LGBT Anti Bullying Week Assembly 2017

Labels

Labels daughter son uncle brother sister aunt grandchild nephew niece Daughter, son, nephew etc… How does it feel to have labels like these? Do they provide you with a feeling of belonging? You could ask: What other labels do you have?

Labels Scottish Asian Black Chinese Polish Sikh Jewish English Atheist Christian Catholic Again these may provide you with a feeling of belonging. However, as you know, labels can also be used as terms of abuse by people. Sometimes they are used to highlight that a person doesn’t belong and is an ‘outsider’. At other times, these labels are used to suggest that a group someone belongs to is bad or undesirable. As in all societies, there is still racism in Scotland today. Talk about the work your school has done to combat racism, or, if you haven’t done any race-related topic work recently, talk generally about intolerance and racism and how Scottish schools work to try and eradicate racism.

funny sad caring sporty Labels bright clever happy geek cheeky kind bully funny sad caring sporty Other labels may relate to your personality, skills or ability. These may be positive, but again they can sometimes be used to insult people. Often these labels are used by people to try and upset others.

Labels straight gay lesbian bisexual transgender And what about these terms? You could ask if your children know what any of them mean. If you’d prefer though, we’ve found these descriptions work really well so you could say: “Straight – someone who falls in love with someone of the different gender – so a man would fall in love with a woman, or a woman fall in love with a man. Gay – a man who falls in love with another man Lesbian – a woman who falls in love with another woman Bisexual – a person who can fall in love with either a man or a woman Transgender – Some people do not feel their bodies fit their gender i.e. boys sometimes feel they should have been born girls and girls feel they should have been born as boys. Some times they feel like neither and sometimes they feel like both. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are part of a community of people known as the LGBT community.”

LGBT community There are LGBT people in every community in Scotland. They can be in any school, any family and any group. The official statistics on the number of LGBT people in Scotland vary widely. Discrepancies occur because a number of LGBT people do not feel comfortable disclosing information about their personal identities and family lives. There may be many reasons for this, including the fear that this information may be used to label LGBT individuals as bad. We can say, with certainty, that there are LGBT people in every area of Scotland.

Famous LGBT people Some LGBT people are well known members of society. For Example: Ellen DeGeneres– Talk show host. Alan Turing – Inventor who made modern computers possible. He also was part of the team that broke the Enigma Code which helped bring WW2 to an end. Jackie Kay – Poet and Scots Makar– Scotland’s official poet! Tom Daley – Olympic medal-winning diver Some famous LGBT people your pupils may have heard of… You could ask if they know any more famous LGBT people?

National Anti-Bullying Week Every year, around mid November, we mark National Anti-Bullying Week to make sure everyone knows we are committed to challenging all bullying.

National Anti-Bullying Week Sadly, some people think it’s OK to insult, harass, discriminate against or bully LGBT people, or people who have LGBT family members. This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. You could ask, at this point what percentage of LGBT in Scotland experience bullying. Take answers from the audience if you wish, then let them know the figures: 69% of lesbian, gay or bisexual young people 77% of transgender young people Reiterate that, in your school, everyone has the right to experience an education free from discrimination and bullying, including those who are LGBT.

LGBT language But what can we do in school? “That’s so sporty!” “That’s so Scottish!” Imagine using those phrases as insults… It is unfortunate, but in many primary schools, some people will use the word ‘gay’ as an insult. At this point you could ask: Have you ever heard ‘gay’ being used as an insult? You could even ask if they’ve heard it used in your school. At this point you can explain that for people who identify as LGBT, hearing that is very hurtful. Link it back to the labels young people had identified with… Talk to a teacher in advance and ask if it’s OK to use their name to highlight how it might feel to be the focus of an insult. “Imagine Mrs Smith’s name was used as an insult. Every time people didn’t like something she’d hear ‘Urgh, that’s so Mrs Smith.’ Or people being told ‘Don’t be so Mrs Smith!’ It sounds silly doesn’t’ it? But how do you think Mrs Smith might feel?” How would you feel if it was you? Schools can focus on ensuring that ‘gay’ isn’t used as an insult in school. Ask the children to help. Make sure the children know using the term is unacceptable and agree a consequence for if it is used as an insult in school.

Let me tell you a story This is Sam “Sam and his family moved house recently and he is moving to a new school; he has lots of different feelings about it. What do you think Sam might be feeling? “In Sam’s family is Sam, his dog Spot, his baby sister Holly and his two mums. Sam’s always had two mums, to him this is completely normal. He knows his mums are gay and that they love him and sometimes they are really embarrassing when then give him a kiss at his weekend football matches! “Both his mums took him to his new school, in his new uniform to meet his new teacher and new class. When his mums met his teacher Miss Flowers, they were all really nice and made a huge fuss over him. Sam just rolled his eyes. Miss Flowers took him into his new class and introduced him to the other children. “’Now, class, we have a new boy here today. This is Sam. I want you all to make him feel very welcome.’ She turned to Sam. ‘We are a very friendly school Sam, I’m sure you’ll make lots of new friends here. Why don’t you go and sit next to Teddy?’ She pointed to an empty seat and Sam sat down, smiling at Teddy, who smiled back. The first lesson was maths – Sam liked maths, he liked the numbers and how things were right or wrong… even if sometimes he answered more questions wrong than right! At break, Teddy walked with him to the cloakroom to get his coat. As they ran out onto the playground a couple of other boys came up to them. “’Your new!’ One of them said loudly and Sam nodded, ‘Oh my days! Look at your coat – it’s so gay!’ Sam looked at his coat. It was red, and thick and warm and had black sleeves – his uncle had bought it him from America. “’What?’ He asked, confused. “’That is a totally gay coat.’ The other boy laughed and ran off. Sam frowned after him. (ask the assembly) How do you think Sam is feeling now? “Sam’s mum had told him that sometimes, some young people used the word ‘gay’ to mean bad, but he’d never heard it before. “’Teddy!’ Some other children from the class ran over and Teddy smiled. “’Sam, these are my friends – Jo, Robin and Alex.’ Sam said hello to everyone and they started talking about the school, their favourite lessons and what they did out of school. Sam liked these new people, they seemed like his old friends from his old school. “One of them decided they should go and play football but Teddy and Sam couldn’t. ‘Miss asked me to show Sam all the things we have in school.’ “’Aw, come on Teddy, don’t be gay!’ Alex said and Teddy looked down and mumbled he wasn’t, but Miss had told him. Sam looked down too. (ask the assembly) how is Sam feeling now? “The other children ran off and Teddy showed Sam where everything was in school, but he was a but quieter and seemed a bit grumpy. Sam didn’t know what to do so didn’t say anything. “After play, Miss Flowers took the class into the hall for Circle Time. They started with a warm up game where they all had to run around and find numbers she’d hidden around the hall. Then they had to get in the right order without talking. Sam was smiling as some of the more confident children started pointing frantically at the rest of the class. When they were in the right order Miss Flowers got them all in a circle and everyone had to say their name and something they enjoy doing. “Lots of the class said playing X-Box, or playing football, or playing with friends, or playing with pets, which is what Sam said – playing with his dog, Spot. Miss Flowers smiled at him and said: ‘Seeing as you are new, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?’ “Sam nodded and tried not to be shy. ‘I’m Sam, I live with my dog Spot, a baby sister and my two Mums.’ When he said that some of the class started laughing and Sam stopped looking at the teacher. “Miss Flowers shushed the class and said in her kindest voice: ‘Sometimes people have two mummies or two daddies,’ then she looked at Sam, ‘but we don’t really talk about that sort of thing here.’ She asked if he wanted to say anything else but Sam just shrugged. “He couldn’t figure out what Miss Flowers meant; what kind of things? His mums? He was so confused he didn’t really pay attention and missed the rest of the lesson. “Classes continued and Sam went out at lunch playing with other people from his class. A couple of them asked him about his two mums but they were grinning in a way that made Sam feel like they were laughing at him so he didn’t say anything. He didn’t say that one of his mums was a doctor and the other worked in an office. He didn’t say that one supports Dundee and the other Dundee United which made derby games interesting! He didn’t say that they were great cooks, or good fun or nice parents. He just shook his head and walked away. “At the end of lunch two bigger kids came up to him and said: ‘Have you got two Mums?’ When he nodded they pointed and laughed then ran away. “A couple more times that day he heard children say ‘that’s so gay!’ “At the end of the day, Sam’s Mum came to pick him up. She was standing at the gate talking to a group of other mums. ‘Hi Sam!’ She said when he walked up to her, ‘how was your first day?’ “What do you think Sam said to his mum? After that you could ask: “Did you spot the bullying incidents that happened to Sam? How do you think that made Sam feel? What do you think Sam’s day would be like if he came to our school? Could he tell us about his two mums?”

respectme.org.uk RespectMe is Scotland’s Anti-Bullying service and information and advice can also be found there about options available to you if you experience bullying. Bullying – What can I do? A film from respectme about the options open to young people experiencing bullying.

If you want further information you can visit… We’d like to think that everyone in our school is safe and happy to be here. Also, we hope that you all know that if you have any problems or issues around homophobic, biphopic or transphobic bullying we’re here to help. If you want further information you can visit…

lgbtyouth.org.uk