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Gay rights campaigner in new appeal to Surrey schools (From Surrey Comet)
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Gay rights campaigner in new appeal to Surrey schools
11:14am Wednesday 25th February 2009
A gay rights campaigner has renewed his calls for Surrey’s schools to include homophobic issues in their anti-bullying policies.
Gino Meriano, chairman of Gay Surrey, sent letters to every school in Surrey in 2007 asking them to consider making changes. None replied, he claimed.
The charity now plans to launch a new campaign.
However, Surrey Council said its bullying policy, issued in 2008, also covers homophobic bullying.
A Surrey County Council spokesman said: "The council issued detailed guidance to all its schools in 2008. The guidance gives generic advice on all types of bullying and homophobic bullying is included in the section on groups of young people at risk.
"The council advises all schools to develop a detailed policy covering all anti-bullying issues."
Mr Meriano declined to give details of Gay Surrey's new campaign. He said: “We are laying down the preliminary work now and seeking funds to launch the campaign. This is a huge issue that needs to be dealt with.”
In a recent online lifestyle survey carried out by Gay Surrey, it was revealed that 38 per cent of the young people taking part had been bullied because of their sexuality but only 14 per cent reported it.
Besides being bullied because of their own sexuality, some children are also being picked on because their parents are homosexual.
“The scenarios are unfortunately many, and we have heard countless reports from adults who have suffered as children, basically because of inadequate school management,” said a Gay Surrey spokesman.
Its 2007 project, Don’t Segregate Educate, aimed to find out if schools had adequate anti-bullying measures in place and help them tackle any teasing related to sexuality.
“Homophobia exists in schools, colleges and universities. Bullying causes permanent damage to young people and blights the schools and colleges where it takes place,” said Mr Meriano.
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Fred1, Surbiton says...
9:19pm Thu 26 Feb 09
Then again, if the victim isn't actually gay, would you call it "homophobic"?
But then again - how are you supposed to verify the sexual orientation of a minor anyway? It's not as if we should be encouraging them to play the field and sleep around a bit in order to establish their preferences, now, is it? At least I sincerely *hope* that's not what happens.
Point is, I think there are dangers in trying to split hairs over whether any particular bullying incident is "homophobic" or not. All bullying is bad in my opinion, and it should all be stopped.
Of course, saying that is one thing - but doing it is quite another. But I don't honestly believe that the paper-chasing exercise of making sure that the policies are worded in a way that keeps the politically-correct mob happy is likely to make much difference to what actually happens on the ground.
When a child is a victim of bullying, they want to be able to talk to a *real* person, that they can actually trust. They *don't* want to have to make do with some box-ticking bureaucrat who knows how to make politically correct noises, but who doesn't actually give a monkeys. Let's stop trying to split hairs about bullying, let's stop trying to categorise it and put it into boxes, and let's start listening to the actual *victims*.