Homotopia not Homophobia festival to bring social justice issues in Liverpool under the spot light

Oct 27 2009 by Samantha Parker, Liverpool Daily Post

GAY arts festival Homotopia is putting the issues of hate crime and homophobia on the agenda of this year’s event.

Organisers have decided to bring their social justice campaign to the fore alongside its traditional programme of theatre, art, film, comedy and debate.

And artistic director Gary Everett says that recent incidents, such as the attack on James Parkes and the furore over a national newspaper comment piece about the death of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately, show the need for more awareness of the impact of homophobia and anti-gay hate crime.

Homotopia has developed a programme of youth work and recently took a group of young people to Poland and Auschwitz as part of an educational exchange. Part of this year’s festival includes the premiere of a new documentary film, The Invisible Death of Michael (Unity Theatre, November 12), exploring the death of gay Huyton teenager Michael Causer, who was attacked in July, 2007, and later died from his injuries.

Gary Everett, artistic director of Homotopia, said: “There has always been a social justice strand to the festival, but it has always been quite latent. We’ve felt for some time we wanted to make more of a point of it and make the campaign a focus.

“There has been an increase in hate crime and homophobia across the UK and in Liverpool, Michael Causer’s death really crystallised it for us.

HOMOTOPIA begins on November 1 and continues throughout the month.