1) Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend Rob were beaten by a group of teenage boys in the UK in 2007 because of their alternative appearance as goths. 2) Sophie threw herself over Rob to protect him from the assault. Both were hospitalized with serious injuries, and Sophie was placed on life support but died 13 days later without regaining consciousness. 3) Sophie's family later set up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation to promote tolerance and combat prejudice against those who look different. The foundation aims to "stamp out prejudice, hatred, and intolerance everywhere."

1. Anti-Bullying/Hate Crime
Hate Crime of Sophie Lancaster/
Bullying Awareness

2. Alterophobia
• Alterophobia: The fear of people who look
different or dress differently than others.
Weirdo, Mosher, Freak. I’m sure many of you
have been called names because of the way
you are or dress. I myself was bullied and
called a weirdo, freak and outcast in school
because people did not understand me or
anything about who I was as a person. Nor did
they understand that I have a brain injury
which I was later diagnosed with.

3. • Bullying and hate crime need to
stop, albeit, I wouldn’t be where I
am today If I had never been
bullied, because I have been able
to become more independent
now than I ever have before and I
used my experiences to help
myself. On the other hand, I
might not have become the
person I am today, so that is a
double-edged sword. Many times
kids at school swarmed around
me and I lashed out to get free
because they would not let me
go. Did the staff reprimand
them? No, they reprimanded me.
I was given a suspension as a
result of their bullying.
• Kids even here will think it’s totally
acceptable to beat someone up or make
fun of them because of their appearance. I
appear to you today dressed like this to
show you that an appearance is nothing to
be afraid of. I do not dress in Gothic attire
all the time. I wear “normal clothing” and
formal wear as well. Don’t judge a person
by their appearance, because appearances
themselves can be deceptive and
sometimes the beauty is within. Being put
in that position had made me suicidal. I felt
like there was no way out. I even tried to
starve myself to be accepted by my peers
in school because they called me names
and all I ever wanted was friends. I also
had the urge to cut as a means of releasing
tension as a result of all of this.

4. Sophie Lancaster
• I will discuss one issue where bullying and beating harmed
someone, which is putting it lightly. Sophie Lancaster and her
boyfriend Robert Maltby had been walking home from
Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancashire in the United Kingdom on
the night of August 11, 2007, when a group of young teenage
boys approached them. The skaters had approached them
because they looked different. The evening had started out
amiably, the boys had even offered Rob a cigarette. But then
they decided to beat him up for how he and Sophie dressed.
Sophie, who had been 20 at the time, and who was the kind
of girl who would go to supermarkets and sing anti-meat
songs or poems she wrote since she was vegan, then threw
herself over Rob, pleading with the boys to stop.

5. Sophie and Rob
Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby

6. The above video was done by the youtube user vaitta and the song used
is Illusion which was sung after Sophie’s death and dedicated to her by
the group VNV Nation at the Bloodstock Festival.

7. Sophie and Rob had been dating for three years and had discussed
marriage. They had moved into an apartment together. Rob had said after
the attack that he wanted Sophie to run away and leave him to die. He was
left with a brain injury. Both she and Rob had been sent to the hospital and
Sophie had been put on life support because she couldn’t breathe on her
own. On August 24th
, 2007, the doctors had been checking to see if there
was any brain activity but unfortunately there was none. Sophie’s family
decided to cease life support and she died 20 minutes later, cradled in the
arms of her mother, Sylvia.

8. After her death, Sophie’s family decided to form the Sophie Lancaster
Foundation with the motto formed by the letters of Sophie’s name:
Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred, and Intolerance Everywhere!
This photomanipulation was made by myself a few years ago in honor of
the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and of Sophie herself.

9. This video was done by the makeup company Illamasqua for
the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. It is an artistic
representation of what happened to Sophie.

10. A picture of Sophie and one of the S.O.P.H.I.E. wristbands issued by the Sophie
Lancaster Foundation

12. In closing, I implore you all to be aware of who you hurt and to
think that maybe your victims are human too. Thank you.