Gay young people are coming out earlier, but many are bullied at school - and their teachers don't know what to do, writes Fionola Meredith
Imagine you're 15 years old. You're on your way to school one morning, and a voice behind you yells out "Hey, poofter!". Do you turn around? If you do, it's a tacit acceptance of that hostile label. If you don't, you risk further verbal abuse - or worse - raining down around your ears. Either way, you can't win.
But what if that aggressive shout didn't happen just once? What if it happened over and over again, in 100 ugly variations: part of a campaign of relentless ostracism that left you burning with anger, hurt and shame? That's the situation that thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people across Ireland experience on a daily basis.
According to Dr Paula Mayock, senior researcher at the Children's Research Centre (CRC) at Trinity College Dublin, "available research demonstrates that school is not a safe place for Irish lesbian and gay young people. The problem of sexual harassment has worsened in recent years, and I would question whether schools are giving children adequate protection."
It's a damaging situation all too familiar to Prof James Sears from the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University. Speaking at a Dublin seminar aimed at tackling homophobic bullying, he described his own experience as an adolescent in a Catholic high school in the American midwest, where he suffered daily attacks from other pupils, harassment which his teachers simply ignored.
The seminar, held on Thursday at Trinity College, was jointly organised by the CRC and the Belong To youth project (Ireland's only designated youth service for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people).
It was aimed at encouraging educators and policy-makers to get to grips with this rapidly growing problem.
Prof Sears had harsh words for the educators who "pass in silence" while youngsters endure harassment, as well as for those teachers who (perhaps through religious convictions) compromise their professionalism by using the classroom to denounce homosexuality. He said: "Victims are often targeted not because of who they are, but rather for what they represent."
DESCRIBING THE EXPERIENCE of bullied American, Chinese and Brazilian LGBT young people, he added, "We are talking about a worldwide phenomenon. Look at the consequences - a UK survey showed that half of lesbian, gay and bisexual pupils who are bullied contemplate harming themselves. And there are other long-term effects such as post-traumatic stress disorder."
Michael Barron, national co-ordinator of Belong To, sees the grim effects of homophobic bullying on the lives of the youngsters who come knocking on the organisation's door.
"It's our main presenting issue. The problem is more likely to be homophobic bullying than anything else. There's a hidden curriculum in the culture of schools. Children are left asking themselves - am I less valuable than anyone else? And we end up picking up the pieces."
In a recent special youth issue of Gay Community News, Kevin, a member of Belong To, recalled the unremitting misery, fear and alienation he encountered at school. "I would do anything to get out of classes, from pretending to be sick to actually making myself sick when I was too scared to face the prospect of going in. Now I can see that there were certain teachers I could have talked to about it. But the teachers that went out of their way to embarrass me cancelled out any trust I had for people at the time."
Fifteen-year-old Danielle felt similarly let down, claiming that her teachers "suck at preventing homophobic bullying, mainly being reactionary when forced instead of being proactive. Kids would say homophobic things in class and sometimes the teachers would even laugh at it. Laughter would always follow talking [ about] LGBT issues."
SO WHY AREN'T schools doing more for these vulnerable young people? A survey carried out by the school of eduction studies at DCU showed that some 90 per cent of Irish teachers in second-level schools report that there is "no specific LGBT anti-bullying policy" in their schools' guidelines on bullying.
"There are both legal and ethical obligations on schools to protect young people from homophobic violence," Barron says, "and this needs vigorous direction from the Department of Education and Science. As for teachers, often there's a will to act, but they are afraid to act because they don't know what to do."
Prof Sears would like to see "a supportive school climate", with training for school personnel and a curriculum designed to increase awareness of sexual diversity. He's also keen for schools to provide "queer space" for LGBT youngsters (a designated place where they can feel safe and comfortable) as well as offering access to gay youth support agencies.
A few years ago, Belong To catered mainly for older teenagers and people in their early 20s, with a smaller group of under-18s. Now the situation is reversed. "People are coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender younger and younger these days," says Barron. "A Northern Irish study in 2004 found that the average age for a young man to know he was gay was 12, while for a young woman it was 13. Measures should already be in place to support the huge numbers of young people coming out. After all, they are minors. It's not their responsibility to force change, to make schools more inclusive places."
On October 25th, Belong To, in partnership with the Equality Authority, will launch Stop Homophobic Bullying, a nationwide campaign designed to reach every secondary school in Ireland. For information, tel: 01-8734184 or see www.belongto.org