‘Growing up queer in a rural part of Norfolk with no role models and no one talking about being LGBTQ+ was lonely. I spent most of my teenage years just wishing I was like everyone else.’
, Evie defines herself as lesbian and queer, and advocates for comprehensive LGBTQ+ education in her school and online. Some 28% of LGBTQ+ teenagers in this study judged their education on positive and equal relationships to be ‘not great’, in comparison to only 15% of straight young people asked. And almost 30% of LGBTQ+ teens say they didn’t receive any support in this area at all.
It was introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, and was in effect from 1988 to 2000 in Scotland, and until 2003 in England and Wales. ‘At the point at which schools consider it appropriate to teach their pupils about LGBTQ+, they should ensure that this content is fully integrated into their programmes of study for this area of the curriculum rather than delivered as a stand-alone unit or lesson.
So although the DfE says it expects LGBTQ+ content – such as same-sex relationships and gender dysphoria – to have been taught when it is ‘timely’, it is down to schools to decide when this is appropriate and there is no specification of what this means in practice. ‘Due to a lack of mandatory curriculums and guidance over the years, it’s meant people have received really different levels of RSE,’ he explains.
He adds this has had a positive impact in some ways by making some teachers ‘more determined’ to ensure their teaching is queer inclusive, but for others there is still an ‘element of fear’ in discussing these topics. Nick warns fear from teachers also extends to parents, who were likely also educated under Section 28: ‘This means when their children come home to them [after school] they’re not always comfortable with or aware of how to approach the subject with their kids.
Nick, who is head of business development at Brook, claims ‘the world feels like it’s on fire’ for queer teens at the moment. ‘If you ask young people what they want – what is most important to them is they don’t want to open their phone and feel like they’re being attacked, or walk down the street and get beaten up for being LGBTQ+.’carried out by LGBTQ+ young people’s charity Just Like Us, of 2,934 pupils aged between 11 and 18 last year, found queer school pupils are twice as likely to have been bullied and 91% have heard negative language about being LGBTQ+.
A 12 year old should left to be a child at that age they do not know what they want. 🤔
That is absolutely appalling! Disgusting!
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Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »