Declan Fahie

•Presentation•Activity•Film•Discussion

Circle of friends and familyPupilsParents

Homophobia – What is it?Bullying vs. HarassmentLegal ProtectionResponsibility of School -Moral ResponsibilitiesSchool Staff, Pupils, Parents and wider community

Straight People!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lack of KnowledgeFearEmbarrassmentReligious Beliefs

•Lack of Official Discourse•Lack of Casual Discourse – “Silence in the Staffroom”•Voice!

How to tackle homophobiaEquality PolicyBullying/Harassment Policy

Admissions PolicySPHE Policy School PlanMission Statement

TrainingPromotional Literature

Culture of SchoolParents AssociationBoard of ManagementZero tolerance amongst pupils and teachers

SensitivityCommon Sense

Impact of homophobia on young LGB people

An exploratory survey carried out by the Anti-Bullying Centre in Trinity College Dublin into the experiences of LGBT young people in Ireland provides evidence of the seriousness of this issue correlating with earlier research carried out in Northern Ireland (ShOUT, 2003). Respondents in the Trinity Research revealed that;76% had experienced verbal abuse 39% had experienced physical abuse 15% had attempted suicide 21% had self-harmed 42% reported either an eating disorder, alcohol abuse or drug misuse 29% reported having practiced unsafe sex One in ten left education earlier than they would have wished, with 3.3% dropping out of school early.

Pupils and HomophobiaResearch funded by the Gender Equality Unit of the Department of Education & Science (Norman, Galvin & McNamara, 2006) found that a majority of teachers (79%) were aware of instances of verbal homophobic bullying. A significant number (16%) were aware of physical bullying in their school. The research found that 90% of respondents reported that their school's anti-bullying policy did not include any reference to lesbian and gay related bullying.

INTO Support•lgbt@into.ie

Websites•Gay and Lesbian Equality Network www.glen.ie•Equality Authority www.equality.ie•Gay Youth www.belongto.org•Parents of Gay Children www.lovingouroutkids.org•Irish Council for Civil Liberties www.iccl.ie