Movember

Please pay for my awesome new moustache during the month of November and in return I won't shave it off for the whole month.  I will keep you posted with regular photos and all the money will go to the LBGT charity Stonewall

Thanks to Stonewall, among others, the last 10 years has seen a massive amount of progress for LGBT rights.  Their successes include:

helping achieve the equalisation of the age of consent
lifting the ban on lesbians and gay men serving in the military
securing legislation allowing same-sex couples to adopt
the repeal of Section 28
helping to secure civil partnerships
ensuring the recent Equality Act protects lesbians and gay men in terms of goods and services

But there are still many issues that need to be tackled, not least in Britain's schools.  Some statistics that show the challenges Stonewall still faces in this area:

OFSTED says homophobia is “endemic” in our schools system, with 20% of pupils saying they have heard teachers themselves make homophobic comments in the past few months.
Research conducted at Teesside University found 40% of teenage gay, lesbian or bisexual people had attempted suicide because of bullying at school
Stonewall’s own study found that while 97% of pupils have been told racist bullying is wrong, only 23% of pupils today have ever been told by teachers that homophobic bullying is unacceptable.
82% of teachers are aware of gay name-calling at their schools and 26% are aware of anti-gay violence on school property, but only 6% have a policy to deal with homophobic bullying.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate.

Some moustache links:

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20091008005321&newsLang=en

http://artofmanliness.com/2009/09/08/a-treatise-on-the-mustache/