Regional teen breaks down doors
A young South Australian teenager is pushing to establish a program aimed at combating homophobic bullying among young people in rural communities.
The Breaking Down The Door Day project, the brainchild of 17-year old Luke Siviour, aims to change attitudes among non-LGBTI people in rural and regional areas by hosting openly LGBTI-friendly events such as barbecues in small country towns.
Siviour, from the small town of Tooligie in rural South Australia, said the idea came from an experience he saw first-hand.
鈥淎 mate came out and his close friends were there to support him, but when he announced it on social media he got ridiculed. He was called names and was physically and verbally abused. I didn’t like seeing him like that and I wanted to do whatever I could to try and fix it,鈥� he said.
Siviour was one of the winners of the ABC’s Heywire program, encouraging young rural and regional people to pitch proposals aimed at improving their communities.
