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Paul is 15. He was bullied at school after he told a friend he was gay, and his friend told everyone else. Isolated, hurt and afraid to go to school, Paul ended up in hospital after taking an overdose. Even then, he did not want his parents and teachers to know that he was gay, and blamed the overdose on the pressure of school work, writes Natalie Valios.

Paul is one of many children and young people who have called ChildLine as a result of being bullied – infact, it is the most common problem mentioned to the helpline’s staff. But, as with other forms of bullying, it has taken time for homophobic bullying to be recognised as a distinct problem, and for steps to be taken to address it. As a result, calling someone homophobic names in the playground is now seen as more acceptable than racist abuse or the 1960s taunt of “spastic”.

Homophobic bullying is characterised by abusive name calling, physical abuse, inappropriate and uninvited touching, sexual innuendos and propositions, pornographic material and, in its most extreme form, sexual assault or rape.

And pupils do not have to be lesbian, gay or bisexual to become victims of such attacks.

Ali Harris, project manager for Stonewall, a voluntary organisation that works for legal equality and social justice for gay, lesbian and bisexual people, says: “Quite a lot of homophobic bullying is of those who aren’t gay or lesbian. They just aren’t perceived to conform to a gender norm or are perceived to be different.”

So how prevalent is it? A survey of 300 secondary schools in England and Wales in 1997 found 82 per cent of teachers were aware of verbal incidents and 26 per cent were aware of physical bullying.¹ Almost all the schools had anti-bullying policies, but only 6 per cent referred to homophobic bullying.

Yet the use of homophobic insults is extremely common in many schools. “The word ‘gay’ has become the standard put-down,” says Harris. “And one of the reasons we believe this is happening is because teachers don’t respond. There is a culture among children that they can say it and get away with it.”

Some teachers might not consider the use of the word offensive because most lesbian and gay pupils are invisible, says Andrew Mulholland, senior health promotion specialist at Bolton Public Health.

He set up and chairs the Bolton Homophobic Bullying Forum. This multi-agency group was set up in 1998 because many local schools were reluctant to do anything about the issue. During awareness training at schools, the use of the word “gay” to describe both objects and people in a derogatory way was acknowledged by staff to be widespread. Some felt it was just the current word to replace others such as “crap” or “sad”.

“When it was pointed out that the word ‘gay’ related to the identity of some of the students in their school, and that hearing the word being used negatively on a regular basis would affect the development of a positive self-image, many staff changed their opinion,” says Mulholland.

Teachers are sometimes uneasy about challenging homophobic bullying because it may lead to questions they are unwilling to answer around sexuality, says Andrew Mellor, manager of the Anti-Bullying Network, an independent organisation funded by the Scottish executive and based at the University of Edinburgh.

“They may want to help a young person struggling with their gender identity, but they don’t want to draw attention to them, or make assumptions about them. And they are worried about tackling it without offending people,” he says.

And research² has shown that homophobic bullying is rife in schools because teachers are inhibited by section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which prohibits local authorities from intentionally promoting homosexuality.

Confidential interviews with teachers in the research revealed that they ignored the problem because of uncertainty around their legal position – confusion which results in an environment where pupils think they can get away with it. The research concluded that homophobic bullying is the most widespread form of abuse in schools.

But what many teachers fail to realise is that the legislation applies to local authorities, and has never legally applied to the activities of individual schools, teachers or governors. Additionally, section 104 of the Local Government Act 2000 stipulates that section 28 should not stop schools from taking steps to prevent any form of bullying.

Schools already have a legal duty to draw up an anti-bullying policy – which should be fortified by the government’s anti-bullying pack for schools.³ This refers explicitly to homophobic bullying. It recommends strategies to combat it, including challenging homophobic language and exploring sexism and sexual bullying, through the curriculum.

But the impact of homophobic bullying on young people whose sexuality is still developing can be severe. More than half of those bullied contemplate suicide, with 30 per cent attempting it more than once. Nearly three-quarters become truants, resulting in lowered academic achievement. Seventeen per cent go on to have long-term mental health problems.⁴

So what can schools do, apart from having anti-bullying policies? A recent report⁵ suggests a whole-school approach, including:

- Identifying the problem by noting incidents.
- Identifying the factors in the school that might hinder or support anti-homophobic bullying work.
- Considering when developing school policies whether there needs to be specific mention of homophobic bullying.
- Providing pupils with anonymous ways to put across their views.
- Giving pupils access to a confidential service.
- Consulting with parents about an inclusive bullying policy.
- Providing specific training for staff on how to tackle homophobic bullying.

Mulholland says: “Homophobic bullying is the last acceptable form of discrimination in schools, and the discrimination of choice for young people, because they have learned it has become a form of abuse that isn’t challenged.”

It’s time they were re-educated.

1 I Warwick, N Douglas, G Whitty and S Kemp, Playing it Safe, Terrence Higgins Trust, 1997
2 D Epstein, R Johnson, Schooling Sexualities, OUP, 1998
3 Department for Education and Employment, Bullying: Don’t Suffer in Silence, DfEE, 2000
4 I Rivers, “The bullying of sexual minorities at school: its nature and long-term correlates”, Education and Child Psychology Vol 18 (1), 2001
5 I Warwick and N Douglas, “Safe for all: a best practice guide to prevent homophobic bullying in secondary schools”, Citizenship, Vol 21, 2003

Bullying statistics

- Thirty-seven per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual young people are bullied at school.
- Of those, 69 per cent are bullied once a week or more.
- Average duration of homophobic bullying is five years.
- Only 22 per cent of those bullied told a teacher. Of those only 16 per cent gave the reason behind the bullying.
- Only 39 per cent of those bullied told someone at home, and only 15 per cent explained why.⁴

Source: “The bullying of sexual minorities at school”

Impact on young people

“On my way to class people kept tripping me up and calling me faggot… one of them punched me in the face and knocked me down. Then they all started kicking me. I reported it at school and the boy who punched me was suspended, but I didn’t say what it was about – I was embarrassed. For the next two weeks I was beaten regularly. I didn’t tell my parents – I had told my mum I was gay and she had reacted very badly and told me never to tell anyone else. The beating eventually stopped, but not the verbal abuse. Teachers would hear it, but most of them ignored it. I started to feel suicidal. I started missing lessons to avoid trouble, so I didn’t get the grades. At school I just wanted someone to say: ‘You are not a freak, there are thousands of people like you and you are going to be just fine’.”

Source: Stonewall