Shame Of Scotland

Stuart Walker

This young man, reported as gay, was murdered last Saturday in Ayrshire, my home county, in Scotland.

He was only 28.

It is being assumed by the public, and by some quarters of the press, that this was a hate crime, motivated by homophobia.

Found tied to a street light, he had been badly beaten and set on fire.

Of course the police are investigating, but are saying very little, I suppose as you would expect in the case of a murder.

I feel so deeply saddened by this death. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

Read the story here and here.

My Experience

I just think how lucky I have been, as a gay man, throughout my life. Yes, if you watch television and read newspapers, it would be easy to believe that gay people are treated better than in previous years. We are. Treated better! But not treated or seen as equal.

We treat our dogs better today too, compared to 100 hundred years ago.

It has become common to refer to something negative as “gay”. I hear people say this and post it online regularly. This is not okay. How ridiculous would it sound if I saw an accident or a poor choice of outfit and remarked, “That’s so straight!”?

I think the average person doesn’t even notice this word usage.

This undercurrent of passive homophobia, coupled with the perception that gays have reached some height of “acceptance” has led society to a false sense of reality. Gays are still not accepted. We can’t marry. A Civil Union, fought for at length, is a poor approximation of what heterosexual couples take for granted.

There are the furtive glances, the hushed giggles, the poorly concieved and poorly concealed remarks…Homophobia is rife. It’s everywhere.

Living in Scotland as a gay man, I know homophobia is rife there too.

A snapshot of my time there, living with my same-sex partner, reveals nothing less than torment.

There are hundreds of examples I can provide.

I remember standing at a bus stop with my partner. A young man asked if we were gay and went on to tell us he had a knife, and thought nothing of using it on us.

At a bus station I was threatened with having my throat cut, and escaped only by getting on a bus.

Our Homes

We bought our first home together in 2000. For four years we were shouted at as we left and entered our home. We had to suffer people throwing stones at our windows every day. Most weeks, usually on a Saturday, our lounge window would be put in completely, frame and all.

We called the police every time. The culprits were never questioned or challenged. At one point the “Community Officer” came to our house, after approximately three years of this, and told me that we simply had to “bite the bullet”, to essentially put up with it and hope that the animals got bored and moved on to another target. That was his solution!

Eventually our insurance company informed us they could no longer cover the cost of continually replacing the windows and advised us they would be considering cancelling our policy.

So we moved. We lived in our next house for one year. Again we had some hassle. We moved to our third home.

Here, we lived for four years or so again. Various incidents happened. Our neighbours would block our cars in and refuse to move to let us out. I was threatened with having my head smashed in with a baseball bat. At one point, a group of men tried to push their way in and gain entry to our home, while shouting abuse at us. We managed to keep them out and call the police. I genuinely thought this would be the time we would seriously be hurt, or worse. But it didn’t come to that.

We were lucky.

Again we called the police regularly for this incident and many others. They always took my details – my name, my occupation etc. But I can honestly say they were never of any genuine help or service.

Eventually we emigrated to Australia and, touch wood, have never had any issues where we currently live.

Stuart’s Legacy

This 28 year old man from Cumnock, apparently well-loved and respected by many in the community, has been a great loss for all who knew him. I didn’t know him. I have mutual friends on social networking sites and can see the Internet is ablaze with shock, anger and a real message of love.

The gay community is uniting in the wake of this truly shocking and awful death. The whole of Ayrshire and Scotland are being forced to look at themselves.

How was this allowed to happen in 2011, when there has been so much progress in Gay Rights?

There is a (small) chance this killing was not motivated by homophobia, but I doubt it was anything else but.

How was this allowed to happen in a small community that prides itself on looking after each other, where friends and neighbours are genuinely an extended family?

How was this allowed to happen?

Cumnock will never be the same again. The community will reflect, regroup and, I hope, ensure this never happens again.

This act of evil, brutal and unforgivable violence, has brought shame to Scotland.

My own experiences have shown me there are real issues, widespread and ingrained. Unfortunately, it takes one incident like this to highlight what is really going on.

Will the murderers be caught? I think so. In a place as small as Cumnock, with perhaps 15,000 people, everyone knows everyone else. Something as horrific as this will not be easy to cover up.

Let us never forget Stuart Walker.