Schools: Think

Sunday Express.

'Teenagers... as young as five'.

How does that work exactly?

'Council to encourage school children to think...'

Heaven forfend!

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'.

Schools: The War Against Cissies

 

The days of boys and girls cheerfully baiting each other in the playground with terms such as “sissy” and “cupcake” or issuing orders to “man up” or “go make me a sandwich” may be brought to an end.

New guidelines being sent to all schools in England this week at the government’s request will urge head teachers to ensure that sexist phrases become as unacceptable as racist language.

Some schools are already creating volunteer squads of girls to police sexist language and behaviour and report back to teachers...

Sunday Times.

How about, instead of policing the language of the playground - which by definition is always going to be a bit 'childish' - we encouraged boys to be and/or admire cissies?

Just a thought.

Update: Glad to see Richard Littlejohn agrees with me, sort of.

Sunday Times: Signs Of The Times

TWO key witnesses cham­pioned by the deputy Labour leader Tom Watson in the VIP paedophile sex abuse scandal are being helped by a charity that uses a controversial ther­apy experts fear could generate false memories.

The therapy, in which the victims are given the details of the effects of sex abuse suffered by their own counsellor, has prompted concerns of a repeat of previous scandals in which “recovered mem­ory” played a part in false claims of child abuse in cases such as the Cleveland child abuse scandal in 1987 and the Orkney satanic ritual case in 1991.

Matthew Scott, a barrister who has worked on a number of child abuse cases, said: “It would be hard to devise a form of counselling more fraught with the danger of producing unreliable evidence.”...

What could possibly go wrong???

NUT: The Face Of Evil

Telegraph.

How could anyone in their right mind in the 21st century, who's not a complete and utter Nazi, think this is in any way controversial?

What 'influence' do these Christian charities have? All they ever do is get called to say something bigoted in right-wing newspapers.

PS Slightly less hysterical take on Guardian Education.

PPS Hang on... It's time gay relationships were part of the school curriculum, Telegraph!

Bullying: An Incredibly High Number

Exclusive: One in five gay teenagers claim they have suffered homophobic bullying from teachers and other adults in school

The Independent.

Really?

The question, as always, with surveys on gay youth in schools is how were the sample recruited http://t.co/0hfnIlg3Vy
— Mark McCormack (@_MarkMcCormack) March 8, 2015

Mark is a gay academic, senior lecture in sociology at Durham University, and author of The Declining Significance Of Homophobia.

“It’s an incredibly high number,” said Deborah Gold, the chief executive of the National Aids Trust...

Quite.

Update: The research is by the National Aids Trust.

You can read the report, Boys Who Like Boys, here.

It was a self-selecting online survey - ie not very scientific and not very reliable.

Oh well, let's hope the media reprint this wonky horror story without question, as per.

Daily Mail: Won't Somebody Please Think Of The Children!

This is the Mail's front page story from February 4th. 

It is - needless to say - an absolutely nonsensical distortion.

What, for the love of Kinsey, are 'sex lessons'?

The actual story is that Tristram Hunt, the Shadow Education Secretary has said Labour want to do more to tackle homophobia in schools.

Readers will find this out if they read the Mail's story to the bitter end.

It is impossible to paraphrase - or indeed to parody - the above article by Stephen Glover, so I won't bother.

This isn't his first I abhor bigotry but.. piece by the way.

PS I'll be feeding stories sloooowly throughout the day, pretty randomly, but will re-order them chronologically at a later date - cause it's my blog and I can do what I want. K?

The Express says what we're all thinking.

Gay School!: SHOCK!!!

A taxpayer-funded youth group has drawn up controversial plans for Britain’s first school for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pupils.

LGBT Youth North West wants the school to cater for children aged 13 and older who have been bullied and hopes the idea will be copied across the country.

Organisers yesterday denied that the school would become a ‘ghetto’ for gay children and said mainstream schools can be ‘one of the last bastions of homophobia’...

Daily Mail.

Fagburn was dreading reading the news about this, and expecting a load of hysterical misreporting.

'Why oh why do they need their own schools? It's Gay-ria law!' etc.

But no, all newspapers were quite reasonable; excusing their usual trick of talking to an anti-gay bigot for 'balance'. *

Even the Mail could see there may be a need to give temporary shelter to those queer kids who've been excluded from school because their lives have been made hell by extreme homophobic bullying, and the trauma this will cause.

Been rendered speechless for the second time today - by the Daily Mail!

Mind you, wait til Monday when the right-wing columnists get hold of this one...

* The Mail gave much space to Tory MP and former education minister, Tim Loughton; 'I cannot see how segregating a group of young people identified by their sexuality can aid better engagement and understanding.'

Oh Tim, please don't pretend you give a fuck if gay kids live or die.

Here's your voting record on LGBT rights!

Education: Is Gay

Teachers should work words like ‘gay’ into their lessons to fight homophobic bullying, an official report suggests.

Schools can make a ‘positive impact’ by incorporating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into the curriculum from reception class up.

The study, commissioned by the Government Equalities Office and supported by the Department for Education, also highlights how staff can improve the ‘visibility’ of LGBT people in schools by discussing topics such as diver Tom Daley ‘coming out’ as gay.

The report’s authors suggest that children as young as four or five should be taught about LGBT issues.

The report was published yesterday as Education Secretary Nicky Morgan unveiled a £2million drive to tackle homophobic bullying...

Daily Mail.

Cause if there's one word you don't hear enough in our schools it's 'gay'.

Brilliantly trivialising framing of this important initiative by the Mail. 

Not sure I can handle reading the Mail Online readers' comments yet, but presumably it's mainly variations on this... 

PS Here's the report, Tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying among school-age children and young people: findings from a mixed methods study of teachers, other providers and pupils.

Apology Of The Week: Norman Fowler

Margaret Thatcher's health minister today apologised for the controversial Section 28 of the Local Government Act as he backed a campaign to make sex education — including lessons on gay relationships — compulsory in schools.

Lord Fowler told the Evening Standard: “We have come a long way. It [Section 28] was a great mistake and I think it’s now recognised as a great mistake and I would apologise for it. It was totally misjudged.”

Lord Fowler was part of the Eighties Government that brought in the ban on schools from promoting homosexuality as a “normal family relationship”. The law was repealed in 2003.

He has signed a letter calling for sex education to be made statutory and suitable for both heterosexual and homosexual students.

The letter, written by gay rights campaigners, warned that children will get their sex education from internet pornography unless they are taught it by qualified teachers.

Lord Fowler, who was behind the Don’t Die Of Ignorance Aids information campaign in the Eighties, said properly taught school lessons could “torpedo inaccurate and sensationalised information” children come across online...Evening Standard.

And it only took a quarter of a century to realise this...

That same-sex SRE open letter in full.

And finally... Norman Fowler's recent book, Aids: Don't Die Of Prejudice.

Mail Online: From The Message Boards

A bingo-style homework project in which pupils are asked to look out for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender characters and references in TV shows has been developed by education experts.

The game, proposed by the Sex Education Forum, encourages children as young as 11 to analyse how same-sex relationships are portrayed by the media.

It involves a card with 12 squares to be crossed off, for example if a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender character is shown during an episode of any show...

Daily Mail.

Let's see what the Mail Online readers have to say...

And you wander why they leave school unable to read and write.

WHY?

Political correctness gone mad.

Can't read and write, but fever mind. More important things to do.

Oh for Goodness sake! I am truly blessed to not have any children. I would hate to bring them up in such a world!!

PS Here's the Sex Education Forum's LGBT Issue ££.

Bullying: Our Stories

A new campaign has been launched to tackle homophobic and transphobic abuse in schools.

The Crown Prosecution Service has created the resource pack for teachers, which includes lesson plans and a DVD.

School staff will be encouraged to download the pack but won't be forced to make use of it.

It has been welcomed by 19-year-old Joshua and 21-year-old Rhys, who were both bulled at school because of their sexuality.

They gave Newsbeat their reaction at an LGBT support group in central London.

BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat.

Letter Of The Day: The Guardian

The Guardian.

Well, the name's a bit of a giveaway.

PS Yesterday's letters.

Letter Of The Day: The Times

The Times.

Where do you start?

Where do you even fucking start?

Archbishop Of Canterbury: I Vow To Thee...

The Independent (and i, obvs).

Good for you.
Well done.
And not a century too soon.

The Independent: The Return Of Section 28

Although the hook here appears to be an NUT vote story, one wonders if the Independent are aware they first reported on  about this research by the British Humanist Assocation last August?

And the following day the BHA reported that already; 'a large number of the schools concerned have removed the relevant statements or have committed to reviewing their policies.
'The BHA is aware that the majority of the schools have removed or revised their sex and relationships education policies.'

So you could say it's gone down...

Dedication Of The Day: Michael Gove

“On behalf of teachers I'd like to dedicate this award to Michael Gove and I mean dedicate in the Anglo Saxon sense which means insert roughly into the anus of.”

Michael Steer, a maths teacher featured in Channel 4's Education Yorkshire, collecting the Royal Television Society Award for best documentary series.

Stephen Fry won best presenter for Out There.

Bless.

Sex: I Got My Education!

GAY role-play for children as young as 11 is being urged by experts – sparking outrage among parents.

New sex education recommendations for schools say kids should act out scenes with gay characters and “not deal only with heterosexual relations”.

Under a section titled “How do I make sex education inclusive?” the advice states: “Teachers should never assume that all intimate relationships are between opposite sexes.

“All sexual health information should be inclusive and should include LGBT people (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) in case studies, scenarios and role-plays.”

Concerned parent Graham Thoburn blasted the advice and said: "Why are children acting out any sex-related scenes of whatever type let alone 'act out scenes involving gay characters'?"

The Sun Sunday.

We do not really have 'sex education'.

We have Sex And Relationships Education, which is a bit broader and a horse of a different colour..

Fagburn thinks these comments made online may fall under the latter.

Kids are not actually being made to pretend to do bumming in school. 

You thick fuckwit.

Tom Daley: School's Out!

Olympic diving champion Tom Daley is a great role model for teenagers across the world. Earlier this week Daley published a YouTube video where he openly discussed his sexuality and that he is now in a relationship with a man, making him arguably the most high-profile UK sportsman to come out as bisexual or gay and definitely the youngest.

Your students are probably already discussing the story and may even have been part of the wave of support for Tom Daley on social media, especially through Twitter. The diver's frank and honest words have given schools a wonderful opportunity to get students thinking about how to tackle homophobia in school and to create a supportive environment for students of any sexual orientation.

Here we pull together relevant news stories, multimedia and teaching resources to use in tutor time, PSHE, citizenship, assemblies and beyond...

Teacher Network, The Guardian.

Probably a sign of how long it's been since Fagburn was at school, but just hearing about teachers and students even thinking about doing things like this makes me go emotional and think there's still some hope for the world.
Yo!

Will Young: Are We Talking Crap?

I like to think I'm down with youth culture and its slang. Well, a bit anyway. I understand that the word "sick" can mean "cool", and "bare" can mean "a lot". This is pretty much the limit of my knowledge. But I do like to think I can tell the difference between words that have changed their meaning in a quirky but harmless way, and those that have a damaging knock-on effect.

The evolution of the word "gay" is a case in point. Once it meant carefree or merry. Over time it came to be used to describe a sexual orientation. Now – for many at least – it has been appropriated to mean "rubbish" or "crap". So a word that started out meaning "happy" has ended up being used to denigrate. Well, language changes, doesn't it? Many would see no problem with a shift driven by everyday speech...

Will Young in The Guardian.

I'm sure he means well, but Will Young's interventions on this subject seem like a rather embarrassing turn at the St Cake's School Debating Society.
This is but one example of a problem that's general in our culture, where somebody's somewhat banal and quarter-baked thoughts are given weight and taken seriously just because they're a celebrity.
Why ask Will? He's hardly the only gay man in the country who went to a school.

Presumably this is a slightly garbled response to Brendan O'Neill's piece on the Telegraph blog last week; Gay now means rubbish - get over it. 

"The rising use of the word “gay” to mean rubbish has coincided with increased levels of tolerance towards homosexuals among young people," O'Neill wrote. "When I was at school, we never used the word gay to mean rubbish, and yet there was a lot of anti-gay sentiment, reflecting broader anti-gay outlooks in politics and society. Today, the opposite is the case – kids are forever using the word gay to mean rubbish, yet real, genuinely prejudiced anti-gay sentiment is on the wane, both in schools and in society."*

Gay academic Mark McCormack has reached similar conclusions through his research at three British schools, presented in his book, The Declining Significance Of Homophobia: How teenage boys are redefining masculinity and heterosexuality.**

Mark writes here on the need to contextualise how such language is used; Don’t call me homophobic: the complexity of ‘that’s so gay’

Will "Nice But Dim" Young was also in The Sun yesterday.
[Edit: This is clearly now his specialist subject, he's also on Newsnight this evening. I still haven't got over his squirm-inducing appearance on Question Time...].

He suggests calling in the thought police; "It is now time to come down on homophobic language like a ton of bricks."

His Sun article is titled; 23% of young gay people will try suicide.. it's a crisis - Singer's call to end bullying language
This story was filed under Showbiz, natch.

These statistics are highly dubious*** - and, as before, we need to be extremely cautious whenever discussing gay teen suicides; there is much research suggesting ill-thought-out media coverage may actually encourage it. 

But as ever, emotionally potent Cry Homophobia! gay hysteria seems to have trumped a much-needed rational debate.

Will Young, wearing a tea-cosy, and fellow posh gay twat Milo Yiannopoulos.

Clearly BBC  Newsnight's idea of a balanced debate.

* Ironically The Daily Telegraph is the only British newspaper that still tells writers not to use the word "gay", but "homosexual".

** O'Neill acknowledges Stonewall also say this; "Even Stonewall’s own report on the widespread use of the word gay in schools admits that “most of the time it is used unconsciously and without hurtful intent”
See Stonewall's 2012 The School Report - with comments on what school pupils make of all this.
Here Mark McCormack critiques their research and their use of stats for Psychology Today; "The School Report 2012 is a missed opportunity to inform the debate on homophobia in British schools, but the greater concern is that its overwhelmingly negative tone may encourage kids to stay in the closet."

*** By coincidence Fagburn is reading a fascinating, entertaining and thoroughly depressing book on the media's love of dodgy data and statistics; The Numbers Game: The commonsense guide to understanding numbers in the news, in politics and in life. What are the chances of that happening, eh? etc etc.