Department tackles hellish bullying of gay kids at schools

A TEENAGER had to drop out of school after his fellow pupils pelted him with stones and hurled insults at him because he is gay.

The former Grade 8 pupil at Willowfountain Combined School in Pietermaritzburg was often called isitabane, a derogatory Zulu word for a gay man, and inja, or dog.

The last straw, alleged the 17year-old, was when his life orientation teacher told the class that same-sex marriages were “evil” and “those people must be killed”. The teacher denied this claim.

The Department of Basic Education has drawn up a manual, “Challenging homophobic bullying in schools”, to assist teachers and pupils to deal with the problem, which it acknowledges is widespread.

It is also set to launch a national anti-bullying campaign in the next few months.

Organisations assisting pupils who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex this week called on the department to urgently provide “anti-bias” and human rights training to teachers, principals and school governing bodies.

They lobbied for a dress code for transgender pupils.

Other victims of homophobic bullying at schools include:

A 14-year-old pupil from the Western Cape, who left school this year after becoming the victim of homophobic bullying;

A lesbian pupil at a high school in Bellville in the Western Cape, who was made to sit in the foyer of the administration building for several days last month HUMILIATED: This 17-year-old dropped out of school last year after being mocked by fellow pupils for being gay after defying an order to wear a dress instead of trousers;

A 12-year-old pupil from Mpumalanga, who was said to have been turned away from school last month because her haircut “made her look like a lesbian”; and

A Grade 11 pupil from Tembisa on Gauteng’s East Rand, who was prevented from writing her September tests last year after the principal barred her from the school because she was wearing trousers.

The guideline says teachers have an important role in preventing homophobic bullying but that because of lack of training “they may perpetuate homophobic bullying in the classroom or remain silent when they need to speak out. When a teacher remains silent in the face of homophobic bullying this gives approval for it to continue.”

According to the manual, specific guidelines about how homophobic bullying should be challenged in the school should be discussed and agreed at a full staff meeting.

Discussions about sexual and gender diversity could also be included in the life orientation, English and history curriculums.

Teachers, according to the document, could do a number of things to challenge homophobic bullying, including:

Revising teaching programmes to ensure that they are not homophobic;

Not imposing their personal values on pupils; and

Ensuring staff members are comfortable in confronting questions that arise from antihomophobia campaigns.

The former Willowfountain pupil cried this week as he described his humiliation.

“I felt so alone after being called useless and being told: ‘You don’t deserve to breathe.’ ”

He said he avoided assembly several times because of being insulted by fellow pupils.

“I cried at assembly because the boys said I was standing in the wrong line and that I should be standing in the girls’ line.”

He enrolled at another school, Siqongweni Secondary in Edendale, on the first day of the new school year but did not return after pupils laughed at him and he was assaulted by six men, including a pupil, on his way home that afternoon.

Phindi Malaza, project manager at the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, said lesbian and transgender girlswere harassed by teachers because of school uniforms.

“A transgender girl would want to wear a dress while the school will feel you’re a boy. When you are transgender, you see yourself as the opposite sex. Masculine girls that identify as butch usually prefer to wear trousers to school.”