Colin Farrell Calls For End to Bullying

Colin Farrell called for an end to homophobic bullying in a statement he issued to Belong To, an organization for LGBT youth in Ireland.

"Bullying is torture, it is another betrayal of basic human decency and its scars reach way into the future of its survivors," he said on April 8. "The saddest truth is that not all children survive it. It is a potentially fatal societal illness and must be respected and not feared. Respected and dealt with as a very real problem and as an adversary of a potentially harmonious world, that should have no place for bullies or bullying."

Farrell discussed growing up with his gay older brother, Eamon, and how he came home from school with blood on his shirt regularly.

"The beatings and taunting were very frequent for him and a constant part of his school years," Farrell said, noting he did not understand the difference between he and his brother. "If I did understand what difference was I understood it in the most pure and unaffected childlike way. To me then, as a child, difference meant being left out. Joy and laughter came with being included, being embraced, and BELONGING to."