Dad steps out to battle homophobia
A DAD is walking nearly 100 miles to support a campaign tackling homophobia in schools after his gay son told him he was afraid to come out.
Neil Dallimore, 33, from Glasgow, plans to walk 96 miles along the West Highland Way – from Milngavie to Fort William – and is seeking public donations to raise funds for campaign group Time for Inclusive Education (TIE). TIE is calling for LGBTI issues to be taught in all Scottish schools in an effort to tackle high rates of mental health, self harm and suicide among LGBTI young people.
Neil has an 11-year-old son who recently told him that he was gay but asked for it be kept a secret from his school teachers because he feared that he would be “treated differently”.
He said: “To hear your child ask that a part of his identity not be known to elders that are there to educate, protect and support him is a gut punch.
“His reason was simple enough – another boy had been open about his sexuality last year and afterwards the teachers treated him differently in a negative way.
“Too often I hear stories from my kids about how they’ve either been the target of or personally wit- nessed homophobic bullying and it’s a problem that few teachers have seemed to know how to handle.
“It’s worrying and upsetting to see your child treated like an outsider by other children based on sexuality and it must change.”
Every major political party had included manifesto commitments endorsing TIE’s calls for teachers to received training on how to challenge homophobia.