ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
Chapter 3: LGBTQ+ issues
30
Mental health issues amongst LGBT
youth are not inevitable
By Kate Marston, Projects Coordinator, EACH
A
major survey of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and
questioning young people
in the UK has found that just under
half have experienced mental health
issues. However we should not forget
that LGBT young people demonstrate
extraordinary resilience on a daily
basis in the face of hostility and
silence.
Led by the charity Metro, the Youth
Chances project conducted an online
survey of 7,000 young people aged
16 to 25 about their experiences
of education, employment, health
services as well as relationships and
sexuality. The survey found a worrying
rate of mental health problems
amongst LGBT youth with:
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52% of respondents reporting
having engaged in self-harm
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42% seeking medical help for
anxiety or depression
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44% reporting thoughts of
suicide.
The survey results indicate that LGBT
young people in the UK have been
“badly served” to date by a range of
services. Education was a particular
concern as respondents highlighted
a lack of intervention in bullying
incidents and minimal education on
same-sex relationships and sexual
health. EACH’s own experience of
supporting targets of homophobia
and transphobia demonstrates that
too often support and guidance has
to be sought out by young people
rather than offered and such silence
can reinforce feelings of isolation,
insecurity and hostility on a daily
basis.
The lack of support in schools
around LGBT issues is in no small
part due to the legacy of Section 28
of the Local Government Act 1988
which prohibited local authorities
from “promoting the teaching in any
maintained school of the acceptability
of homosexuality”. Despite Section
28 being repealed in 2003, many
respondents to the Youth Chances
survey, who would have
attendedschool from2004
onwards, reported a sense
of unwillingness amongst
schools to address LGBT
equality and challenge
discrimination.
65% of Youth Chances
respondents stated that
their teachers never spoke
out against homophobia
or
transphobia
and
83%
indicated
that
there were no posters in
school reflecting diversity of sexual
orientations or gender identities.
Celebrating LGBT equality and
challenging discrimination is often
not a priority for schools despite the
Ofsted Inspections Framework and
Equality Act 2010 requiring proactive
work be done around these topics.
There is clearly more work for the
Department for Education to do
to ensure schools can confidently
support LGBT young people.
Personal social health education
should become a statutory subject
and Sex and Relationship Education
must be updated to more accurately
reflect same-sex relationships, as well
as be in line with current equalities
legislation.
For too long appropriate measures
have not been put in place to support
young people and too many have
suffered in silence: finding themselves
the target of someone else’s
prejudice and being emotionally and
physically affected. Surveys such as
Youth Chances are testament to the
devastating impact this can have on
a young person’s life. Yet we must not
forget that LGBT young people are
more than these damning statistics.
Many live, and continue to live, happy,
loving and fulfilled lives. Achieving
this however requires a supportive
network not a ‘sink or swim’ attitude.
Regardless of sexual orientation
or gender identity we can all find
ourselves overwhelmed by the
challenges that life throws at us.
Knowing how to bounce back is
a crucial life skill for health and
happiness. This ability to bounce back
is not something some people have
and others do not, but something
we learn. Many gay and transgender
young people will already be putting
effective coping strategies in place to
deal with these challenges. However,
too often LGBT young people lack
support and feel they cannot cope.
Our schools need to invest more in
these young people.
EACH is committed to supporting
schools to build upon good practice
and establish positive and inclusive
learning environments for all. If you
would like to enquire about our
training and consultancy please visit
our training pages. Alternatively, if
you, or a young person you know,
has been the target of homophobic
or transphobic bullying EACH’s
Actionline is the place to click or call
– in confidence.
11 January 2014
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The above information has been
reprinted with kind permission
from
Educational
Action
Challenging
Homophobia
(EACH). Please visit www.
each.education for further
information.
© EACH 2016
