Brighton College: Good Head

According to a 2014 YouGov survey, almost nine out of 10 secondary school teachers in Britain say pupils at their school have been bullied or harassed for being suspected of being gay, lesbian or bisexual. Yet eight in 10 have received no training whatsoever on how to tackle this issue. And more than half admit that they don’t routinely intervene when they hear homophobic language.

That is why I will welcome head teachers from across the country to Brighton College tomorrow, to discuss the best way forward in fighting homophobia in our schools so that each and every child feels safe and valued regardless of his or her gender, faith, colour or sexuality.

Joining us will be the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, gay rights activist and Labour peer, Lord Cashman, and prominent Times columnist, Matthew Parris.

Brighton College has a long history of tolerance and respect for difference. A few years ago, pupil Will Emery became the first openly gay pupil to be elected Head Boy of a major public school. Over a century before that, former pupil, Edward Carpenter, who later helped found the Labour Party and the Fabian Society, became one of the first gay rights activists. Not an easy cause in Victorian England...

Richard Cairns, Headmaster of Brighton College, writing in the Telegraph.

Brighton College is round the corner from Fagburn's old flat, so I could swing by.

Mr Cairns forgets his school's most heroic moment in modern gay history; in 2009 he offered Tom Daley a free place after his dad took him out of his Plymouth school because he was being bullied so badly.

Bless.

A bus dedicated to Edward Carpenter, Hove's most famous gay anarchist-socialist.

PS For the record, Edward Carpenter seemed to hate his old school.

In turn, the 1886 College Register listed EC as a 'Farmer and fruit-grower'.