Equality legislation to extend to second level schools

Annasopra

The Equality Authority has announced plans to extend legislation to second level schools

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2003/01/27/story93640316.asp


Personally I think that quite a few Irish schools are homophobic and do not explicitly prevent bullying of gay and lesbian students,
What do others think, will this change the attitudes of schools?

yellum

"Schools are already bound by the Equal Status Act to make sure no pupil or staff member suffers harassment or discrimination on any of the nine grounds laid out in the legislation, but it is a relatively new law and we're not convinced all schools are aware of their obligations under the Act," said Mr Crowley.

"There is a relatively informal approach to these issues at the moment. Many schools feel they are doing their best when their best is not good enough. The legislation wants to move towards written policy and defined procedures. It reflects where some schools are at already but also where many schools need to be."

About time too. Some schools just don't give a toss about bullying. Once theres no physical damage they think they're fine. I remember in my school some kid ended up with a fractured skull after some incident. The school ended up paying a hefty and I mean hefty compensation claim. Did they change things after that ? Yeah, they clamped down on the horseplay in the yard and that was it.

I was never given any good information about non-heterosexuality in School. I don't know what its like in schools nowadays but its the usual story: Ignorance breeds hate. Maybe if more was taught and explained to school kids there'd be less fear of coming out at an early age. Jesus it takes some thick skin and strong heart to be open about your sexuality in school.

Thank god the net is around now and teenagers have access to it. They can go online now and find resources on what they're experiencing. I knew nothing when I was in school. Didn't know where to go or what groups were there that I could talk to. Schools should provide information like this for teenagers. Are schools obliged to carry information like this ? Should they be ?

I don't think the teachers know how to react to homosexuality in schools and this also contributes to awkwardness and avoidance of teaching it. Think the teachers need to learn some new tolerance and understanding skills and how to pass them on to the kids.

As well as rebuking schools if they are not treating everyone equally or for providing an environment where people are hounded for their sexual orientation they should be shown how to create a better environment. Its useless punishing those if they don't know how to do the right thing.

God thats such a rant...

Shinji

I don't think the teachers know how to react to homosexuality in schools and this also contributes to awkwardness and avoidance of teaching it.

Much of the problem here comes from the fact that gay teachers is still a taboo subject. Obviously there are gay teachers - but how many of them do you know who were out?

It's not just because of potential abuse from their students, either. In fact, the most likely source of problems for a gay teacher or a teacher suspected of being gay is from parents who don't want their child being taught by a homosexual person. Sad but true.

Not only does this deprive kids of potential positive gay role models, it also means that teachers are unprepared to address the issue of homosexuality in an educated or understanding fashion - because as Devore said in a different thread earlier, if you're seen to understand it, people start to think you're a part of it...

HerrLipp

I remember we were supposed to be taught about homosexuality in school, but our religion teacher spent all of 5 minutes on it. We were basically told it's okay to be a homosexual once we repress it and never have a relationship with anyone. Lovely.

I remembers hearing about a gay teacher in Christian's boy's school, Cork. I remember he got a lot of homophobic abuse from students.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

We were basically told it's okay to be a homosexual once we repress it and never have a relationship with anyone. Lovely.

yeah, same in my school. muppets

yellum

Jesus, thats so wrong. Is that illegal under the equality thing though.

BuffyBot

Originally posted by yellum
Jesus, thats so wrong. Is that illegal under the equality thing though.

Probably not...I don't think this kind of thing applies if it "goes against the schools religious ethos". A lot of schools still have church involvement.

I could be wrong though.

Annasopra

Originally posted by BuffyBot
Probably not...I don't think this kind of thing applies if it "goes against the schools religious ethos". A lot of schools still have church involvement.

I could be wrong though.

No I was at a seminar from the equality authority, the exception for a schools religious ethos is where say for example a catholic school could refuse to accept a muslim child as a pupil

Thats the way I understand it

Talliesin

Originally posted by HerrLipp
We were basically told it's okay to be a homosexual once we repress it and never have a relationship with anyone.

No teacher in my school would have dared come out with **** like that.
Did anyone challenge this? (I'm not saying that you necessarily should have challenged it, different classes and different schools would make that either very easy or very difficult, I'm just curious as to what the reaction of your classmates was).

Victor

Originally posted by yellum
Jesus it takes some thick skin and strong heart to be open about your sexuality in school.

I think that applies to an awful lot of kids whatever their sexuality. I was bullied for 10 years for various reasons (I was in the youngest 5%, i was small, timid and innocent and wore glasses) - everything from taunts and punches to being stuffed in an abandoned fridge. It has messed me up for the last 23 years. I think the first objective needs to be to stop bullying of any sort and promote mutual respect. I'm not saying education and tolerance about varied sexualities should necessarily take a back seat, but one will help bring about the other.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Did anyone challenge this? (I'm not saying that you necessarily should have challenged it, different classes and different schools would make that either very easy or very difficult, I'm just curious as to what the reaction of your classmates was).

well in my school we just never listened to her, the lads went on with their normal "homosexuality is gay *hehe" kinda thing, and the girls argued for a lil bit, but no one really payed any attention.

'sides, that is the catholic church's view on homosexuality anyway, seeing as they can't come out and say that it's evil any more.

Talliesin

Hmm. Some of us would probably have boycotted the teacher's class. Of course some of those who would have boycotted the class would have been doing so because they had an excuse to not attend the class, but take allies where-ever you may find them.

Looking back on my later school years I was quite lucky, not only was there someone else who came out at the same time that I did, but there were a good number who felt strongly pro-gay.

I agree with Victor about bullying. Acceptance of differences in sexual orientation will only come if it comes along with acceptances of a large range of things, and a general attitude of respect for one's peers.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

HerrLipp

Originally posted by Talliesin
No teacher in my school would have dared come out with **** like that.
Did anyone challenge this? (I'm not saying that you necessarily should have challenged it, different classes and different schools would make that either very easy or very difficult, I'm just curious as to what the reaction of your classmates was).

It was straight from our official textbook - Love one another!!

There was even a disclaimer - yes we know this will cause massive emotional problems but it's what God wants of you!

My classmates were actually like wtf? Even the more homophobic ones. There was mumbling and strange looks, but our teacher was so eager to get away from the whole "ugly" issue that there wasn't any discussion.