Liberal Democrats take action to stamp out homophobic bullying in schools - Julia Cambridge
Originally published by East Midlands Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrat parliamentary spokesperson for Chesterfield Julia Cambridge is welcoming a new project to stamp out homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in secondary schools announced today by Liberal Democrat Women and Equalities Minister Jo Swinson.
The new initiative seeks to understand fully how to reduce the prevalence and impact of homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying among school-age children and young people. Organisations are being invited to bid for funding to conduct a full review of all the available evidence and existing practices currently in place in schools to tackle this issue.
The review comes as the latest statistics from Stonewall reveal more than half (55%) of young lesbian, gay and bisexual people surveyed said they experienced homophobic bullying at school, while over two-thirds (68%) reported that they heard homophobic language often or frequently. Only three in ten (31%) said their school responds quickly to homophobic bullying when it occurs.
Commenting, Julia Cambridge said:
"This sort of bullying can lead to children withdrawing from education which can permanently affect their life chances. We need to do everything we can to save young people from these awful experiences.
"Liberal Democrats have been at the forefront of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality for decades. Once again we can be proud of the real progress we've made in Government developing and promoting progressive policies and initiatives for LGBT people like this one."
Commenting, Jo Swinson said:
"Homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying has serious consequences - it can affect children's well-being, lead to poor educational performance and prevent them getting ahead in life.
"It's completely unacceptable that young people are experiencing this type of derogatory treatment.
"This new project will help us to fully understand the issues and develop effective, evidence-based tools and best practice that will help schools and others to stamp out this harmful behaviour."
The Facts
1) The first phase of the project will involve a critical review of the evidence and existing practices on tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying, setting out the nature of the problem, what is currently being done, how and with what impact. This will help ensure that the project builds on existing work in this area and will inform the development of the next phase. Organisations wishing to tender to carry out this piece of work can access details of how to apply by visiting: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
The Coalition Programme for Government included a commitment to help schools tackle bullying in schools, especially homophobic bullying. This was echoed in the Government's two Action Plans on LGB&T equality published in 2011: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/creating-a-fairer-and-more-equal-society/supporting-pages/promoting-and-protecting-the-rights-of-lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-people