23
Chapter
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
3
LGBTQ+ issues
Make sex education compulsory and
LGBT-inclusive
Labour plans on gay sex education and homophobic bullying need to go further.
By Peter Tatchell, Director of the PTF
L
abour has announced its
commitment to shake-up sex
education and anti-bullying
programmes in schools. The party’s
Shadow Education Secretary,
Tristram Hunt, wants to make age-
appropriate, gay-inclusive sex and
relationship education compulsory
and ensure that all teachers are
trained to tackle homophobic,
biphobic and transphobic bullying.
Set out in the report,
End
homophobic bullying together –
Supporting LGBT young people
and teachers
, this is a good move
and much needed (
.
ly/1DIxoO1).
Explaining why these proposals will
be a ‘priority’ for the next Labour
Government, Mr Hunt said: “No
young person should ever feel that
their sexuality or gender identity
prevents them from fulfilling their
potential.”
The new policy will apply to
all state-funded primary and
secondary schools – including
faith and academy schools – but
not independents. Excluding the
independent sector strikes me as a
mistake. Surely it’s time there were
minimum uniform standards in all
schools?
The problem of sexual orientation
and gender identity bullying is huge
and often ignored, as revealed in
Cambridge University research
published by the gay lobby group
Stonewall.
The School Report
(2012), looked
at the bullying of lesbian, gay and
bisexual (LGB) pupils (trans pupils
were regrettably not included).
It found that 55% of LGB young
people have suffered bullying on
account of their sexuality and 99%
have heard homophobic language.
Astonishingly, one in three teachers
report hearing homophobic remarks
from other staff, according to
The
Teacher’s Report
(Stonewall, 2014).
Some LGB teachers are victims
of teasing and bullying by pupils
because of their sexuality.
Only half of LGB young people say
their school has told pupils that
homophobic bullying is wrong.
This falls to 37% in faith schools.
Many teachers do nothing to
combat anti-LGB bullying. They
tell pupils to be discreet, man-up
and be less sensitive. This is not
the tough stand that most teaching
staff adopt towards racist bullying.
Double standards!
LGB pupils who are bullied are at
a higher risk of depression, self-
harm and suicide. 41 per cent have
attempted or considered taking
their own life because of bullying
and a similar number say bullying
has caused them to self-harm.
The
School Report
found that one in
four young LGB people had actually
tried to commit suicide; rising to
nearly half among trans youth.
This week Stonewall estimated
there are 215,000 LGB school
pupils. As a result of anti-LGB
bullying, 52,000 of these pupils
will truant from school; 37,000 will
change their future education plans;
and 70,000 will suffer deterioration
in their school work.
For all these reasons, Labour’s
anti-bullying proposals, which
echo similar policies by the Greens
and the Lib Dems, are welcome
and appreciated. So, too, are its
plans to make sex and relationship
education (SRE) compulsory and
inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender (LGBT) pupils.
Good timing. Last week the National
Union of Students (NUS) published
a survey of 2,500 university
students, which showed that SRE
is failing all pupils, both LGBT and
heterosexual.
Two-thirds reported that consent
and abuse issues were never
discussed. More than half said their
lessons did not cover emotions and
relationships. Under 20% received
SRE that mentioned LGBT issues.
SRE standards are so poor
that 60% of students said they
accessed pornography to find
out about sex, with 40% saying it
helped their sexual knowledge and
understanding.
