Christian Institute bullies its way over homophobic bullying education pack - then rejoices

Apparently the Christian Institute are rejoicing because they think they have squashed a homophobic bullying help pack which has been taken down pending looking into their complaint.

In their article they wrote  that the pack "was styled as guidance on preventing bullying", before the Institute's Mike Judge went on the say

"a hierarchy of victim has seeped into our education system where some forms of bullying are taken more seriously than others".

Strangely that is just the reason why material looking how teachers can deal with homophobic bullying is needed. Teachers in our schools everywhere know how to deal with racist bullying, they know how to deal with sectarian bullying. These types of bullying are taken seriously. It is the homophobic bullying that is one of the areas that is overlooked.

Mr Judge also says:

"Schools have become factories for undermining family values and brainwashing children."

The problem is that the group mentality and peer pressure of fellow students is what leads school children to get away with bullying or to take part in it. One of my friends at school would often join in with the homophobic bullying of me at secondary school. He would later always apologise for doing so, saying that the reason he did so was to fit in with the others and not to be attacked by them for other reasons. Yes, to avoid him getting bullied by that group he would take part in the verbal bullying (he never took part in physical bullying of me) that was going on.

So Mr Judge yes we have to ensure that no type of bullying is superior to another, but when you attack a resource that is there to deal with one of the most harmful types of bullying still prevalent in our schools. Earlier this week the figures from Rainbow Project/ Cara Friend report Left out of the equation looking at LGBT young people in schools showed that 84.5% had contemplated suicide, 35.3% had attempted it and 41.2% had self harmed. Indeed at that age I was part of whatever those first two statistics would have been. It also pointed out that while young people racially or religiously victimised had other family members to rely on, LGBT youth could only rely on the professionals that they came into contact with.

That is why it is important that our teachers know how to deal with homophobic bullying, have resources to change that group mentality in the classroom. So that no type of bullying is better resourced than any other to be dealt with in our classroom. If the Christian Institute can't get that they aren't very Christ-like.

There is one piece of truth in the Christian Institute article:

Anne Jardine, Director of Learning and Community at the Education Scotland quango, said the document had been removed from its website, "pending further discussion".

According the NUS LGBT Officer Nathan Sparkling the complaint had coincided with a staff holiday so the person to make a decision was not available and the procedure was to suspend this until it could be considered and action agreed by the person responsible. This apparently should be happening soon and the pack will be reinstated on the website.

Note The institute has a whole section tagged as 'homosexual rights' or actually if you read the material how they have tried to block those rights every step of the way for the last 15 years. It shows you exactly what stance they would take on anything, even if it is logical, makes sense and may even prevent harm, if it is seen to acknowledge that homosexuals exist everywhere, even in their churches.

It's Friday...mae'n yw dydd Gwener, yn dod ar Gymru

In twelve hours time we should all be awake in front of the television cheering on Wales in the Rugby World Cup. Therefore I'm doing a special late night it's Friday to get us in the mood.

First up we need a rendition of the Cwm Rhondda. However, me being me this isn't going to be straight forward so here is Only Men Aloud.



Rugby separates the men from the boys, singing doesn't. Not really in Wales. So here are Only Boys Aloud! with an appropriate message, even if it is in Welsh.




Now no doubt, unless you've sung with gusto at a sports event of Lib Dem Glee club or wherever you may need some help with the lyrics of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau or Land of Our Fathers but come on we'll all be singing it in Welsh tomorrow so here are the words on the screen so you can learn to sing it. Cymru am byth.

It's Friday...I just want to get my geek out

This Friday I'm just gonna geek out. So enjoy.

If you're a geek these'll need no introduction.

The Blunderful Dr Fox

So the news has come though that Dr Liam Fox has resigned as Secretary of State for Defence. As Dr Fox wrote in his resignation letter to the Prime Minister he had "mistakenly allowed" his personal and professional responsibilities to become "blurred".

After a week of trying to defend himself more than the country over allegations that his best man Adam Werrity had unparalleled to the Defence Secretary and his contacts both at the MoD and on his overseas trips. He has finally fallen on his figurative sword.

He claims that the consequences of the close access his close friend has had to foreign leaders and their retinue when they have been meeting with the representative of the UK Government has only become apparent to him in recent days. Going on to say:

"I have also repeatedly said that the national interest must always come before personal interest.

"I now have to hold myself to my own standard. I have therefore decided, with great sadness, to resign from my post as secretary of state for defence."

It has somehow taken Dr Fox longer than most of the rest of us have taken to see the issues of access and frequency of which Mr Werrity had that access as an issue in one of the most secure Ministers and his meetings with key people.

The resignation comes after it was revealed that a private intelligence firm and a property company that lobbies the UK on behalf of Israel had been funding the many travels of Mr Werrity to the tune of £147,000.

If Mr Fox was getting alternative non-Civil Service advice on a regular basis from a friend employed by people with a number of vested interests it is something that David Cameron why hasn't the PM taken action sooner. After all at conference he said:

"If we fool ourselves that we can do these things without effort, without correcting past mistakes, without confronting vested interests and failed ideas, then no, we’re not going to get anywhere.

"But if we put in the effort, correct those mistakes, confront those vested interests and take on the failed ideas of the past, then I know we can turn this ship around."

Mr Fox has been fooling himself about his friend surely not being wholly on the periphery of overseas events that he attended, as he claimed. Surely he must have known that the frequency with which he turned up was something untoward, especially if as he claims he was not representing him in either an official or unofficial capacity.

But if these vest interests have managed to work so close to the heart of government for one minister you have to ask how many of them are working elsewhere? Cameron seems to think that the only vested interests we have in this country are the unions, what about the businesses that have vested interests that the Conservative party have long pandered to. They would probably hope to continue to do so unchecked if it weren't for the Liberal Democrats also in government.

Trip down my own memory lane

Was with mum in Easons in Bangor earlier when this display caught my eye. It was the second of Terrance Bowman's books, this time moving on a decade it is Bangor in the Seventies.

With over 500 pictures from The Spectator archives and reminiscences from people such as another Lib Dem from the town and the 1977 DUP Candidate for Ballyholme and Groomsport in the council elections. You may know them better as Lembit Öpik and Sammy Wilson.

But as I carried on flicking through the pictures I kept seeing the odd person I knew here and there. Some I knew at the time some I've met since. But then I turned to page 154 and saw myself staring out at me.

Here is the pic:

See if you can spot me.

The caption reads:

Grange Park Primary School entered a choir in the Belfast Music Festival for the first time in March 1978. The juniors enjoyed success, winning two trophies. The choir was conducted by John Ekin and accompanied by Ann Murphy. They are included with principal Frank R. Martin.

Left Out of the Equation report show homophobia not tackled in Northern Ireland Schools

The Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister last year produced their Draft Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration which as many people pointed out ignored LGBT issues, failed to promise to deliver a Sexual Orientation Strategy before 2012. Indeed failed to take us on much since the investigation intohomophobic harassment and violence of 2003.

Is it any wonder that with such institutionalised inaction by the NI executive that the Left Out of the Equation report from The Rainbow Project and Cara Friend looking at the experiences of LGBT young people at school is so harrowing?

• 94 per cent said that there was nothing taught in sexual health education that was relevant to them
• 87 per cent felt that their school took not effort to prevent homophobic bullying
• 69 per cent said that teachers took no action to stop homophobic language and that 8% reported that staff laughed along or joined in

These are all figures that I would have expected in my school days over 20 years ago, the fact that this is still the case means that another generation of school children are going through the bullying that I endured and worse another generation are getting away with believing that it is alright to do so. 

The recommendations of the report are that:

• Government must ensure that all schools are required to have an effective policy and intervention  strategy to combat homophobic bullying.
• The Minister for Education must ensure that there is an appropriate complaints mechanism where pupils and their families can challenge the decisions of Boards of Governors.
• The Minister for Education must ensure that the legal protections afforded to LGB people are not denied to young people.
• The Minister for Education must ensure that all teachers are required to have effective training in how to intervene when they witness homophobic language and behaviour.
• The Minister for Education must ensure that there is a legal duty placed on schools; that they must show due regard to the necessity of promoting equality of opportunity for all young people.

I look forward to finding out what the Minister of Education intends to do about these once he is not standing in as Deputy First Minister.

National coming out day - it ain't always easy but it's worth it

Today is National Coming Out Day a day that those of us who have come out as LGBT encourage others that it isn't that hard and surprisingly you'll get a lot of support when you do. Last year I wrote about some of the various comings out that I've ended up having to do.

Of course each person has to decide when to come out and to whom they want to come out. After a year in Northern Ireland I've learnt that far more of my LGB friends have yet to tell their family despite their friends all knowing about their orientation.

Seeing as today I've spent a lot of time with family at a family funeral I can understand just what sort of decision go through on a regular basis. I seem to be able to tell the members of my generation in the family that I am gay, or they pick up the not full on messages a lot easier than the older generation. The fact that I am the oldest member of my generation in the extended family and still have no 'wife' is always an issue that causes a few eyebrows to be raised. Although less times now is the initial question followed up with no doubt you'll find the right girl.

However, talking to one of my politically active second cousins (yeah none of us know where we got it from) it seemed second nature to drop in a comment about one of the party they work for having had a bit of a rant with me about LGBT issues.

For all my friends whether fully out, partially out, or only out to other LGBT people. Have a good day, and if you've chosen today to tell someone new I hope it has gone well, but no matter what it does get better.