More needs to be done for gay and transgender students who go “through hell” daily at school, says the head of Egale Canada.
From taunts to assaults, binders being thrown at their heads, to a lesbian student who was shot with a BB gun in a drive-by, such incidents must stop, Helen Kennedy told educators at a Canadian Safe School Network conference in Toronto Wednesday.
“That’s Canada,” she said, after listing a string of hateful incidents gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students reported in a recent survey. “That’s here in Toronto.”
She also mentioned the weekend suicide of gay Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley, who had reportedly been bullied since elementary school.
Many incidents against queer youth — which includes those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender — happen in schools, and they report feeling most unsafe in change rooms, washrooms, halls and buses, she said.
Indeed, Hubley’s family said he was tormented in school and on the bus, and that bullies had tried to ram batteries down his throat on the way to school. He was also attacked verbally —as well as online — after starting a “rainbow club” at his high school.
Kennedy told the conference the survey of more than 3,700 teens across Canada found that two-thirds of queer students feel unsafe at school and that they hear anti-gay comments many times a day.
They also have a higher suicide rate than do heterosexual students.
“Why are we not doing anything about this?” she said. “That just bamboozles me.”
Kennedy said that while teacher unions do good work training teachers on how to run safe and inclusive classrooms, it should start in teacher college.
Catherine Fife, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said the suicides “highlight the need for schools to be inclusive and welcoming for all students,” adding that educators know queer youth are at higher risk.
Both she and Ken Jeffers, the gender-based violence prevention coordinator at the Toronto District School Board, said the province has begun to address the issue by mandating school boards to have anti-harassment strategies as well as mandatory reporting.
Jeffers said the Toronto board trains a staff member in every school to recognize and address such issues. He called them a “life raft” and adult ally for kids to turn to.
Kennedy, a mother of two young children, said teachers can be reluctant to intervene; sometimes they may fear backlash from parents or not be supported by school administrators.
“When I send my child to you for six hours, I expect him to come home safe,” and not be called a “fag” by other kids because he has two moms, she told the educators.
Origin
Source: Parent Central
From taunts to assaults, binders being thrown at their heads, to a lesbian student who was shot with a BB gun in a drive-by, such incidents must stop, Helen Kennedy told educators at a Canadian Safe School Network conference in Toronto Wednesday.
“That’s Canada,” she said, after listing a string of hateful incidents gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students reported in a recent survey. “That’s here in Toronto.”
She also mentioned the weekend suicide of gay Ottawa teen Jamie Hubley, who had reportedly been bullied since elementary school.
Many incidents against queer youth — which includes those who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender — happen in schools, and they report feeling most unsafe in change rooms, washrooms, halls and buses, she said.
Indeed, Hubley’s family said he was tormented in school and on the bus, and that bullies had tried to ram batteries down his throat on the way to school. He was also attacked verbally —as well as online — after starting a “rainbow club” at his high school.
Kennedy told the conference the survey of more than 3,700 teens across Canada found that two-thirds of queer students feel unsafe at school and that they hear anti-gay comments many times a day.
They also have a higher suicide rate than do heterosexual students.
“Why are we not doing anything about this?” she said. “That just bamboozles me.”
Kennedy said that while teacher unions do good work training teachers on how to run safe and inclusive classrooms, it should start in teacher college.
Catherine Fife, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said the suicides “highlight the need for schools to be inclusive and welcoming for all students,” adding that educators know queer youth are at higher risk.
Both she and Ken Jeffers, the gender-based violence prevention coordinator at the Toronto District School Board, said the province has begun to address the issue by mandating school boards to have anti-harassment strategies as well as mandatory reporting.
Jeffers said the Toronto board trains a staff member in every school to recognize and address such issues. He called them a “life raft” and adult ally for kids to turn to.
Kennedy, a mother of two young children, said teachers can be reluctant to intervene; sometimes they may fear backlash from parents or not be supported by school administrators.
“When I send my child to you for six hours, I expect him to come home safe,” and not be called a “fag” by other kids because he has two moms, she told the educators.
Origin
Source: Parent Central
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