1/17/2015
LONDON – A UK group defending the rights of homosexuals announced on Friday its intention of opening, in three years’ time, the country’s first school for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
The organization, LGBT Youth North West, plans on establishing an educational center with 40 permanent seats in Manchester, northern England, by 2018.
“This is about saving lives,” the director of LGBT Youth North West, Amelia Lee, told The Daily Telegraph.
The activist said that current laws do not serve to protect homosexuals from homophobia, while noting that cases of bullying in schools are “incredibly common.”
This “causes young people to feel isolated and alienated, which often leads to truanting and, in the worst cases, suicide,” Lee said.
Speaking to the same paper, the Conservative MP and former Minister of Education Tim Loughton warned that the move could establish segregation in the British educational system.
“We need to do a lot more to combat homophobic bullying and to create a more tolerant society. I cannot see how segregating a group of young people identified by their sexuality can aid better engagement and understanding,” said the politician.
According to Loughton, the way to achieve “more integration, understanding and empathy is not by segregating members of one group;” a move, he said, that would be a “step backwards from a more tolerant society.”
In this regard, LGBT Youth North West argues that the British education system is not prepared to address issues related to students’ sexual identities.
“Teachers in mainstream schools have problems tackling issues like homophobic bullying and coming out,” said Lee, who declared that schools are “the last bastion of homophobia.”
The activist recalled the recent case of 14-year-old Elizabeth Lowe, who committed suicide in a park in Manchester because “she was struggling with coming out and was worried about telling her parents.”
source
LONDON – A UK group defending the rights of homosexuals announced on Friday its intention of opening, in three years’ time, the country’s first school for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
The organization, LGBT Youth North West, plans on establishing an educational center with 40 permanent seats in Manchester, northern England, by 2018.
“This is about saving lives,” the director of LGBT Youth North West, Amelia Lee, told The Daily Telegraph.
The activist said that current laws do not serve to protect homosexuals from homophobia, while noting that cases of bullying in schools are “incredibly common.”
This “causes young people to feel isolated and alienated, which often leads to truanting and, in the worst cases, suicide,” Lee said.
Speaking to the same paper, the Conservative MP and former Minister of Education Tim Loughton warned that the move could establish segregation in the British educational system.
“We need to do a lot more to combat homophobic bullying and to create a more tolerant society. I cannot see how segregating a group of young people identified by their sexuality can aid better engagement and understanding,” said the politician.
According to Loughton, the way to achieve “more integration, understanding and empathy is not by segregating members of one group;” a move, he said, that would be a “step backwards from a more tolerant society.”
In this regard, LGBT Youth North West argues that the British education system is not prepared to address issues related to students’ sexual identities.
“Teachers in mainstream schools have problems tackling issues like homophobic bullying and coming out,” said Lee, who declared that schools are “the last bastion of homophobia.”
The activist recalled the recent case of 14-year-old Elizabeth Lowe, who committed suicide in a park in Manchester because “she was struggling with coming out and was worried about telling her parents.”
source
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