Page 7 - Fyne winter 2014

chools OUT
group (not necessarily LGBT), such as the
current Russian situation. Realising, in a
school sense would be the celebration or
at least the public acknowledgement of
the entirety of someone’s character. So for
example the part played in a specific author’s
success by the impact of their sexuality on
their work.
The History Month website received over 50
000 hits that first February – from nowhere
to somewhere very fast. Both it and the
Schools OUT sites are constantly having
new resources added by us, for use not just in
February but throughout the year. In 2011
we added a new site – The Classroom, which
features (at the moment) 36 fully resourced
lesson plans with PowerPoint attached.
But nowhere will you see ‘the gay lesson’ –
instead, usualising is dropped in; a lesson on
shape will be based around the shapes of the
tents at Brighton pride; a maths problem may
feature two boys sharing their sweets or two
girls.
That is why current co-chairs Tony Fenwick
and Sue Sanders, plus Elly Barnes, myself and
the others working for Schools OUT do so
with such dedication, on top of their day-to-
day jobs and for no financial reward.
We have all seen the ugly face of homophobia
and transphobia, some of us have felt its
hand, and we know schools are still the home
to heteronormativity – the wholly untrue
predisposition towards white, heterosexual,
Christian, middle-class, middle-aged male
dominated society. Look on the walls of some
schools even now and you might assume that
there are no black, LBT, disabled females
in the building! How can any child include
themselves in a society, whatever its size,
if they cannot see themselves reflected in
it? And how can
anyone, child or
teacher, work in an
environment where
they do not feel safe?
Today, discrimination
is a sackable offence;
it is also the failure
of education. But to
say there is a ‘crisis’ is being disingenuous.
Our challenge against discrimination and
prejudice in UK schools has actually been
maintained with unpretentious effectiveness
since 1974, without sponsorship and with
little celebrity endorsement. This year
we become a Charitable Incorporated
Organisation, which can only enable us
further, and we are hoping to continue to
grow, and we are always interested in new and
interesting methods of funding.
Schools OUT UK exists for
two reasons– to educate
OUT prejudice. And to
celebrate being LGBT.”
If you would like to work
with Schools OUT, the
team would welcome any
additional volunteers and
are looking for better
Trans representation
and BEM
representation on
the committee.
Check out the
website for more
details -
www.schools-out.
org.uk