Government awards £2 million to organisations to tackle homophobic bullying
The Government has awarded funding of up to £2 million to “innovative” new projects to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
Eight organisations were today told that they had received funding under the initiative.
Writing exclusively for PinkNews, the pair said: “We will tackle bullying by focusing on the causes. We want to see this funding used to promote create a whole school approach to tackling homophobic bullying.”
The list of charities which have received funding is below:
Anne Frank Trust – to run workshops and educate young people about prejudice and the impact of the Holocaust on lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
- Barnardo’s – to provide face-to-face support for victims of HBT bullying and training for staff with a focus on cultural issues in schools in Leeds and Wakefield.
- Diversity Role Models with Brook – to develop and deliver training on tackling HBT bullying to 10,000 teachers and staff in 400 schools.
- EACH – to deliver a training and resource programme in schools across Avon and Somerset.
- Educate and Celebrate – to train staff in 60 schools, giving them confidence and strategies to address HBT language and bullying and promote inclusiveness throughout the school environment and the curriculum.
- National Children’s Bureau – to train 1,500 teachers on tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia through PSHE.
- Show Racism the Red Card – to hold workshops with 2,000 young people at football clubs around England, train 200 teachers and run a film competition for young people on tackling HBT bullying.
- Stonewall – to extend and share its ‘train the trainer’ course with 60 partner organisations, enabling them to run the programme with schools in their local communities and giving them the skills to tackle HBT bullying.
Announcing the funding today, Minister for Women and Equalities, Jo Swinson, said: “It’s good news that schools are making progress on homophobic bullying, but it must be eradicated entirely. The trauma of being bullied at school can stay with you for life, and it is absolutely unacceptable that those who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender are being targeted. Teachers need specialist support and training to help them stamp out homophobic bullying, which is why we have funded these excellent projects which are designed to tackle this issue head on.”
