Homophobia in Schools

Homophobia in Schools Homophobia is more alive than ever. Each day homophobia takes places in the world through vicious spoken, written and physical acts. One place in society that homophobic acts are alive and predominant is in our schools. Homophobia takes places in a variety of ways in school, from offensive jokes, threats, harassment, or physical assault made towards lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender youth. As Campos describes in Diverse Sexuality and School, “homophobia denotes a fear or hatred of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender youth; it encompasses the prejudice or discrimination experienced by such persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity” (8). Society may be advancing in the aspect of understanding, but schools still have a long way because all students need to be educated on every type of sexuality. From a personal reflection, I recall taking a class on teen education in my tenth year of grade school; I do not recall being educated on any other sexuality other than heterosexuality and this was only six years ago. Today I ask the question, why? Are teachers just as homophobic as some students are? In a Canadian report entitled, Every Class in Every School: Final Report on the First National Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia in Canadian Schools, Taylor and Peter explore alarming statistics. “70 percent of all LGBT and non-LBGT students reported hearing expressions such as ‘that’s so gay’ every day in school, and almost 48 percent reported hearing remarks such as ‘faggot, lezbo, and dyke’ every day in school. 10 percent of students have heard homophobic statements from teachers.
70 percent of LGBT students said they feel unsafe in school” (Taylor and Peter 15). These facts are alarming, scary, and most of all true. The focus of my research is to focus on homophobic acts and examples, the effects of these acts, and ways to overcome homophobia. Homophobia is defined as a extreme rage and