THEGAYUK WINTER 13 /14 Issue 1
INTERVIEW
BEN COHEN
INTERVIEW
By Paul Szabo
There are few people who are truly
inspirational, but Ben Cohen has to be one of
them.
Throughout his sporting career, Ben Cohen
proved himself to be one of the greatest
sportsmen that this country has produced for
many years. As the 10th highest point scorer
in English rugby history and the third in the
list of all time England try scorers, he
absolutely excelled at the game, which was
ably demonstrated in 2003 when he was in
the team which brought home the Rugby
World Cup.
Could you please tell us about what
work the Foundation does on the
ground to tackle bullying?
We bring the issue of bullying into the public
eye through a number of mechanisms,
including social media and collaborative
working, and also raise funds so that we can
provide support and grants for those who do
on-the-ground work to tackle bullying. One
of the ways in which we raise funds is through
the sale of StandUp merchandise, t-shirts, etc.
!
Out of all the positive things that it has
accomplished so far, which
achievement of the StandUp
But over the last couple of years, Ben has also Foundation are you most proud of?
I am most proud of all the work that is going
become a champion in other ways. In 2011,
on to educate people and bring an end to
arising from a very personal tragedy, he
founded the Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, bullying and am really privileged to be in a
position to keep the momentum going for
an organisation which is doing sterling work
change.
to combat all forms of bullying. Ben works
tirelessly to ensure that his foundation not
That are your hopes and plans for the
only continues to bring the problem of
Foundation over the course of the next
bullying to the forefront of the public’s mind, 12 months and beyond?
but also does educational work to look at and We have loads of plans for the future. We
address the problem of bullying and its long
have recently developed a schools programme
term effects.
in partnership with Wicked, the musical, and
!
Ben’s continuous efforts to raise the profile of
his foundation have encompassed everything
from producing a large range of StandUp
merchandise (including his calendar) to
highlighting his cause to a huge TV audience
during his stint on Strictly Come Dancing.
Not only that, but he is a genuinely nice guy,
ludicrously attractive and always seems to
have a smile on his face. Ben very kindly took
some time out of rehearsals to talk to us about
his work.
You founded the StandUp Foundation
in 2011. For those who don’t know, can
you please tell us a little about the
Foundation, its mission statement and
purpose and how it came about?
Since bullies tragically affected my family life
through the murder of my Dad, I’ve steadily
become aware of the effects of bullying on a
number of other people and communities. I
realised that something had to be done and
that I could use my privileged position to
make a difference and to raise awareness of
the long-term negative effects of bullying and
get the message out there that bullying must
stop!
the Northampton Youth Forum that is in the
pilot stage with plans to launch nationally
early next year. We are continuing to work
with our commercial partners such as Nike,
Coke and Kiehls to create new products for
the cause. And we have a number of things in
the pipeline that I can’t talk about yet!
!
You have often spoken about how
flattered you are at being considered a
gay icon, but it is important to point
out that The StandUp Foundation does
not just tackle homophobic bullying,
but all aspects of bullying. Do you
sometimes worry that the homophobic
bullying aspect of the work you do
eclipses the other (just as serious and
distressing) forms of bullying?
We are very general in our message so that
allows us to target our support where it is
needed most.
!
What advice would you give to anyone
being bullied?
Seek advice from someone that can help –
your employer, your teacher etcetera. There
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