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Gay news: Week-long event will be held at Eamon Farrell's National Performing Arts School
By: John Howard
Colin Farrell: "Bullying is torture"
Hollywood star Colin Farrell has announced his support for an Irish charity's campaign against the bullying of gay young people.
The 31-year-old actor issued a statement from Los Angeles for BeLonG To's STAND UP! campaign, in which he recalled how badly his gay elder brother Eamon was treated when they were young and growing up in Dublin.
Farrell, who was best man at Eamon's civil partnership ceremony in 2008, said:
"I can't remember much about the years of physical and emotional abuse my brother Eamon suffered. I was very small.
"The thing I do remember though, quite literally, is blood on his school shirt when he came home in the afternoon. The beatings and taunting were very frequent for him and a constant part of his school years.
"People are often afraid of difference. They feel that anything that causes fear, should be turned away from. My brother represented fear for so many people, but caused joy in my life.
"From a very young age he made me laugh with his intelligence and wit, made me aspire to his strength and goodness. He was to be embraced.
"To many of the students of his school however he was to be feared. He was to be turned away from. I didn't understand it then, and I still don't know."
Farrell added: "Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach way into the future of its survivors. But the saddest truth is that not all children survive it."
The charity's week-long event to raise awareness of the issues faced by LGBT young people will be launched on April 8 at Eamon Farrell's National Performing Arts School on Sherriff Street, Dublin 1.
Colin Farrell: "Bullying is torture"
Colin Farrell supports Irish anti-homophobia campaign
Hollywood star Colin Farrell has announced his support for an Irish charity's campaign against the bullying of gay young people.
The 31-year-old actor issued a statement from Los Angeles for BeLonG To's STAND UP! campaign, in which he recalled how badly his gay elder brother Eamon was treated when they were young and growing up in Dublin.
Farrell, who was best man at Eamon's civil partnership ceremony in 2008, said:
"I can't remember much about the years of physical and emotional abuse my brother Eamon suffered. I was very small.
"The thing I do remember though, quite literally, is blood on his school shirt when he came home in the afternoon. The beatings and taunting were very frequent for him and a constant part of his school years.
"People are often afraid of difference. They feel that anything that causes fear, should be turned away from. My brother represented fear for so many people, but caused joy in my life.
"From a very young age he made me laugh with his intelligence and wit, made me aspire to his strength and goodness. He was to be embraced.
"To many of the students of his school however he was to be feared. He was to be turned away from. I didn't understand it then, and I still don't know."
Farrell added: "Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach way into the future of its survivors. But the saddest truth is that not all children survive it."
The charity's week-long event to raise awareness of the issues faced by LGBT young people will be launched on April 8 at Eamon Farrell's National Performing Arts School on Sherriff Street, Dublin 1.
