Homophobia and Discrimination on

In interview, the Belgian LGBT NGO Arc en Ciel, was of the opinion that homophobia
<strong>and</strong> bullying in schools are issues of the utmost concern. 208 Similarly, the LGBT NGO
FELGT, in Spain, told interviewers that ‘coming out’ in high school poses a safety risk
<strong>and</strong> incidents of homophobia continue to occur in high schools. 209 The LGBT NGO
Hàttèr noted, during interview, high levels of LGBT harassment <strong>and</strong> bullying in
Hungarian schools. 210
Many LGBT NGOs <strong>and</strong> National Equality Bodies pointed to the use of the word 'gay' as
a common derogatory term in schools. They also said that teachers are often reluctant to
take name-calling <strong>and</strong> other types of LGBT harassment seriously.
Bullying <strong>and</strong> harassment of LGBT students have been studied in the United Kingdom,
Malta, Irel<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> by ILGA-Europe.
In the United Kingdom experiences of LGB persons in education were examined in a
2006 survey of 1,100 LGB youth. 211 The survey found that almost 65 per cent of young
LGB persons stated that they had experienced bullying in British schools because of
their sexual orientation. Forms of harassment included verbal abuse (92 per cent),
physical abuse (41 per cent), cyber-bullying (41 per cent), death threats (17 per cent)
<strong>and</strong> sexual assault (12 per cent). Practically all young LGB persons stated that they hear
phrases like ‘that’s so gay’ used in a pejorative way <strong>and</strong> hear insulting remarks such as
‘poof’, ‘dyke’ <strong>and</strong> ‘rug-muncher’.
In Malta the Gay Rights Movement studying homophobic bullying, harassment <strong>and</strong>
violence by students <strong>and</strong> teachers found that transgender students dropped out of
school or skipped classes because of the bullying, harassment or lack of underst<strong>and</strong>ing
by teachers <strong>and</strong> students. 212
In Irel<strong>and</strong>, research on homophobic bullying was carried out in 365 schools. 213 According
to the findings, 79 per cent of the teachers surveyed were aware of instances of verbal
homophobic bullying <strong>and</strong> 16 per cent of the teachers had encountered instances of
physical homophobic bullying. A further finding of the research was that homophobic
Comparative Organisation <strong>and</strong> Equality Research Centre (COERC) London Metropolitan University,
available at http://www.unison.org.uk/file/A2742.pdf (14.02.2009)
208 Fieldwork meeting with Arc en Ciel (Belgium 3 April 2008)
209 Fieldwork meeting with FELGT (Spain 13 March 2008)
210 Fieldwork meeting with Hàttèr (Hungary 17 April 2008)
211 R. Hunt, J. Jensen (2007) The Experiences of Young Gay People in Britain’s Schools. The School
Report. Stonewall
212 Malta Gay Rights Movement (2003) Sexual Orientation <strong>Discrimination</strong> in Malta: A Report on
<strong>Discrimination</strong>, Harassment, <strong>and</strong> Violence against Malta’s Gay, Lesbian <strong>and</strong> Bisexual Community, Malta:
Union Press. And J. Takács (2006) Social exclusion of young lesbian, gay, bisexual <strong>and</strong> transgender
(LGBT) people in Europe, Brussels: ILGA-Europe <strong>and</strong> IGLYO
213 N. James, M. Galvin <strong>and</strong> G. McNamara (2006) Straight talk: Researching gay <strong>and</strong> lesbian issues in the
school curriculum. Dublin: Centre for Educational Evaluation, Dublin City University
Part II - The Social Situation
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