Anti-gay bullying in schools –
the real picture
Simon Watt, 17, spent five years being bullied at school because he was gay. He was called names for years, but the bullying got worse when he finally came out at the end of year 9.
“I couldn’t walk down the corridors without being called ‘gay boy’. It was really embarrassing and I couldn’t talk about it,” he says.
Simon’s teachers weren’t much help, even though they could see he was getting a hard time. “Even in class, people would say: ’shut up gay boy’, but the teachers wouldn’t do anything. When I lost my temper and flared up at them, I would be the one who got in trouble.”
One night he was attacked – in front of fellow pupils ¬– by a gang of 19- to 20-year-olds who gave him a black eye, burst lip and almost fractured his cheek.
Simon isn’t the only one being bullied for being gay. A recent survey from gay charity Stonewall found that two thirds of lesbian and gay secondary school pupils have suffered homophobic bullying – that’s about 156,000 people.
Most of it is verbal with 97% of those surveyed saying they had heard ‘dyke’ and ‘queer’ used at their school. 41% had been physically bullied and even more shocking was the fact that 17% of lesbian and gay pupils had had death threats.
The survey was the biggest of its kind ever done and 1,145 lesbian, gay and bisexual school pupils responded.
Although most abuse comes from other pupils, almost a third said it was school staff – teachers and support staff – who were doing the homophobic bullying. Half said teachers don’t respond to homophobic abuse when they hear it.
Stonewall had suspected that pupils who are bullied for being gay perform less well in their school work. This survey has proved it. Seven out of 10 gay pupils who suffered homophobic bullying said it had had affected their school work badly. Half of those have skipped school, while a third said they feel unsafe at school.
All schools – especially faith or religious schools – need to challenge the level of anti-gay bullying that goes on. The survey found that schools which say that homophobic bullying is wrong see less of it.
Simon didn’t get the GCSE grades he was hoping for, he skipped lessons because sometimes he was too scared to go to school. He starts a two-year media studies BTec this September but wants to see schools introduce better policies on anti-gay bullying and more training for teachers.
A lot of teachers who let the bullying go on don’t do it deliberately, they do it because they often don’t know how to handle it. This autumn Stonewall, supported by the Mayor of London’s office, will be sending a training DVD called Spell it Out to every secondary school and sixth-form college in the country for teachers to see the best way to deal with and put a stop to homophobic abuse – both verbal and physical. The Government is also working with Stonewall on guidance for teachers on homophobic bullying.
Bullying has terrible effects on whoever experiences it – emotional psychological and on school work and attendance. This survey shows just how serious the problem is for gay pupils and how it really is time to kick homophobic bullying out of schools.
Vicky Powell is a Communications Officer at Stonewall.
- Your school has to tackle all forms of bullying, including homophobic bullying
- If your school is not doing enough, tell your teacher to do more to tackle all forms of bullying
- If someone is bullying you report it straight away to an adult you trust
- If you see others being bullied tell an adult you trust
- If you feel you can’t talk to anyone at your school about homophobic bullying phone ChildLine on 0800 1111 – they will help you
You have a right to be yourself without people putting you down.
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