Tackling taboos in our classrooms

Schools need to address the bullying of gay students, writes Jennifer Hough.

FOR a teenager, there is little crueller than their peers unleashing a barrage of taunts and teases.

And while it is a sad indictment of the taboo that still surrounds homosexuality in this country today, considering the pack mentality of the schoolyard it is perhaps not surprising that a recent Trinity College survey found 50% of gay and lesbian students are subjected to bullying at school.

More worrying however, is the suicide rate among gay teens — they are six times more likely to take their own lives than their heterosexual peers.

According to David Carroll, project leader with BeLonG To, a support group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgenered young people, the fear of coming out is almost greater than the revelation itself.

“If you grow up hearing names like faggot, queer, poof, for a young person who thinks they might be gay, coming out means facing a barrage of insult and ridicule from their peers.

“Listening to the negativity that is associated with being gay can cause what’s called ‘internalised homophobia’, meaning they actually believe what they have heard for so long. It is this kind of thing that can then lead to self-harm and suicide. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.”

With a growing public profile, from pop stars to soap stars, popular culture has accepted homosexuality, but the open-mindedness still hasn’t hit the school yards, where increasing number of gay and lesbian students are experiencing homophobic bullying and harassment.

“More than 80% of the people who come to our youth session have experienced homophobic bullying — it is our most prevalent problem. It is mainly verbal but often can be physical and even sexual — for instance young men in changing rooms being groped.”

The reason for this upsurge, said David Carroll is because the increased visibility on TV and in the media means younger people can see it, identify with it — and are coming out at a younger age.

“And because this is the first generation of Irish people who are doing this, we are seeing these problems,” he said.

Schools now need to take a lead on the issue, which support groups say can easily be addressed.

A campaign initiated last year and driven by members of BeLonG To aimed to highlight the issue of homophobic bullying in school using posters and talks to raise awareness.

But many schools did not display the posters, and there is an uneasy feeling that many schools, Catholic in orientation, are reluctant to open the debate on homosexuality.

Dave Roche, community development manager of Cork Gay Project and UNITE, a support group for young gay people, aged 16– 24 said he has come across a “Catholic right-wing” mentality which is difficult to change.

“I don’t want to oversimplify, but it is the simple lack of any reference to feelings and lifestyle of a gay person. It is very much heterosexual orientated and this contains a hidden message that there is nothing else. It is almost impossible for teachers to come out in the work place and that too sends a message.”

The Rainbow Support Services, a support network for gay people in the mid-west, said that it had written to 69 secondary schools in the mid-west letting them know about its services, but only got responses from five of these schools.

“In the 22 years we have been in the mid-west we have been only asked once to go into a secondary school to do a workshop on our helplines and that school was in Limerick. I am not surprised at the lack of response from schools given their ethos around religion,” said Vanessa Buswell.

But this kind of bullying happens to teenagers who are not even gay, said Dave Roche, and teens who do not conform to stereotypes — if a young male does not play sport for instance — are singled out for abuse.

According to Mr Roche, by not addressing this issue, schools are allowing other forms of discrimination, like racism, to fester.

Gemma Tuffy of the Association of Secondary School Teachers (ASTI) said although teachers might be concerned promoting advice in schools could expose them to action by management and parents, its message to teachers is very clear.

“We are insistent that homosexuality should be discussed openly and that they do need to proactive.”

But while it is easy to blame schools and teachers, it is young people themselves who need to challenge attitudes, said Mr Carroll. “Often the problem for teenagers is that they think they are alone — they feel isolated and are afraid.”

Parents too are worried about their child being bullied in this way, but have no confidence about taking further steps, said Mr Roche

“Parents are often the silent victims in this. They are facing old stereotypes about what it mean to be gay and they too fear facing family and friends.

Mr Carroll backs this up.

“The main reason parents are calling is because they are worried about their child and what they might face. They generally want to be supportive.”

A spokesperson for the Sexual Health Centre in Cork, which trains young people to be peer educators, said that larger numbers were taking the course each year.

“Peer Education is about providing young people, who want to be able to help others to access information and learn about their own sexuality, with the information they need to inform their peers on issues that affect them.

“We want to tell young people that they don’t have to rush into anything. There is a lot of talk about sex, but not all young people are out there doing it.”

A twenty-year-old bisexual man, recently qualified as a peer mentor said coming out at school was a big no-no.

“I would say most people wait until they are at college. It is the first opportunity that you really have. It is still a big struggle though. And even after people have made it, they still worry about what people will think — friends and especially family. The homophobic attitude is still there unfortunately.”