Four years ago 20 year old Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend were savagely attacked and left for dead simply because they looked 'different'. Sophie later died of her injuries.
What a disgusting tragedy.
I'm sure anyone hearing Sophie's story would be deeply saddened and horrified by it. Unfortunately it is not an isolated incident. Personally I've been on the recieving end of both verbal and physical attacks because of my appearance.
While it's really very little consolation, at least from the ashes of the tragedy a phoenix of hope has risen in the form of the SOPHIE charity. The aims of the charity are to educate people that, no matter what culture you belong to, people are just the same inside and to stop what happened to Sophie from ever happening again.
You can learn more about the charity on their website or by watching the videos below:
The BBC made a radio program about Sophie which you can listen to here
To donate to the charity you can either do so directly or through buying a SOPHIE eyeliner pencil or wristband from Illamasqua.
Sophie was a beautiful young girl who died needlessly, but at least she will be remembered and her legacy will help others. Thanks for reading.
Had some friends out in the UK when this happened, so naturally I heard about it... brought me to tears, really. Folks are a bit more tolerant of alternative fashion and music around here, it seems... so it was odd to suddenly be aware that I need to worry for my friends over there.
ReplyDeleteSucks.
I've had a lot of people ask about my SOPHIE band, though. Raising awareness = awesomeness.
It was such a sad event. People can be such intolerant pigs.
ReplyDeleteI can hardly even think about her without crying.. same as Brian Deneke. I'm just so glad that at least a little bit of good could have come from this.
ReplyDeleteI remember first learning about what happened to Sophie maybe about a year and a half ago, and was shocked and deeply saddened. When I was in the UK just recently I bought both the eye pencil and gave a donation to get the wristband as well. I love the simple, strong message behind the name which really is tolerance for not just alt cultures but for everyone.
ReplyDeleteMiss Bekka:
ReplyDeleteI actually didn't hear about it until I learned about Illamasqua. A lot of people are tolerant of alternative fashion and things, but not so much teenagers :/
Y:
I know, it's terrifying just how horrible people can be.
Bhevarri:
Oh God in a way Brian's story was even worse, at least with Sophie everyone said what happened was shocking, but from what I've heard lots of people made excuses for Brian's killer because he was a 'good boy' >:(
internationallyspicy:
It is really a terribly sad thing to have happened. I have the pencil too (and love it, best black eye pencil ever!). And I agree, it's a charity wanting tolerance and love for everyone.