Sexual Diversity In Schools?

Posted by archifCLICarchive from National - Published on 31/03/2011 at 13:45
6 comments » - Tagged as Education, People, Topical

Today, while procrastinating from my Chemistry work and discussing much more important matters such as the X-men films, I found myself Wikipedia-ing Sir Ian McKellen. However, to my surprise my school had filtered the page, not allowing me to view it. At first I was confused about this and questioned why a perfectly credible actor’s Wikipedia page was being blocked. I asked my friends what they thought of this and they also didn’t understand.

Thinking back to an article I had previously read on TheSprout entitled School Safety Search: Homophobic? It occurred to me that Ian McKellen is gay; however I still didn’t see this as a reason for his page to be filtered.

Much like the article previously mentioned I went on to search Oscar Wilde, who was again blocked by the school. The same result occurred for the searches “Homosexuality” and “Heterosexuality”.

I understand that these were all Wikipedia pages and therefore they are more likely to be blocked as anyone can edit them and I’m also aware that it is the school that was blocking these sites and not the council, however an issue still remains.

This RM safety search was still blocking a site for, as far as I could tell, mentioning homosexuality. This sends the message that homosexuality is something that should filtered out of young kids' lives or should not be mentioned. Not only would this create a very hostile environment for young LGBT people thinking about coming out, but it also creates a very ignorant generation on the issue.

It’s not only this though. This search has highlighted a point I think may be applicable to a number of schools around Cardiff - I don’t think sexual diversity is discussed enough.

By not discussing sexual diversity this immediately creates a negative stereotype for it, as if “it’s wrong”. I find it easier to believe that more and more people are uncomfortable with coming out at their age because of the way the topic is treated. Our generation especially should be educated about it because in our fast-forward moving society it is becoming more and more widely accepted - but without a knowledge on the topic that may be hard for certain people. Teaching kids about LGBT could be as simple as having assemblies on the issue, PSHE lessons or even clubs.

I hope that when I mention the filtering it will be tackled immediately by the school and that Cardiff schools as a whole put more attention into addressing the issue of sexual diversity to our generation.

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6 Comments – Post a comment

LoudandProud

Commented 62 months ago - 31st March 2011 - 16:23pm

Hi Sambow,

I do remember the last issue so I will take this to the Equalities officer for the Schools and Lifelong Learning Department in the council for you. From what I can remember about the last issue which came up I think it is because of the work sex being in homosexuality and heterosexuality on why some of the stuff gets blocked but I thought this was resolved.

I will send this link for the article to the equalities officer so he can deal with it asap.

If you get any more problems don't hesitate to contact Loud & Proud and we can see how we can help.

John

Also at the moment Loud & Proud has been going to schools in the southern half of the city delivering lessons on sexual identity and challenging homophobic and biphobic bullying. These lessons have gone down well and we have been asked to go back. At present we were advised by the funders to only deliver this half of the city as I think another organisation has been working in the north half of the city.

Once this has been done I am hoping we can get into more schools but as Loud & Proud is only a part time provision it is all down to funding.

LoudandProud

Commented 62 months ago - 31st March 2011 - 16:24pm

Also Sambow can you email me which school this is so I can let the equalities officer know. If you email JBond@cardiff.gov.uk then I can forward it to him.

Tom_Bevan

Commented 62 months ago - 31st March 2011 - 16:29pm

great article stormer, its a huge issue in schools indeed. Just this week, our sexual diverstiy group is doing an assembly for each year group and theyve gone really well i think- more schools need to start such groups to eradicate homiophobia for good!

EqualityOfficer

Commented 62 months ago - 31st March 2011 - 16:40pm

Hi Sambow

I am the equality officer for Schools in Cardiff, employed by the council.

What you describe above could potentially be indirect discrimination i.e. applying a system to all (banning websites with the word with sexuality in them) that has the impact of impacting on one group (gay people) more than another group (straight people). As such it would be illegal and so the school needs to address it.

On top of that, there is now a legal duty for all schools to teach equality for LGBT people (in the past they had a choice whether to or not, now they must do it by law). We have produced lots of materials and training for schools to help them to do this. I'd be happy to work with your school to get some work done there, as well.

I would need to know which school you are in, so that I can contact them and make sure they are aware of what you describe, and their duties under the new law. Maybe one of the administrators can see this message and contact me with your school, so that I can get in touch with them and get it addressed.

Many thanks
Shaun Evans-Pask
Equality Officer
Schools and Lifelong Learning
Cardiff