Non-Normative Gender and Sexual Identities in Schools: - Schools Out

SJ: {it seems that, cos I I say a lot, that I think, obviously it’s important for people like
me, which I’m not obviously doing my job as it is, to be a role model for younger gay
people and be open about my sexuality, but at the same time I feel like it would be more
influential for a non-gay member of staff to stand up and be more more, get kids to be
more accepting of it. Because I think if I was a lot of kids would, it wouldn’t change their
perceptions. Although obviously, I’m a liked teacher, so it would in that sense. They
might sort of appreciate a bit more that just cos you are gay it doesn’t mean you are
strange or whatever. But I think obviously if you are not gay and you accepting of gay
people that relates more closely to them as kids being not gay.
AM: Yeah. I think that’s very important and I do have a number of friends who are
teachers, mainly in primary schools actually, 3, 2, of three friends who teach in primary
schools are straight and one is a gay man and it’s interesting that the two straight women
are [//] I don’t know whether it is because they are friends with me or they have got a lot
of other gay friends, but they are really pushing within their classes for that kind of
equality…
SJ: {yeah}
AM: …it’s really nice for me. And it might be because they’ve got gay friends perhaps
they wouldn’t be pushing so hard, but at least I just think, that’s a start.
SJ: Yeah definitely.
AM: You know you have got some straight women their that you know are kind of
putting these issues on the agenda.
SJ: Definitely.
AM: OK. Coming to policies. Um, do you know if there are policies in your school
regarding homo/bi and transphobic bullying specifically or whether it’s just included in
the general bullying policy?
SJ: As far as I’m aware it’s just included in the general policy. I don’t think we’ve got
anything specific on that at all that I know of.
AM: And thinking about these policies um and it may be the case that you know very
little about them, but from what you do know about them, do you feel that staff and
students who are LGBT or perceived LGBT are protected by these policies?
SJ: Um yeah just as much as any other pupil would be against anything else they were
dealing with bullying wise. Yeah I would have thought so. If for example, if a kid came
to a head of year and said that they are being bullied for being bisexual or whatever um
the head of year would deal with them exactly the same as if a kid came and said that
they were being bullied for being fat.
AM: Right OK.