Schools are creating a bullying “hierarchy” because of a focus on homophobia and transphobia, a Christian educational group has said.
Christians in Education (CiE) hit out at the media’s overwhelming focus on the bullying of LGBT young people when figures show that other bullying is far more prevalent.
A recent survey of young people found that 50 per cent are bullied due to their appearance, 19 per cent because of their grades, and 14 per cent because of their household income. Just four per cent of children report being bullied because of their sexuality.
‘Hierarchy’
CiE highlights that despite this, “schools have to produce anti-bullying policies which specifically detail how homophobic and transphobic bullying will be dealt with”.
The group adds: “About 86% of disabled children report being bullied on a regular basis, yet that doesn’t grab any headlines or provoke a flurry of policy documents at the DfE.
“To highlight just one reason for bullying is to create a hierarchy, clearly signalling to the disabled, to ethnic minorities, to those of religious faith or to those who don’t wear the ‘right’ clothes that their pain and suffering are less important than LGBT suffering.”
Inclusivity
CiE goes on to quote Galatians 3:28, where Paul wrote: “There is neither Jew nor Greek”, adding that: “Genuine inclusivity doesn’t prioritise one group over another”.
The article continues, “instead of creating hierarchies, we should be focusing on each individual as a person uniquely created in the image of God and deserving of equal respect regardless of heritage, culture, belief or ability.
“Only then can we create just, fair communities where a commitment to the common good renders bullying obsolete.”
Trans bully
In March this year, a prominent child psychologist was criticised for saying that transsexual children should be affirmed even when they are bullying others.
Professor Tanya Byron, writing for The Times, was answering a question from a concerned grandmother who explained that her granddaughter was being bullied by a transsexual pupil at school.
Byron advised that the granddaughter “depersonalise” the comments made against her by the trans pupil, and suggested this experience could actually benefit her.