‘I’m a Roma Gypsy - and a proud and responsible Loiner - and I’m fed up of all the negativity about my community’
After the YEP revealed last month that Leeds City Council is to introduce a new 28-day amnesty period for Gypsy and Traveller encampments, we were inundated with letters and online comments on the issue.
Some of the negative backlash prompted one young member of the Leeds Romany Gypsy community - Teresa Birtle, 22 - to write a passionate response.
As a Romany Gypsy who has lived in Leeds much of my life, I am upset by recent letters regarding Travellers and Gypsies.
Leeds is a very diverse place with many different ethnicities and identities.
Surely it’s obvious that within those different identities people are not all the same - yet things are said about Travellers as if we are.
Leeds does not have enough permanent or transit sites so we have to camp wherever we can.
We are making the best of a bad situation and often, due to lack of adequate provision, we are forced to live alongside people on the camp who have very different values to us.
