4 in 5 of us have been bullied at school

Supposedly,our school days aremeant to be the happiest days of our lives. And yet for a considerable number of young lesbian,gay and bisexual people, it can be a time of fear and torment. According to a recent survey, half of teachers ignore homophobic language when they hear it.

4 in 5 of us have been bullied at school

“I was always bullied at school but in senior school the bullying turned more sinister and homophobic. As soon as teachers would leave the room the bullying began. If I was alone in the playground a huge gang would crowd around me to hide the violence from any of the teachers. Beatings were regular and teachers did little to stop it, as the kids were too violent to stop. I ended up leaving school with no qualifications. Regrettably at college the homophobic bullying continued and I tried to end it all, scarred by depression and phobias. I can’t work which means taxpayers fund me to survive. Homophobia left unchallenged costs, in many ways.”
name and address supplied
Letter received by LGF for Exceeding Expectations

Of current secondary school pupils, 143,000 children have suffered from anti-gay name calling, 64,000 have been physically attacked and 26,000 have had death threats.

Building on the work of the former Peer Support Project,we produced a new booklet ‘LGB YouthMatters’, aiming to push forward the youth agenda.

‘Exceeding Expectations’ is an unprecedented collaboration between the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, Manchester City Council Children’s Services, Manchester NHS Healthy Schools Partnership,Albert Kennedy Trust and Hope Theatre Company. The project which aims to end homophobia through education, launched a new quarterly newsletter, which reached every school across Manchester and was distributed to all 12,000 adults working in schools across the city.