Wiping Out Homophobia On Facebook
by Steve Charing
Every one of us who are on Facebook knows all too well that we get inundated with requests to "like" an entertainer, politician, movie, a business, an organization or anything else that breathes. We also get hit up to join causes and pages that range anywhere from trying to prevent an Iranian woman from getting stoned to death to the less serious "I lost my phone. Wait let me call it! Crap! It's on Vibrate!"
All elements of the political and social spectrum are represented. Pro-lgbt and anti-gay Facebook pages abound, each with their own rationale as to why you should "like" the page and its cause. Depending on where one stands on the particular issue, the pages are either filled with "propaganda" or they present an educational tool to rally the troops. One of the fastest growing pro-lgbt pages is the two month-old "Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook," which was created in an effort to combat homophobic pages on the largest social-networking site.
"Eight weeks ago I was flicking through Facebook, when I came across a homophobic page," said page creator Kelvin Patrick O'Neil, a resident of Dunham in the Northeast of England in an e-mail interview with Baltimore OUTloud. "I was so appalled that I decided to report it. To make sure that Facebook got the message, I sent a link of the group to all my friends so that they could also report it. Minutes later they had sent me replies with links to other pages, so I decided to collate them on one page so that all of my friends could join in order to report these pages."
O'Neil was surprised that within an hour, "Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook" had over 1,000 members and by the end of the day there were 3,000.
"Wiping Out Homophobia on Facebook" is similar to other politically-driven Facebook pages in that it contains relevant links, posted comments, photos, etc.
"Through our daily posts we have educated, informed and entertained with supportive slogans, humorous pictures, news reports and links." O'Neil points out. "I now have 14 administrators, 9 of whom have just started, and 4 who have been with me for 4 week. Together we work 24/7 making, stealing and uploading links and pics, so that people can post them to their walls." This provides free publicity for the page while at the same time it brings in more people to click on the links to homophobic pages.
What distinguishes this page from others is the vast array of clever and powerful slogan-laden images in the page's Photos tab, and specifically the Wall Photos, that would make outstanding t-shirts, placards and other message-bearing media.Asked where he acquires these images, O'Neil explains, "Some I make, some are sent, some we find, some we steal, some we alter from anti-gay messages to pro-gay and repost them on anti-gay sites from which they came." This is a new enterprise for O'Neil. "I have never been involved in anything like this before, and I work as a web designer. This comes in handy for making pics. I work from home so I can be online pretty much most of the day."
In just two short months the page has attracted some 30,000 "fans." Says, O'Neil, "Now we are currently growing at the rate of 1,000 per day, so who knows where it will end?"
If you want to get in on the action to help stamp out homophobia on Facebook, visit facebook.com/WOHOF.
