SCOTTISH politicians are being urged to pledge their support for a campaign’s proposals to introduce LGBT education into Scottish schools.
The Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign group have launched an online pledge today, appealing for MSPs and members of the public to support their calls for a new national strategy to tackle homophobic bullying in schools.
Founders Liam Stevenson and Jordan Daly, both from Greater Glasgow, have called for new legislation to be introduced within the current parliament requiring all teachers to be trained on how to tackle homophobic abuse in class.
A recent study by the group found that 90 per cent of Scots LGBT pupils faced bullying in school, while 42 per cent have attempted suicide at least once.
A TIE spokesperson said: “Our aim is to ensure that all schools across the country are safe and supportive environments for LGBT young people, and we have very clear proposals as to how we get there.
“We would urge members of the public and all MSPs who agree with us that it is time to take action against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools to sign our pledge and show that they are committed to addressing the issues facing LGBT learners during this term of parliament.
“We are encouraged by the support that our campaign has generated over the last year, but it is now time for action.
"The Scottish Government’s current strategy in this area is patchy and ineffective, and this has to be addressed with an open mind if we are to see any meaningful change.”
SNP depute leadership contender Tommy Sheppard MP and Conservative MSP Ross Thomson have joined the campaigners in calling for action.
Thomson said: “Although Scotland has made great progress in promoting LGBTI+ rights there is still so much more that we need to do. I’m backing the TIE campaign’s efforts to tackle homophobia in our schools. We need to stand up to the bullies and empower our teachers and young people to tackle bullying, harassment and abuse head on. We can't just stand by and hope that homophobia will go away. If we educate we'll liberate."
Sheppard said: "I'm very pleased to support TIE's campaign for inclusion in all our schools. We've come a long way but there's a long way still to go. Everyone should feel confident in being able to be themselves without fear of being bullied or put down because of their sexuality or gender identity.”
Monica Lennon MSP, Scottish Labour inequalities spokeswoman, said: “I’ve been increasingly impressed by the TIE campaign’s drive to improve Scotland’s education system and I have been a supporter of their aims from the outset.
“Recent research by the campaign has shown that two thirds of current and former pupils surveyed indicated that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia is a problem in schools, proving that there is a real need for a rollout of inclusive education in classrooms across the country.
“I’ll certainly be signing the pledge and I hope that many more will also agree that the Scottish Government must do more to tackle inequality in schools.”
Campaigners from TIE are expected to meet with Education Secretary John Swinney in the coming weeks to discuss their proposals.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel