Schools Out Blog :: Bourne Free (Bournemouth Pride) July 2007

Photo of me - Annie, in green – speaking with some secondary school students about their experiences and SchoolsOUT here: http://www.bournefree.co.uk/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2&pos=36

PARADE

The day began with a parade from Alum Chine along the beachfront to the Lower Gardens where there was a performance stage (which seemed to be exclusively occupied for 3 hours by a pair of local drag queens). The best-dressed at the parade were definitely the two wheelchair mermaids. The parade was a fairly hefty size, though there was a distinct lack of female participation. More L/B/T women seemed to be watching from the sidelines. There was a youth contingent marching, again more young men than young women.

COMMUNITY

There were about 10 stands in the community area.

Sarah Stevenson runs the LGBT heritage project for the Intercom Trust (http://www.intercomtrust.org.uk/portal.htm). She was brilliant at promoting her project, gathering local LGBT people’s oral histories. She very kindly hosted me on her stand to publicise LGBT History Month.

The Space Youth Project very kindly welcomed me to promote SchoolsOUT, and hosted many of the young people I spoke with: http://www.spaceyouthproject.co.uk/

PRIMARY EDUCATION

A parent I chatted to said her child was starting school this coming year. She said that the school they chose was attended by the children of other local LGBT families and the school had no problem with same-sex parents.

EDUCATION 11-18

Most of the young people I spoke with stated that they were out as L, G or B at school/college. The youngest to have come out was in Year 8 at the time. Some young people had chosen to attend their college partly because they knew other LGBT people who attended the institution and found it to be LGBT-friendly.

Three young lesbian students had been told not to show affection to their girlfriends at school.

One young woman at a girls’ secondary school stated that she had been told to stop holding hands with her girlfriend in the corridor. She didn’t know whether their policy on heterosexual displays of affection was equivalent but there is a mixed sixth form and older straight couples regularly show affection without reprimand. The other two girls – a couple in the same year (9 or 10) at the same co-ed secondary – stated that on more than one occasion they had been told by staff to stop kissing at lunchtime. They stated that heterosexual couples were allowed to demonstrate similar levels of affection at school without comment from staff.

A few of the young people I talked with had left education at 16 because of negative experiences at school – they stated that homophobia had contributed to this. The majority of those I spoke with were not supportive of extending compulsory education to 18. In fact, the idea seemed to horrify them. Those who had already opted out of further education expressed their relief that the proposed extension wouldn’t affect them. They mentioned some of their LGBT friends who they knew would be affected and who may not be happy about it.

One student told me that unfortunately she had been beaten up by a homophobic gang of girls from her school, and that she didn’t have a lot of faith in the school’s commitment to keeping her safe.

Almost all of the young people I spoke with said that their sexuality was common knowledge at school among everyone, not just their friends and immediate peers. Some said that they hated being identified as “the gay one”. Others seemed to accept their unsolicited fame as the status quo. The common theme was that none had chosen to be the focus of this attention.

HIGHER EDUCATION

I chatted with the Bournemouth University stand, and their (middle class white gay male) representative stated that they were coming towards the end of a process of completely overhauling their diversity and employment policies, lead by someone invited from the Terrence Higgins Trust. The staff members I spoke with reported a good working atmosphere and LGBT staff group. The students had all, unfortunately, left for the vacation.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION FOR YOUNG LGBT PEOPLE

The young people seemed to be unaware that there was any legislation in place that was relevant to ensuring their inclusion at school, or the school’s obligation to provide a non-discriminatory service.

All the young people but one said that the sex and relationships education (SRE) they were given at school included no information relevant to same-sex intimacy. The exception was a young man who said that the school brought in a separate sex educator (LGBT youth worker) who did a lesson on same-sex SRE – the mainstream SRE delivered by teachers did not mention the words gay or lesbian.

Some students expressed anger that there was no information at school about where or how to get help or advice with LGBT issues such as bullying, sexual health, or difficulties at home. One young person stated that she only found out about the local LGBT Youth project (LINK) through a friend, and said that she didn’t know what she would have done without it.

Several confirmed that if they tried to find information about LGBT health or support, or tried to report a hate crime, on the school or library computers, their attempts would almost certainly have been blocked by the firewalls, which treat the word ‘gay’ as inappropriate content. Several stated that they do not have access to internet at home.

Annie Beaumont

Posted to:

Interactive Articles

Comments