Homophobic bullying is still taking place in schools and teachers are turning a blind eye – according to a Conservative MP. Speaking at a Westminster debate he called to discuss the issue on Tuesday June 12th, Iain Stewart, MP for Milton Keynes South, spoke of a meeting he attended with young people in the town last week, in which young LGBT people told him that homophobic comments in schools often went unchecked. One school even had students who set up a Facebook site to discuss which pupils were thought to be gay.
Tony Fenwick and Sue Sanders, co-chairs of LGBT History Month, were also at the meeting to give support. Sue said: “The young people were candid, outspoken and forthright in expressing dissatisfaction with how they’d been treated by schools. What is especially interesting is that they first thing they said was that teachers need training in how to deal with LGBT equality. We’ve been saying this for years.”
Iain made this point in the debate: “Teachers want to combat it but feel they lack the training or the support to do it”, he said.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb claimed the Government was committed to combating homophobia in schools.
Addressing MPs in a room in the House of Commons, Iain also spoke of the homophobia he had to face at school in West Scotland.
Tony and Sue were in Milton Keynes to discuss the Rights Against INtolerance: Building an Open-minded World (RAINBOW) Project; a pan-European initiative to combat homophobia and transphobia in schools. The Rainbow meeting was held at Pink Punters’ new conference facility in the town.
To find out more go to the BBC and ITV Anglia News