Wednesday, May 28, 2008

It's Tackling Homophobia Week on Teachers' TV (Freeview channel 88), and one of the programmes is about gay teachers. Several teachers talk about their experiences of homophobia and how they deal with it.

David expected to find London a diverse-friendly place to work, but reality was somewhat different. His school head was hostile to the idea of challenging homophobia in anti-bullying week, and criticised him. He eventually took action against the school for discrimination, and received a full apology.

A lesbian teacher, Elly, believes that diversity should not just be tolerated, we should instead celebrate it. Her school in Hackney started celebrating LGBT History Month three years ago and has succeeded in completely turning around attitudes. Elly believes that homophobia should be tackled as early as possible.

John, the deputy head of an East London primary school is using materials suggested by the No Outsiders project to help kids understand that it's okay to be different. John said that there has been the odd negative reaction from one or two parents, but nothing like the reaction he had feared.

School Matters - Gay Teachers

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