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Gay Proselytism
The case for extending Section 28
©
The Christian Institute, November 1999
Contents
Section 28
Promote marriage, not homosexuality
Why Section 28 has worked in schools
Stopped by Section 28
The health promotion loophole
The homosexual phase
Homosexual conditioning
Tracking a million
Jobs for the Boys
Gay lessons
Youth workers & outreach workers
Gay jamborees
Pretended families
Health Promotion
Bullying
An oppressed minority?
Conclusion
Appendix I : London Boroughs Grants
Appendix II : AIDS
References
|
Section 28 has been effective in preventing the promotion of homosexuality in schools. It has also curbed the excesses of many local authorities. But, as this publication shows, some local authorities are funding projects which clearly promote homosexuality. Taxpayers’ money is also being funnelled into pro-gay schemes through Health Authorities - whose actions are not subject to Section 28. Section 28 must not be repealed, as gay rights campaigners demand. It must be strengthened by bringing Health Authorities within its ambit - and it must be enforced in the courts. |
Section
28
Section 28 stops public money from being spent on the promotion
of homosexuality in schools and elsewhere. Section 28 is not about
bullying or prejudice. It is about money.
This booklet traces £1 million of public money diverted from education or health that is being used to promote gay rights and homosexuality. This represents what researchers have uncovered in just three weeks. It is the tip of an iceberg.
There
is direct evidence that gay rights projects are taking away money
that should properly be spent on education or helping treat sick
people (including those with fatal diseases such as cancer, heart
disease or AIDS).
What Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 requires:
“ (1) A local authority shall not-
(a) intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality;
(b) promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.
(2)
Nothing in subsection (1) above shall be taken to prohibit the doing
of anything for the purpose of treating or preventing the spread
of disease.”(1)
Section 28 should be extended because some health authorities
are:
It should be illegal to promote homosexuality to school children
because:
Promote marriage, not homosexuality
The vast majority of ordinary parents want their children to grow up, get a good education, settle down and get married. Their aspiration is that one day their children will have their own families.
Parents believe that education has an important role in teaching young people about the responsibilities of adult life. They believe it is right for the values of the home to be supported by schools.
The evidence from opinion polls confirms that this is precisely what parents want. Well over 70% strongly support promoting marriage in schools.(2),(3)
In January 1999 the Government Green Paper on the Family stated that,
“Marriage is still the surest foundation for raising children and remains the choice of the majority of people in Britain”.(4)
In
England, the Secretary of State for Education, David Blunkett, has
ordered that non-statutory guidance issued on Personal and
Social Education should include teaching about the importance of
marriage.(5),(6) But what use
will this be if local authorities are allowed to promote homosexuality
and homosexual families in schools? It will be a return to what
was happening in London schools in the 1980s.
Concern about sexual experimentation
Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe.(7)
The average age at which young people first had sex fell from 20
to 17 years in the period 1966 to 1991. It continues to fall.(8)
There is widespread concern about the breakdown of the family on
the upcoming generation.
Most children are still brought up by married parents. Seventy percent of them live in households headed by a married couple. Only 7% live in cohabiting households, but, significantly, 24% live in a lone parent household.(9) Three out of every five of these lone parenthood households were created through divorce or separation. (10)
Today around 25% of children will see their parents divorce by the age of 16.(11) Britain has the second highest divorce rate in Europe.(12)
What has happened to the family is very serious for our society because the family is a primary carrier of values.
If promoting homosexuality in schools is legalised vulnerable children will become even more confused.
It
will be the most vulnerable children of all who will be most affected.
A generation of young people have grown up with one parent absent
- usually the father. It is well established that this can have
a profound effect on young boys. Not surprisingly they can be sexually
confused in the teenage years. They can long for the relationship
with their father that they never had. They may seek a same-sex
relationship to substitute for this.(13) This
makes them more easily manipulated by adults who promote the homosexual
lifestyle.
A homosexual phase
Even before the recent problems of family breakdown it surely has
always been true that young teenage boys can go through a phase
of having an attraction for other boys. In most cases this is just
a passing phase. But there is concern that such young people could
be encouraged to experiment sexually in a way that they will later
come to regret. Many will regret it because they know it to be morally
wrong and feel guilty. Others will have even greater cause for regret
since homosexual activity carries grave risks to health.
The
health risks
Male homosexual activity is hazardous. Anal intercourse is particularly
dangerous - so dangerous that those who have ever engaged
in it are banned from giving blood by the UK’s National Blood
Service.(14) One in six gay men in London are
HIV positive according to the Terrence Higgins Trust.(15)
Hepatitis B, neisseria gonorrhoea and treponema pallidum are
other diseases commonly contracted by homosexuals that can also
be fatal.
Young people are not being told the truth about homosexual experimentation. Even leading homosexual researchers have complained that in health promotion materials for homosexuals “death is never mentioned” and “the danger for an uninfected man of having unprotected sex with an infected man is never explicitly stated.”(16)
Concern
about homosexual proselytism
Instead of promoting marriage in schools the evidence is that some
local authorities want to promote homosexuality. Thanks to Section
28 they have not generally done so in schools. But the situation
is changing. Because the Government wants to repeal Section 28 local
authorities and NHS Trusts are confidently appointing a growing
number of homosexual outreach workers for schools and for youth
clubs.
There have been many instances where local authority officials have used their powers to block expenditure which would have been illegal under Section 28. But there have also been many occasions where this has not happened and public money has been spent promoting homosexuality.
This
study looks at what local authorities and NHS Trusts are doing now.
In so doing it sets the scene for a return to the battles of the
1980s if Section 28 is ever repealed. But first a look at the successful
impact of Section 28.
Top
Why Section 28 has worked in schools
If anyone can be thanked for making Section 28 so effective it is Derek Hatton, the disgraced Liverpool Councillor. The property scandals involving Liverpool Council in the 1980s led to various “whistle-blowing” provisions being put on the statute book. These greatly strengthened the independence of Council staff from overbearing Councillors intent on breaking the law. (17),(18)
General public awareness about Section 28 has also made it much more difficult for Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to promote homosexuality in schools. It only takes one parent to complain to the District Auditor for an investigation to be launched.
The evidence is that these whistle blowing provisions, plus the threat of District Audit investigation and subsequent surcharging of Councillors, have all made Section 28 effective. There can be no doubt that the move over to local management of schools has helped. LEAs have lost the power to retain large proportions of their education budget.
Certainly the groups which campaigned for a legal ban on the promotion of homosexuality in schools have expressed themselves as well pleased with the way Section 28 has worked in practice. Nick Seaton of the Campaign for Real Education explains:
“Before Section 28 came into force we were getting considerable numbers of parents complaining to us about the promotion of homosexuality in schools. After Section 28 it almost disappeared as an issue. If Section 28 were to be repealed it’s almost certain that the promotion of homosexuality would become a huge bone of contention between parents and schools.”(19)
Stopped
by Section 28
The main effect of Section 28 has been as a deterrent. This is accepted
even by those who want Section 28 repealed. Writing in 1992, the
gay rights activist Peter Tatchell argued that Section 28 had led
to “at least 35 instances of self-censorship by local authorities
fearful of prosecution”.(20)
Since Section 28 came into force in 1988 there have been many instances where it has prevented the promotion of homosexuality. The following are some examples which have become public:
As
will be seen below some local authorities have been determined to
promote homosexuality even with Section 28 in place. But the law
has caused even these authorities to think twice.
Top
The health promotion loophole
Whilst the pro-homosexual activities of Education Departments have
been curbed, large amounts of local authority money have still been
spent promoting homosexuality. Often this has been done under the
guise of health promotion work - which is exempt from Section 28.
On top of this, where local authorities cannot act because of the
law, NHS health promotion trusts have stepped in.
Section 28 does not prohibit “the doing of anything for the purpose of treating or preventing the spread of disease.”(28) This legitimate exception, intended to protect work against sexually transmitted diseases, has been ruthlessly exploited for illegitimate means. (For an examination of expenditure on HIV/AIDS prevention and HIV/AIDS treatment, see Appendix II).
The contention of this publication is that local authorities and health authorities are now funding gay proselytism of young people.
For instance: What does health promotion have to do with funding youth workers to target young people who are “questioning their sexuality”?
Why do so many publicly funded youth worker posts require no qualifications apart from being homosexual?
What does health promotion have to do with telling young people how to commit homosexual acts in public and how to deal with the police if they get arrested?
What does health promotion have to do with taking young people to adult ‘gay pride’ festivals?
What does health promotion have to do with funding a web-site to help homosexual men find places to have dangerous, anonymous sex?
What
does health promotion have to do with producing leaflets
giving advice to homosexual holidaymakers on how to ask for sex
in five languages, and how to bring pornography and sado-masochist
equipment back into the country when they return? (29)
Top
Young people are vulnerable. The teenage years in particular can be a very confusing time because of the enormous physical and hormonal changes which teenagers go through.
This confusion can be especially acute over the issue of sexual identity. Research shows that some young people, more often boys than girls, go through a phase in their development in which they feel attracted to members of the same sex. Most of those who go through this phase grow out of it. The largest and most recent UK study of sexual behaviour is the national Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles study by Kaye Wellings and her colleagues. This study found that
“A form of bisexuality prevalent in early adulthood may represent a transitional phase in which preferences are tested through experimentation with different lifestyles and relationships”.(30)
Young men (aged 16-24) were more likely to report having been attracted to someone of the same sex than other age groups.(31) According to the study some 2.4% of men and 1.7% of women have had a “homosexual experience” without any genital contact. (32) “Homosexual experience” (which may involve little more than simply putting an arm around another person): “is often a relatively isolated or passing event”(33) or “a transient part of their sexual development.” (34)
Even for those who have had actual genital contact “half of all men and two thirds of women who report having had a same-gender partner in their lifetime have had only one.”(35) The study states that for them “the experience was a single, possibly youthful and experimental, occurrence and for whom homosexual inclination was not a lasting orientation.”(36)
Rejecting
the gay lifestyle and its subculture
So the Wellings study finds that even of those young people who
engage in homosexual activity, most will come to reject it. This
is also confirmed by a very large US study of 36,741 American adolescents
aged 12 to 20. It found that 1% reported ‘homosexual experience’
(this includes non-sexual experience) in the previous year (1.6
% of boys and 0.9% of girls). But of this 1% only 27.1% identified
themselves as homosexual or bisexual.(37) The
vast majority of those young people who had had homosexual experience
rejected a homosexual identity. They do not call themselves “gay”.
Many publicly-funded homosexual youth projects focus on “coming out” techniques which force young people to decide whether they want to be thought of as “gay”. Why should pressure be put on them to make that choice? The majority of young people who have engaged in homosexual activity do not go on to label themselves as homosexual or bisexual.
Adopting
a gay identity separates a young person from the mainstream of society
and precludes some of the major satisfactions of adult life. Teaching
“coming out” techniques can manipulate young people into
making profound choices, the implications of which can be lifelong.
Top
Homosexual conditioning
Most boys who experience same sex attraction never commit homosexual
acts. However some do. But even with this group, most try it once
or with one person and never again. Only around 40% of those who
try out homosexual activity continue with it.(38)
That young people can be influenced by their environment into having homosexual activity is illustrated by the established fact that homosexuality is more prevalent in boarding schools. The Wellings study finds clear evidence that, “Schooling has an important influence on whether someone has ever had a homosexual partner...”(39). Experience of same-sex genital contact is nearly three times more likely amongst those men who have attended boarding school.(40)
The Wellings researchers therefore accept a facultative thesis: because there are more opportunities for same sex contact in boarding schools it happens more often.(41) More opportunity means more likelihood of homosexual experimentation. All this is plain common sense.
The
“born that way” argument
In recent years three scientific papers have proposed a “gay
gene” theory. All of these have now been soundly rebutted by
the wider scientific community. In 1993 Professor Dean Hamer, announced
that he had found the “gay gene”.(42)
Two years later he faced an investigation for misconduct when a
member of his own staff who voiced doubts about his work was sacked.(43)
In 1999, after a two year study looking at his claims, scientists
in Canada concluded that there was no basis for Hamer’s conclusions.(44)
After the rejection of Hamer’s work in Science Peter Tatchell,
the gay rights activist, said,
“I’m amazed that it’s taken this long to destroy what is obviously a totally implausible theory. It is a choice, and we should be glad it’s that way and celebrate it for ourselves.”(45)
Identical twins have identical genes. Yet a much-vaunted study by researchers Bailey and Pillard found that only 52% of identical twins in their study were both homosexual. In the other 48% of cases one was homosexual and the other heterosexual. If genes determined sexual orientation then each twin would have to have the same sexual orientation (either homosexual or heterosexual). (46) This would mean that Maria Eagle MP, sister of openly lesbian MP, Angela Eagle, would be a lesbian too. But she isn’t. And even if she was, the ‘gay gene’ could only be ‘proved’ if every set of twins were either both heterosexual or both homosexual.
The fact is that no serious geneticist believes that a single gene can dictate behaviour. Behavioural genetics looks at many genes in combination. Even if a link between genes and behaviour is established, it only indicates a predisposition. No one has to behave in a certain way because of their genetic make-up. No one is gay because of their genes.
Homosexual
proselytism
Civilised societies have always restrained sexual activity. Until
comparatively recently, social control strongly promoted marriage.
Homosexual proselytism seeks to reverse this and to manipulate young
people into seeing homosexuality as an acceptable and morally right
lifestyle.
For most people the biggest obstacle to homosexual conversion (“coming out”) is their own conscience. The Wellings study found that 70% of men believe that homosexual practice is wrong. (47) Even younger respondents to the study were “not markedly more tolerant than older ones”.(48)
This booklet shows that local authorities and health authorities are softening up young people by promoting homosexuality as acceptable, and homosexual experimentation as legitimate.
| Key Points |
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Tracking
a million
Researchers at The Christian Institute took three weeks to track
down £1 million of public money being spent on promoting homosexuality.
This is the tip of the iceberg. Researchers looked at job recruitment
adverts in back issues of one homosexual newspaper, the Pink
Paper.(49) They also looked at one grants
scheme run by London Councils. During a three week period this information
was followed up by obtaining public accounts from local authorities
and health authorities, statutory accounts from Companies House
and annual returns from the Charity Commission.
The total cost of all the jobs in the survey, advertised in the Pink Paper over the year to October 1999, was £685,000. In addition, researchers uncovered £340,000 given to gay and lesbian groups in 1999 by London Councils through the London Boroughs Grants Scheme. One example of an LBG funded organisation is LAGER (Lesbian and Gay Employment Rights). As its name suggests the organisation campaigns for homosexual employment rights. LAGER’s turnover for 1997/1998 was £173,963.(50) It received £108,457 from London Boroughs Grants - 62% of its income in that year.(51) (See Appendix I)
Few local authorities came near to giving as much as London Boroughs Grants (LBG), whose money comes from all 33 of the London Authorities.(52) LBG was set up after the abolition of the Greater London Council and its total grants budget is over £28 million and covers more than 500 voluntary groups.(53)
As will be seen the sums involved in promoting homosexuality add up to considerably more than £1 million a year. Nationally the HIV prevention budget comes to £52.3 million annually.(54) Some of this is going to health authority projects which promote homosexuality. This study has only analysed £500,000 of this money, along with another £500,000 taken from council budgets.
(The
separate budget for treating HIV/AIDS patients comes to £199.3
million.(55) The success of medical treatments
is compared to the failure of HIV prevention in Appendix
II.)
Techniques
Local authorities have found ingenious ways to fund the promotion
of homosexuality. Like many such groups, MESMAC (“MEn who have
Sex with Men: Action in the Community”) in the North East of
England receives funding from several Council departments all at
once. The true scale of Council funding is not clear without tracking
down all the streams of public money involved.
If the body being funded is a limited company or a registered charity, then the accounts are in the public domain and filed at Companies House or the Charity Commission. If the body being funded is part of a local authority or health authority, tracking down the funding is a much more complex matter.
Islington Council has left much of the promotion of homosexuality in its area to the local Health Authority which is, of course, exempt from Section 28. Camden and Islington NHS Health Promotion Trust fund youth workers to help young people “come out”. They also produce teachers’ manuals and explicit homosexual sex guides, and publish booklets to help youngsters adopt a homosexual lifestyle.
Homosexual proselytism in Manchester is handled by a range of voluntary organisations funded by the City Council. The 1999/2000 budget includes £17,400 to the Lesbian and Gay Switchboard and £31,200 to the Peer Support Project (PSP) which advises school children on “coming out and staying out”.(56) Linked to PSP is “Lesbian and Gay Youth Manchester” which takes children to adult gay pride festivals all over the UK.
Many local councils have set up joint projects with NHS Community Health Trusts. The workers involved are often appointed on the basis of being a homosexual or lesbian. Qualifications are often deemed to be unnecessary.
Key
facts from the survey of recruitment adverts will be considered
next.
Top
Jobs for the Boys
The Christian Institute surveyed job adverts placed in the Pink
Paper between May 1998 and October 1999. A total of 73 posts
(57) were identified which claimed to:
All jobs involving direct social care or health care of those suffering with HIV or AIDS were excluded from the survey.
In most cases the advertisements clearly stated the rate of pay, usually as a range depending on qualifications and experience. In the figures below employer’s costs (“the on-costs”) have been estimated as 20% of the salary.(58)
It must be remembered that this is not an exhaustive survey of all publicly funded jobs which promote homosexuality. The survey looked at the jobs advertised in only one newspaper. There are many other places where such jobs are advertised. Many of the adverts were for new jobs, but it could also be that a job is advertised to replace a person who is leaving. In any event, the proportion of jobs advertised must be only a fraction of those which are already in existence.
Voluntary
organisations
The remaining 25 posts in the survey (59) were
with voluntary organisations which get most of their funding from
public sources. Our calculations assume that these voluntary organisations
receive only 50% of their funding from public sources. In reality
the proportion is likely to be much more. One example is Healthy
Gay Manchester. It advertised for five posts, varying from “Fundraising
and Events Co-ordinator” to “Sessional Group Workers”.
The cost of these posts adds up to at least £49,201.(60)
The organisation’s web site gives extensive tips on what to
do if you are arrested for committing homosexual acts in public.(61)
Its Accounts for 1997/98 gave an operating income from six health
authorities of £307,950 and voluntary donations of only £9,984.(62)
Income from health authorities makes up 83% of Healthy Gay Manchester’s
total income.
A reasonable estimate for the total annual cost of all the local authority and health authority posts advertised in the Pink Paper over an 18 month period is £740,000. Excluding jobs advertised from May to September 1998, jobs advertised in the year period October 1998 to September 1999 would cost £685,000 pa. This comes to £1,025,239 per year when the LBG’s £339,825 is added.(63)
One year's worth of gay rights jobs, advertised in one paper, cost the tax-payer £685,000
Top
Gay lessons
Because of Section 28 local authorities cannot require schools to
promote homosexuality. That does not mean they have not tried. Below
is a list of examples where attempts have been made to promote homosexuality
in schools. Some of the examples constitute clear breaches of Section
28. Others illustrate techniques that some local authorities have
successfully used to get around the law.
As the prospect of repealing Section 28 comes closer, some local Councils have become more daring in their promotion of homosexuality, including the appointment of homosexual “outreach workers”. The Gay Times admitted in February 1999 :
“many local authorities are turning a blind eye to Section 28 and actively encouraging youth projects and other council-funded initiatives not to restrict their activities simply out of fear of breaching the legislation.”(64)
Just
what some of these initiatives are will now be considered. Some
of these examples were uncovered as a result of the jobs survey.
Others came to light via different means. The cost to the public
purse is given where it is known.
The London Borough of Haringey
In 1988, in the face of considerable public criticism for its promotion
of homosexuality, and just as Parliament was about to legislate
against the promotion of homosexuality in schools, Haringey reiterated
its commitment to putting homosexual issues on the school curriculum.(65)
The extent to which this has been implemented is not known. However,
it is known that in August 1998 the London Borough of Haringey advertised
the post of “Part-time Youth Worker (Lesbian or Bisexual Female)”
to work alongside two male workers as part of the Outzone Schoolswork
Project. The 18 hours a week post had a salary ranging from £3,000
to £5,270 and was jointly funded by the Enfield and Haringey
Health Authority and Barnet NHS Healthcare Trust. The Schoolswork
Project, and its sister project the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Club,
were billed as: “two exciting and unique pilot projects…
in Haringey and Barnet schools.” The youth work post was to
“develop work around sexuality and related issues with schools
primarily in Haringey and Barnet.” It began with training teachers
in secondary schools, before going on to do direct work with schoolchildren.
The London Borough of Haringey also runs a lesbian, gay and bisexual
homework club.(66)
Stockport
Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council’s Education Division
advertised three posts for homosexual youth work to help run its
Young Gay Men’s Project (2 posts) and its Lesbian/Bisexual
Project (1 post). The assistant youth worker with the Lesbian/Bisexual
Project was required to “assist the Development Worker With
Girls and Young Women in continuing to develop a safe, welcoming,
educative and supportive environment for Girls and Young Women who
are identifying as lesbian or bisexual.” The post involved
working with schools and colleges and other agencies and preparing
leaflets, posters and other visual materials “for distribution
to appropriate venues”. “Press releases, radio and communications
to other agencies” were also part of the brief, as were “sexuality
training initiatives”.(67)
Newham Community Health Services
Newham Community Health Services NHS Trust fund a “Male Development
Worker” for “Gay, Lesbian & Bi-Sexual young people”
(salary £19,726 a year). The advertisement for the post required
applicants with:
“...experience of working with young people, in particular those who identify as Gay, Lesbian or Bi-Sexual, and with young men in single sex settings … confidence in discussing sexual health matters …[and] facilitating sexual health promotion, education and/or training with young people … Knowledge of PSHE/education issues”.
Although no formal educational requirements were given in the advert, the post did involve,
“development of young people’s sexual health services, [including] direct sexual health/promotion with young people in a variety of settings, clinic-based sexual health work, schools, colleges, youth clubs.”(68)
‘Health
Promotion’ in Avon
A video encouraging school children as young as 13 to experiment
with same sex partners has been produced by Health Promotion Services
Avon. It aims to “explore ways in which sexuality can be included
in the curriculum.”(69) Scenarios in which
pupils are required to imagine themselves include:
“Michael is 15 and his boyfriend wants him to have sex. He really wants to but he is nervous. Michael knows he should use a condom but doesn’t know where to go for help. What should he do? Consider: …What might you do?”(70)
Other characters they are asked to act out include: “Married man who was ‘done’ for cottaging… S & M heterosexual woman... Transvestite cabaret artist”.(71) “Cottaging” is slang term for homosexual sex in public lavatories. S & M is short for sado-masochistic. These terms are defined in the teacher’s handbook so that pupils can understand.
It is also suggested in the guide that teachers should ask pupils, “If your sexuality was known about, would you be able to: … Adopt a child? … Marry your partner? … Have sex legally at 16? … Have the sex you want when you want it? … Expect positive role models at school?”(72) Amongst the “skills” which the teaching pack seeks to give to children are the ability to “cope with ‘coming out’ and questioning one’s sexuality” and “making positive sexual choices”.(73)
The video is a powerful recruitment tool. It particularly targets “Young People questioning their sexuality”.(74) Almost all of the young people interviewed in the video are well-versed in pro-homosexual arguments. A young lesbian is one of the main characters in the video. She recounts a promiscuous search for satisfaction with boys before turning to same-sex relationships. She describes her mother as “very religious” and a “homophobe”(75).
Towards
the end of the 15 minute video, intended for children 13 years old
and above, one of the young people, ‘Karl’, suggests that
children should “try experimenting with other boys and girls
and see who you feel most comfortable with.”(76)
Camden and Islington NHS Trust
In 1996 dozens of primary and secondary schools received a 160-page
guide produced by the Camden and Islington NHS Trust telling teachers
how to create “positive” images of homosexuals and persuade
children that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.(77)
This guide was called “Colours of the Rainbow”. Although
it was produced by the Health Promotion Service of the Trust, at
a reported cost of £40,000,(78) it clearly
has little to do with health. Rather, it is designed to be a homosexual
proselytism handbook for teachers of children aged 5 to 16. In three
forty-five minute lessons for five year-olds called “Spectrum
of Sexuality” the teacher is instructed to explain various
scenarios to his pupils: “Michael is 6, has black hair, green
eyes, white skin and is about the same height as... (point to a
pupil). He likes sweets and lives with his two mums, Mona and Yasmin.
Ask the class to draw/paint his family. Name and label them.”(79)
Two other families are similarly described. One who has a mother
and a father and the other who has two fathers.
In
a lesson for seven year olds, pupils are given pictures of an all-female
group and an all-male group. The purpose of the lesson is to discuss
the use of “ambiguous sexuality images and sexual imagery in
advertising”. The men are close together in suggestive poses
wearing only shorts. A pair of women in the sexily dressed female
group are holding hands. The children are asked to describe how
the pictures make them feel.(80) For a lesson
intended for fourteen year olds, teachers are provided with information
from the homosexual campaign group Stonewall about “homophobic
violence”. Teachers are encouraged to give the pupils information
about joining Stonewall.(81)
Birmingham City Council
In 1998 Birmingham City Council, in partnership with the Birmingham
Health Authority, produced 80,000 copies of a 150-page information
book for the youth of the city. Free to children aged between 14
and 17, the guide was made available on request to teachers and
youth workers for distribution to those in their charge.(82)
It cost £84,000 in printing alone.(83) Staff
costs and other overheads will mean the actual cost was substantially
more than this. The Young People’s Guide covers many
areas: alcohol; death; eating disorders; racism; and stress, in
each case giving information on where to get advice and support.
It stresses at the beginning “You do not need your parents’
permission to contact any Helping Service. Parents will not be told.”(84)
The guide tells young people to beware of prejudice, claiming that ‘anti-gay’ prejudice “is often based on fear and ignorance”.(85) The book suggests that “Meeting and talking with other people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual is important in order to feel good about ourselves.”(86)
For those questioning their sexuality and perhaps wishing to hear a view other than a pro-homosexual one, there is nothing in the Young People’s Guide. There are nine pages of solid homosexual proselytising material with extensive tips on “coming out”. It ends the section with quotes from five young people aged 15 to 19, three of whom are homosexual, and one who “wasn’t sure” (and by implication now is sure) about her sexuality.(87)
Save
for one section on smoking (which strictly advises youngsters to
stop) the guide is unusually sloppy in the advice it gives to young
people. In the section on HIV/sexually transmitted infections it
blithely states that “They are as common as colds or flu”
and “They are just part of life”.(88)
The very next page states “Sexually transmitted infections
are not like colds. They don’t just go away if left.”
(89)
Islington Council
The name of Islington has been synonymous with the use of public
money to promote homosexuality since the 1980s and the radical policies
of the former Greater London Council.
The Borough Library service produced a booklet called “Strength and Pride” - the “Islington Libraries guide to books, music, videos and information”. The 52-page guide covers homosexual books, magazines, videos and music for homosexuals. Shelf references are included along with the usual list of gay helplines.(90)
Most of the videos in the guide are described with reference to their sexual content. The literature is not much better. Of 105 books listed 54 are stocked by Islington Libraries. “Spartacus” is a gay tourism guide (shelved at 647.947). “The Lesbian Sex Book” covers “anonymous sex and much more” (shelved at 612.6).(91)
Even Islington Libraries have stopped short of stocking all the titles they recommend. Perhaps if Section 28 was repealed they would buy them in. Recommended in the guide but absent from the shelves are four titles which promote homosexuality as a pretended family relationship. In the section of the guide called “Issues for Parents/Carers/Children and Young Adults” we are told about “The generous Jefferson Bartleby Jones” - “the story of a boy with ‘two Dads’ who loans them to friends! Special times and family life with gay parents; in Jeff’s case he shows it’s double the fun!” “Daddy’s roommate” is a “Child’s perspective on life with Daddy and Frank. Positive images of everyday life for children with gay parents: simple text, superb illustrations.” There are two other similar titles in this section. (92)
Also
absent from the shelves but recommended is “Out of Bounds”
- “a romantic and touching novel showing the forbidden love
of a school teacher for one of his pupils and of the many hazards
therein. Set in the idyllic surroundings of an English boys school,
the love blossoms around the cricket field…”(93)
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Youth workers & outreach workers
As well as sending homosexual workers into schools, some publicly-funded
projects target young people through homosexual youth work.
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets advertised the post of “Temporary
Youth Worker-in-charge” at PHASE, “Tower Hamlets’
Lesbian, Gay and Bi-Sexual Youth Project”, at a salary of £12,397
p.a. PHASE is for young people (under-25) “questioning their
sexuality and/or gender” or who identify themselves as homosexual.(94)
It aims to be “a relaxed, supportive and friendly environment.”
Tower Hamlets also advertised in April 1999 for 10 temporary youth workers for the PHASE project.(95) The adverts specified that each of the ten youth workers and the youth worker-in-charge must have had “experience of working with young people aged 9-25 years”. The job description does indeed specify that the youth worker post was designed to meet the social and development needs of children aged nine and above.(96) According to the Area Youth Co-ordinator at Tower Hamlets, although four suitable candidates were found, none of these ten temporary positions were filled because of funding problems.(98)
PHASE
is a very appropriate name for this project since many young people
do go through a phase of being attracted to someone of their own
sex. In almost all cases they grow out of it and go on to develop
normal heterosexual relationships. This project targets them.
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council gives £31,190 (99)
to the Peer Support Project (PSP) which exists “To relieve
the mental and emotional crises experienced by young persons who
are lesbian, gay or bisexual or in doubt of their sexuality…”(100)
The Peer Support web-site itself provides information on “coming
out”(101) and PSP publishes “Coming
Out and Staying Out” which gives advice to young people about
telling their parents they are gay. There is also a section on “safer
sex” involving gratuitous use of expletives.(102)
The PSP web-site hosts youth groups in the Manchester area such
as “Lesbian & Gay Youth Manchester” which meets in
the Manchester Lesbian & Gay Centre. Their activities include
taking young people on visits to Pride Festivals all around the
UK.
PSP
produces a newsletter and runs a “Study Club” which aims
to provide “extended learning opportunities to Lesbian, Gay
and Bisexual young people.” These take two forms: “1)
Curriculum support 2) Personal & Social Education”.(103)
Curriculum support is carried out by volunteer teachers who are
qualified teachers or currently undergoing training. Personal &
Social Education is facilitated by “trained young people from
the PSP and other volunteers such as youth workers”. Issues
addressed include “Sexual health education; Lesbian, Gay and
Bisexual culture and history; Challenging/coping with homophobia;
Coming out.”(104)
Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council’s Youth Service is a part of its
Education Department. The Youth Service runs a project called “Way
Out” which “counteracts the negative conditioning and
labelling often associated with gay sexuality in mainstream services
and culture”.(105) The Way Out group was
set up in Oxford in 1996 with only five young people from the city
attending. By January 1997 there were twenty core group members.
The group is open to anyone under the age of 26 who is either “unsure
of their sexual identity” or is lesbian, gay or bisexual. The
youth group venue is intended to provide a space to meet “in
the explicit intention of excluding the damaging effects of homophobia
and heterosexism”. (106)
A second Way Out group has been started in Banbury. Oxfordshire County Council Youth Service advertised in the Pink Paper for a part-time youth worker working several hours a week to support the development of this second group.(107) Previous experience of working with homosexual young people in a youth work setting and having an understanding of homophobia is deemed ‘essential’ for the new Banbury group. Qualifications, however, are desirable but not essential.(108)
All
workers with the Way Out groups are briefed to “ensure the
young people are making informed decisions in their sexual behaviour
and relationships”. The job description for the advertised
post requires the new youth worker to “build appropriate relationships
with young people and assist in providing non-formal educational
opportunities for young people in the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
Youth Group.” (109)
Other Youth Work
The London Borough of Camden’s Youth Service advertised in
August 1998, for the post of “Gay Male Youth Worker” to
organise and deliver a “social education programme”. The
cost of this part time post was £1,353 a year for 3 hours
a week. The purpose of the job was to work with young people to
build a gay or bisexual male identity. The applicant himself “should
positively identify as Gay or Bisexual”.(110)
The London Borough of Newham has three youth work posts as part of its project to develop new and existing youth work with lesbians, gay men and bisexuals aged between 16 and 25. The project has a regular drop-in centre. Recruitment adverts required applicants who would “work towards the social education, political and recreational needs, and individual development of young lesbians, bisexuals and gay men.” Two of the three advertised posts required a homosexual. The total salary cost of the three posts came to over £10,000.(111)
The
London Borough of Harrow advertised for a “Youth and Community
Worker: Working with Gay and Bisexual Young Men (Health)” at
a salary of over £18,000 a year. Brent (112),
Greenwich,(113) and Hounslow (114)
Councils also advertised for youth workers to work with homosexuals.
Hampshire County Council advertised for two posts working with lesbian,
gay bisexual young people aged between 16 and 25 years.(115)
Hammersmith and Fulham advertised for someone to work with young,
gay and bisexual men who would “promote a positive sense of
self worth – empowering the young men with a comprehensive
programme of social, health and personal education.”(116)
The salaries for these part-time posts ranged from £830 to
£3,730 a year. In the case of Brent, the post was full-time
with a salary of £17,000, for which the Council has received
funding from the Brent & Harrow Health Authority.(117)
Top
Gay jamborees
Every year now publicly funded gay festivals are taking place in
some of the major cities of England and Scotland. Manchester City
Council has designated £100,370 for homosexual groups in 1999/2000,
£12,000 of which is for It’s Queer Up North, which
its organisers describe as an “arts festival”.(118)
In fact, the 1996 programme reveals that many of the performance
events are suggestive, explicit or even pornographic in nature.
The 1996 festival offered acts such as “The Go Girls”
performing “Passionight” (“lesbian courtship... the
heights of erotic fantasy”)(119), along
with dozens of homosexual films and performers such as Britain’s
“first internationally successful porn star.”(120)
Manchester City Council also supported the 1996 and the 1998 Manchester Mardi Gras. In 1998, in what gay press described as an “unprecedented move”, Manchester City Council appointed Ian Wilmott, a local gay rights activist, as Event Co-ordinator to oversee the organisation of the Mardi Gras festival.(121) Gay Times commented that “Mardi Gras cannot take place without Council backing”.(122)
Another
example of major public funding of a gay festival is Glasgow’s
Glasgay! The 1998 festival included live performances such
as “The Dyke and The Porn Star”, described as a “sexually
explicit drama about a young butch dyke’s obsession with a
femme top porn star,” (123) and “Night
Sullied Flesh” - “sexually explicit, uncompromising -
and not for the faint-hearted.” (124) Gala
Ltd, the company that organises and runs Glasgay! festivals, received
a total of £28,200 of public funds (two-thirds from Glasgow
City Council) towards the costs of the 1998 festival (125)
representing 71% of the total income.(126)
Top
Pretended families
Section 28 specifically prohibits local authorities from promoting
homosexual relationships as a “pretended family”.
Rights of Women (ROW) is a London-based organisation which gives legal advice to women on a variety of issues such as family law and employment rights. ROW has five staff members, one of whom specialises in lesbian parenting. Their annual report boasts examples of their advocacy of lesbian parenting, including the publication of a legal handbook for lesbian mothers. The 1986 edition of ROW’s legal handbook argues that “more mums are more fun” (127) and includes a section on adoption and fostering and a comprehensive guide to artificial insemination - complete with contact details for an organisation that will assist with sperm donors.(128) 94% of Rights of Women’s £100,026 budget comes from London Boroughs Grants - the body which distributes grants on behalf of all the London local authorities.(129) The Lesbian Mother’s Legal Handbook is a long and bitter attack on traditional families. Public libraries in Cambridge (130) and Southampton (131) and Milton Keynes (132) all stock this book at public expense.
Public money also pays for the promotion of lesbian parenting in Leicester. The Leicester Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre – “the biggest of it’s kind in the country” – is funded by local councils to the tune of £35,385 from Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council and Rutland County Council, along with £8,528 from Leicestershire Health Authority. In 1997/98, public funds constituted 39% of its £113,874 income. (133)
The centre runs a programme on the third Sunday of every month known as the “Lesbian Parenting Group”. Meetings include “information sharing about donors, legislation and the practicalities of parenting - in general and specific to our situations.” There is also a “Lesbians making Babies” workshop organised by two members of the group.(134)
Under Section 28 it would be illegal for a local authority to advocate that schools teach children about self-insemination techniques for lesbians. But since self-insemination is not illegal for girls at any age, repealing Section 28 would remove the main obstacle to it being promoted in schools by local authorities.
‘Books
for children’
One strategy for promoting the acceptability of homosexual families
has been the production of children’s books depicting homosexual
parenting as normal. The most infamous of these is Jenny lives with
Eric and Martin.(135) This book, which is still
stocked in Hertfordshire Public Libraries,(136)
shows two homosexual men living together, one of whom has a child
called Jenny from a previous relationship. It describes simple details
of daily life to show the “normality” of the little girl’s
home situation. This includes breakfast in bed with her father (who
appears to be naked) and his homosexual lover.
Neal Cavalier-Smith is the publisher who co-launched Prowler Press (a gay pornography company) and who now owns the rights to Jenny lives with Eric and Martin. Mr Cavalier-Smith is also a Director of Stonewall, the gay rights group. In a recent interview with Gay Times he observed,
“The thing that defines gay men is gay sex. Our aim is to make people feel good about gay sex, and by so doing, to make the world a better place for gay men.”
Referring to Jenny lives with Eric and Martin, he went on to boast,
“When Section 28 is successfully repealed, as I believe it will be shortly, we will be rushing to republish an updated version of the book and we shall make sure that every school which wants a copy will get a copy.”(137)
Other
books have been produced more recently in the United States with
the same aim of presenting homosexual parenting to children in a
positive light. Zack’s Story, stocked in Gloucestershire County
Libraries,(138) is a particularly lavish example,
illustrated with full colour photographs of a boy named Zack, his
mother, and her lesbian lover.(139)
Top
Health Promotion
Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham Health Authority
In 1997/98 the Department of Health’s ring-fenced HIV prevention
allocation to Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham Health Authority
amounted to £1,750,000.(140) Voluntary
sector contracts with organisations working with homosexual and
bisexual men cost £847,562 (141) - equivalent
to 48% of that allocation. One of the many projects funded was the
development of the Pleasure Palace Website. Its primary audience
is HIV positive men.(142) It is therefore surprising
to find that it includes a step-by-step guide as to how to engage
in sex in public places (known as “cruising”, or, if it
takes place in toilets, “cottaging”), and what to do if
you get arrested for doing so.(143)
Lambeth,
Southwark & Lewisham Health Authority and Merton Sutton &
Wandsworth Health Authority together gave £229,500 in 1997/98
to the Healthy Gay Living Centre.(144)
In September 1999 the centre advertised four posts as part of its
NRG group.(145) According to an information leaflet
NRG is a “fun group for lesbian, bisexual and gay people under
25 in South East London … an alternative to the commercial
gay scene.” The group allows people to “meet, socialise
and make new friends”. Staff are all homosexual. NRG is not
all “serious discussions and advice … The aim of the group
is to socialise and have fun, so we have pizza and video nights,
trips out to the cinema, residentials, pool, food, and good conversation.”
The group provides a service for homosexuals and “those questioning
their sexuality.” It is working “towards the empowerment
of young lesbians, bisexuals and gay men, and to build self-confidence
and self-esteem.”(146)
Newcastle City Council
Newcastle City Council funds a full-time post at MESMAC North-east.
MESMAC is short for “MEn who have Sex with Men: Action in the
Community”. The post was advertised as a “Community Worker
(Young gay & bisexual men)”. The salary was £12,912.
No formal qualifications were required but the applicants needed
“experience of working with gay communities and networks.”(147)
MESMAC runs a helpline and gives out a range of health information.
It is also funded by other local Councils and by the local Health
Authority.
The
MESMAC website gives information about its work with 16 to 25 year
olds - the Young Gay and Bisexual Men’s Group (YGBM). It emphasises
that MESMAC “provides a safe place to meet other young gay
and bisexual men”. The website provides detailed information
on techniques of encouraging young people to declare they are a
homosexual (to “come out”). It goes on to explain how
the leaders of the youth group “operate a two-week rule, in
that those who attend are not allowed to ‘make a move’
on new members of the group within their first two weeks, allowing
people to settle into the group first”.(148)
Should a homosexual be arrested for committing homosexual acts in
public the web-site gives details of local solicitors used to dealing
with “cottaging” and “cruising” offences.(149)
Metro Centre
Greenwich’s Metro Centre calls itself “A Centre in South
East London for lesbian, gay and bisexual people and those questioning
their sexuality.” It has an openly political agenda. Its Annual
Report for 1997/98 commences with reference to “gains in the
wider political and social landscape [which] have not yet eventuated
- such as an equal age of consent and employment rights wins in
Europe”. (150) The group claims to be a
leading provider of services for young people and its “mini
pages” leaflet emphasises that it provides these services for
under 16s at various locations, including the Metro Centre itself.
The same leaflet gives explicit details about the use of condoms
for different sexual practices says that they “hope that whatever
you get up to with whoever you are with, is a happy time”.(151)
Core services provided by the Centre include “outreach” work - giving condoms and lubricant to patrons at various homosexual bars and clubs. 17,363 condoms were distributed in the year 1997/98, along with 10,142 packs of lubricant. (152) “Safer-sex supplies by post” were also provided.(153) The Report declares that, “In line with Metro Centre policy all services are delivered by lesbian, gay or bisexual people”(154) As at September 1998 the Centre had 11 staff and 45 volunteers providing these services.(155)
Funding from Health Authorities makes up the vast majority of the Metro Centre’s funding. In the accounts for the year ended 31 March 1998 Bexley & Greenwich Health Authority is listed as giving £199,900 in grants. Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham Health Authority gave a further £10,200. The Social Services and Policy & Resources departments of the London Borough of Greenwich gave £67,251. Together these grants made up 98.7% of the centre’s funding. The accounts show a surplus of £8,895. This is in addition to the previous year’s surplus of £43,859. (156)
The
Metro Centre “aims to work with self-identified lesbian/gay/bisexual
people and those who cannot express their sexuality due to homophobia
and heterosexism”.(157)
Camden and Islington
The Camden and Islington Health Promotion Service clearly has a
strong emphasis on homosexual issues. Their internet web-site makes
no secret of this. “Gay Men’s Work” is one of the
six subject headings on the front page of the site and there is
a whole section devoted to homosexuals under the heading “Pink
Pages”.(158)
Top of the list of services in the Pink Pages is “Barhound” - a venue search. Clearly the Trust’s definition of ‘health promotion’ extends to helping homosexual men find places to have sex. The site contains a database of homosexual venues in the London area and provides addresses and directions for each one. The site allows you to pick an area of London and the type of venue you are looking for. The list of ‘venues’ includes sex shops, fetish shops, hotels, bars (including ‘leather’ bars), gyms and saunas. Saunas are one of the places where homosexual men often go for casual sex. As “The Ultimate Gay Guide” explains,
“Gay saunas are similar to cruising grounds in two respects. You go there to have sex, and you go there to have sex with no strings attached. The difference with a sauna, compared to a cruising ground is the fact that there is no risk element. Gone are the ‘is he or isn’t he?’ doubts that you may have been thinking on Hampstead Heath or some such place. It’s definite. He is.”(159)
According to this guide, in one of the saunas recommended by the Camden & Islington website (called Pleasuredrome Central),
“There is a sign on the wall by the sauna stating that public sex in Great Britain is illegal, etc. (yawn!) but this is obviously ignored. Don’t fall into the trap of sitting around thinking that no one is going to break the law.”(160)
Pacific 33 is also recommended by Camden Health Promotion Service. The Ultimate Gay Guide describes this as
“A particularly busy little sauna situated close to North London University (and all the students!) with plenty of darkened cruising areas around the venue.”(161)
Saunas are amongst the places where homosexual men are most likely to engage in unprotected sex and thereby place themselves at risk of contracting HIV or another sexually transmitted diseases. Project SIGMA, the gay research group at Portsmouth University, have carried out a detailed study of gay saunas. They found that,
“Like most places that are used for sexual activity, the saunas we studied depend upon a series of areas and activities each one having a duplicitous purpose relating both to its legitimate function as part of a leisure club and its illegitimate function as a sex club… Gay men who use backrooms, saunas, cruising areas or cottages engage in increased levels of [unprotected anal intercourse].”(162)
It
seems extraordinary, perhaps even callous, that a Health Authority
should provide a quite extravagant internet service to deliberately
facilitate the very activity that places these men at risk. The
site also contains very explicit “sex advice”, complete
with pornographic photographs of homosexual acts between men.(163)
GMFA
Gay Men Fighting AIDS (GMFA) is what could be called a ‘radical’
HIV/AIDS prevention group.
There are some things that are difficult to describe in words. GMFA’s website is one of those things. Their web-site address is not listed in the footnotes here because, of all the materials we have had to review for this publication, GMFA’s site is the worst. From the front page onwards and without warning the site features pornographic photographs depicting activities which most people will have never imagined could take place between men. The site is sex-obsessed and gratuitously so. Every activity is described in great detail. The only restraint suggested is the use of condoms. Nothing else, including sado-masochism, is out of bounds.
Courses run by GMFA are advertised in such terms as: “Skills for Gay Life. The whole gay thing - Sorted. By the end of this course you will be: more comfortable with the scene; confident about cruising [searching for sex in public places]; able to ask for the sex you want… GMFA workshops are FREE OF CHARGE.”(164) “Bondage for beginners” and “Cruising skills” are other courses run by GMFA.(165)
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) argued that a sex education video produced by GMFA breached both the 18 and R18 pornography video guidelines. It could only be released after cuts were made and then only as an 18 pornography video.(169)
To the year ending 31 March 1998, Gay Men Fighting AIDS had a total income of £498,692. Only £6,792 of this came from donations. £466,427 (94%) came from “contracts” i.e. work paid for by other bodies.(166) One of these projects is the Hampstead Heath project. GMFA advertised for a worker for this project explaining: “Hampstead Heath is Europe’s busiest cruising area. GMFA have been providing men who use it with information and condoms & lube since 1993… Shifts are from 9 or 10pm till 3 or 4am.” This contract is worth £75,671 to GMFA.(167)
GMFA’s accounts do not indicate the sources of their income. However it has been possible to establish that, in the year 1997/98, Kensington & Chelsea and Westminster Health Authority gave £26,000 to GMFA for “AIDS prevention”(168). In the same year Lambeth, Southwark & Lewisham Health Authority gave £30,000.
How
much all of this contributes to HIV prevention must be seriously
questioned.
Other projects
Southern Birmingham Community Health NHS Trust recently advertised
five posts for its Men’s Sexual Health Project working with
homosexual men. The salaries alone cost £90,000 (170).
Bromley Health Authority advertised for a Gay Bisexual Men Health
Adviser (£17,200) working in the “commercial gay scene”.(171)
South Buckinghamshire NHS Trust sought a “Gay Men’s Community
Support Worker” on £11,272 in order to develop support
networks and interest groups.(172)
Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Health Authority advertised for an “out” man to work as a “Part-time Community Worker” for £3,809 a year.(173)
Lothian Primary Healthcare NHS Trust advertised for the post of “Gay Men’s Sexual Health Development Worker” as part of it’s Harm Reduction Team, developing peer group support for men who have sex with men. Cost £17,120.(174)
Nottingham
Community Health NHS Trust’s GAI Project advertised for Gay/Bi
Men’s Sessional Outreach Workers to join a “small friendly
team working to promote the health of gay and bisexual men on the
commercial scene or in cottaging/cruising sites.” Each part
time post carries a salary of just under £1,000 per year.(175)
Top
Bullying
Homosexual rights groups are lobbying hard for the repeal of Section
28. They claim that Section 28 is a “bigots charter”(176)
which prevents schools from countering ‘homophobia’ and
stopping the bullying of homosexual pupils. Sir Ian McKellen, writing
to Stonewall supporters, alleges that,
“Homophobic bullying and abuse are going unchallenged in British schools. Young people who identify as lesbian or gay are still growing up feeling alone, without information, guidance or support. Section 28 intimidates teachers who want to help - and gives others the excuse to ignore homophobia”.(177)
Specific instances are cited by Stonewall where they claim that Section 28 has caused bullying and even terrorism and the deaths of homosexuals:
“The brutal attack on schoolboy James Hudson is just one reason why we MUST repeal Section 28 now.” (178)
“..the government must repeal Section 28. It may end with bombs, but it begins with bullies in the playgrounds.”(179)
Bullying in schools
All bullying is wrong. Children are taunted by other children because
of their physical appearance, a disability, their height, their
home background. Some are picked on for being intelligent.
There is never any justification for bullying. It must be dealt with firmly by schools no matter what type of bullying it is. There is a serious problem of bullying in many schools. This is primarily related to a lack of consistent discipline and order in schools.
Bullies and Victims in Schools by Valerie Besag is generally considered to be a classic study of bullying in schools. Besag quotes one 1986 study of 4000 children, which found that,
“38 per cent had been bullied by other children badly enough to describe the experience as terrifying. Of the sample, 8 per cent of the boys and 2 per cent of the girls had found the experience to have had a chronic and severe effect on their everyday lives.” (180)
A February 1999 survey by NOP Research Group found that:
“more than four out of ten (43 per cent) children aged between 7 and 16 years in Britain say that they have been bullied at some time.”(181)
Studies
on ‘homophobic bullying’
Researchers from the London Institute of Education, who argue that
there is a serious problem of ‘homophobic bullying’, admitted
in November 1997 that:
“To date there has been no systematic survey of the experiences of young lesbian, gay men and bisexuals in relation to homophobic bullying (or hate crimes).” (182)
This
is still the case. The studies that do exist are qualitative and
focus on the attitudes and experiences of a small, unrepresentative
samples of pupils.(183), (184)
The London Institute of Education teachers survey (quoted above)
was commissioned and paid for by Stonewall and the Terrence Higgins
Trust. Both are campaigning pro-homosexual groups. The title of
the report was Playing it Safe. The researchers admit that
there was a low response rate (31%) to their survey of schools.(185)
Stonewall reported the research they had paid for in these terms
:
“82% [of teachers] were aware of verbal homophobic bullying
and abuse, and 26% said they were aware of physical bullying which
was motivated by homophobia”.(186)
The questionnaire asked about instances of “general verbal and physical bullying” in school.(187) What teachers describe as name-calling is redefined as “homophobic bullying” by the researchers. The report clearly states on the first page that:
“For the sake of brevity, throughout the remainder of this report, incidents of verbal and physical bullying where terms such as lesbian, gay, queer or lezzie have been used will be referred to as homophobic bullying. Where findings relate only to verbal incidents or only to physical incidents this will be stated.”(188)
So the 82% of teachers who were “aware of homophobic bullying” were actually those who had ever heard pupils abuse one another using the words “lesbian, gay, queer or lezzie”. Such words are used by children as terms of abuse along with such words as “spastic”, “divvy”, “fatso”, “swot”, “moron” and sexually rude words. Children can be cruel and they use words that they think will hurt. That the researchers have discovered that “lesbian, gay, queer or lezzie” are particularly popular terms of abuse, sadly, should surprise no one. That these cruel children also hit other children whilst using these terms of abuse is also no surprise.
The researchers quote a definition of homophobia as,
“an irrational fear and dislike of individuals who identify as lesbian, ga