THE SHIFT towards the left in social attitudes over the last ten
years has meant that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
people have won important rights in Britain. These include an equal age
of consent and the abolition of Section 28 of the Local Government Act,
freeing schools from the constraints they felt were stopping them from
discussing LGBT relationships.
Tom Penman, Socialist Party LGBT group
But the hangover from 20 years of government-sanctioned homophobia is
still felt by many young people, especially in the form of homophobic
bullying, which is still a massive problem. Estimates put the number of
schools affected by homophobic bullying at over 60,000.
Socialist Party / International Socialist Resistance post-Pride
meeting
Saturday 1 July, 3.45pm
The Clarence pub, Whitehall (Off Trafalgar Square)
On top of this the word gay is often used as a derogatory word. Radio
One DJ Chris Moyles recently provoked anger when he described a mobile
phone ring tone as ‘gay’ on his show. The BBC announced it was
acceptable for him to do so and the outburst wasn’t considered as
homophobic.
The main parties have all made comments against homophobic bullying
but hot air from them won’t solve anything. In fact their educational
policies are likely to make it worse. All three main parties support the
dismantling of free, publicly owned education in favour of City
Academies and PFI schools.
City Academies have their lessons and rules affected by whoever pays
the initial £2 million. If the sponsor has right-wing views (as many of
the City Academies are already attracting) then students can wave
goodbye to any decent education on LGBT issues, policies to deal with
homophobic bullying or sex and relationship education in general.
Even in schools that are publicly owned, there may be few resources
to help equip teachers and staff on how to deal with homophobic bullying
or provide education on relationship issues.
Homophobic bullying isn’t just restricted to LGBT youth. Anyone can
find themselves targeted for being slightly different such as a
hairstyle or different clothing. Gender stereotypes play a large role in
this. There are still ideas that men and women should look a certain way
and should only do certain activities and the idea that gay men and
lesbians should look and act in a certain way.
The idea that all gay men are camp, and should be dressed
‘fabulously’ is of course ridiculous. Yet it is still present on TV
shows and in newspapers, even on supposedly ‘gay-friendly’ shows such as
the US comedy Will and Grace.
International Socialist Resistance (ISR) campaigns against homophobic
bullying in schools, workplaces and society in general. To fight
homophobic bullying, we need a decently funded education system with
clear anti-bullying policies. Training needs to be available for
teachers and educational support staff.
We also need to challenge gender stereotyping and sexism. These
measures will go some way to fighting homophobia but ultimately we must
fight against the system that creates and uses homophobia to divide the
working class – capitalism. Only by the creation of a socialist society
can homophobia and other forms of prejudice finally be eliminated.
See
also: Police and fascists attack Moscow Pride
