Education plays a pivotal role in developing young people's capacity to reach their full human potential. A priority for GLEN is to ensure a climate of safety, support, acknowledgment and affirmation exists, which enables lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people like their heterosexual peers to achieve their full potential as provided for within the Education Act (1998).

Significant progress in recent decades has meant that there is a greater acceptance of LGB people as a normal part of the population. There is growing importance attached to the significance of a healthy and positive sexual identity is to human identity as a whole. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people are coming out increasingly younger than previous decades. For those who have much support from family and friends and school the process of coming out can be a very positive and affirming journey. In many instances schools have often found themselves 'catching up' to ensure that they are meeting the needs of young LGB people who come out whilst still at school.

For other young people however the story is not so positive. Residual stigma and reluctance to address sexual orientation as a normal part of human identity has led to many young people who are dealing with an emerging LGB identity or those perceived to be LGB experiencing significant inequalities.

Young LGB people in Schools

In 1999 GLEN conducted research which resulted in a report entitled 'Education: Lesbian and Gay Students -Developing Equal Opportunities'. This and more recent research highlight the ease with which equality for young LGB learners in educational settings can be achieved by addressing three key areas:

1. Safety and support from homophobic, bullying, harassment and name-calling;
2.Positive recognition that LGB people exist; are part of the school population and positively contribute to the diversity of humanity and to the social, economic and cultural life of Ireland;
3.Information and support appropriate to their needs, for example BeLonG To Youth Project is a youth organisation for LGBT people. It is funded partly by the Department of Education & Science.

GLEN values collaboration with key stakeholders in education including the Department of Education & Science in addressing the needs of LGB learners.

Homophobic Bullying and Harassment

A serious problem for young people dealing with their emerging LGB identity is the prevalence of homophobic bullying and harassment in Irish schools. It is widely acknowledged that homophobic bullying and harassment are pervasive features of Irish education. Research funded by the Gender Equality Unit of the Department of Education & Science (Norman, Galvin & McNamara, 2006) found that a majority of teachers (79%) were aware of instances of verbal homophobic bullying. A significant number (16%) were aware of physical bullying in their school. The research found that 90% of respondents reported that their school's anti-bullying policy did not include any reference to lesbian and gay related bullying.

In 2006 the Department of Education & Science issued suggested steps for developing, revising and updating Anti-Bullying Policies in Schools. For the first time schools are now obliged to address homophobic bullying within their policies.

Impact of homophobia on young LGB people

An exploratory survey carried out by the Anti-Bullying Centre in Trinity College Dublin into the experiences of LGBT young people in Ireland provides evidence of the seriousness of this issue correlating with earlier research carried out in Northern Ireland (ShOUT, 2003). Respondents in the Trinity Research revealed that;

• 76% had experienced verbal abuse
• 39% had experienced physical abuse
• 15% had attempted suicide
• 21% had self-harmed
• 42% reported either an eating disorder, alcohol abuse or drug misuse
• 29% reported having practiced unsafe sex
• One in ten left education earlier than they would have wished, with 3.3% dropping out of school early.

In 2006 BeLonG To and the Equality Authority launched an anti-homophobic bullying campaign Other supports are growing for LGB learners.

GLEN will continue to work towards addressing these issues so that LGB learners' experience of education is no less remarkable than their heterosexual counterparts.