the different options the women and the bystanders have for countering the actions of the bullies. Note them on a flip chart.

• Which of the women’s actions were the most effective? Why?
• Which of the passengers’ actions were most effective? Why?
• Which of the bus driver’s actions were most effective? Why?
• How prevalent is homophobia where you live? What forms does it take?
• Have there been any incidents like the one just roleplayed in your society?
• If you experienced such an event could you apply any of the proposed solutions? Which ones and why?
• Homophobia happens often on social media. How does it differ from LGBT hate crimes on a bus or in the street?
• What ways are there to combat hate crimes on social media and on the Internet in general?
• What effect have Pride parades had on the attitudes of the general public to LGBT people?
• What did you learn from this activity, and how are you going to take that learning forward?

Tips for the facilitators

This activity is written focusing on discrimination against LGBT people. Feel free to change the scenario to explore how to respond to racism and discrimination in any other form.

Your role is to ensure that the role play proceeds safely and that everyone remains engaged. The rounds and repeats should not drag out; once an idea has been presented, pause the role play, give a quick summary of what happened and encourage the public to explore other options, but avoiding repetition. Remember at the end of each round to check that the public and observers recognise the situation and understand what is going on, but don’t have a lengthy discussion; save it for the debriefing.

This technique of roleplaying a situation was developed by Augusto Boal and is called Forum theatre. If the group is new to Forum theatre, you should explain the process at the start.

Inform yourselves about hate crimes against LGBT people (or the group you are focussing on) and be prepared to answer questions and direct the participants to where they can find more information. Putting “hate crimes against X” into your search engine should give you a good overview of the issues and sites in your country.

It is important to show the two women as the targets of hate rather than as helpless victims. Similarly, the bystanders can support the women, but they are not their saviours.

You may like to tell the group about some initiatives to combat hateful behaviour. For instance, the safety pin first became a symbol of solidarity in the UK after the Brexit referendum when there was an increase in racial hatred. Now it is more widely used as a symbol of solidarity in all cases of harassment. You will find other useful information on Stop Street Harassment (SSH) website.

In relation to online harassment, you may like to take a look at the work of the young people at PECAO (Peer Education to Counter Antigypsyist Online Hate Speech), who are countering antigypsyist hate speech online.

Suggestions for follow-up

Take action: Get in touch with a local organisation that works for LGBT rights, and find out how you may be able to support their work.

Move on to another activity: An environment of mistrust of “the other” fosters hate crimes, which is why it is so important to repeat the message, “we hold more in common than that which divides us”. You may like to look at what members of the group hold in common in the activity, ‘Dominoes’.