This week on the Jennifer Zamparelli Show, Jen spoke with Policy & Research Officer at Belong To, Matt Kennedy, about helping young members of the LGBTQ+ community. Listen back above.
BeLonG To Youth Services is a national organisation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex young people in Ireland.
They advocate and campaign on behalf of LGBTQ+ young people, and offer a specialised support services with a focus on mental and sexual health, alongside drug and alcohol support.
The organisation estimates that 73% of LGBTQ+ students feel unsafe at school, and 86% feel isolated by other students.
Despite huge progress for gay and transgender rights in Ireland over the past number of years, it seems that we still have a long way to go.
Speaking on the research, Kennedy told Zamparelli that he hopes to highlight the experiences of the 1,208 LGBTQ+ young people surveyed throughout the Republic of Ireland: "This was an opportunity for them to share their lives experiences in terms of what it's like for them on a day to day basis in schools."
Sadly, the report found that some LGBQ+ students have experienced physical violence, verbal abuse, and in some more severe cases sexual abuse, as well as hearing homophobic remarks from school staff and fellow students.
Unsurprisingly, these experiences have led to one in three LGBTQ+ students skipping school. This, of course, is a major concern for both the students' well-being and their academic progress.
Zamparelli asked Matt if changes in schools needed to be made from the top down.
"That statistic around homophonic remarks from school staff is significant in that the report is finding that anything from an off-hand comment that isn't directed at a student, all the way up to the use of slurs - all of that is contributing to what we are considering an unsafe climate," says Matt.
"It's all an issue. It's all perpetuating the belief that being LGBTQ+ is a bad thing and that it's not normal in a school environment."
One of BelongTo's key recommendations is that schools implement targeted approaches to intervening when certain language is being used, by students or by staff. "Students need to know how to go about making that known," he says.
Additionally, he notes that while Pride events are a great way for schools to engage with their LGBTQ+ students, the effort can't be left in the hands of one or two teachers. Instead, a community-wide effort, including parents and guardians, needs to take place.
"Schools are, in many cases, attempting to do really meaningful work but it needs to be a school-community approach. Everyone has to be engaged in that process," he explains.
Reflecting on his own time in school as a trans man, Matt said that the findings surrounding school curriculums resonated with him.
"Students were reporting that they were never taught anything about LGBTQ+ lives or identities, so they don't see themselves within that makeup of what it means to learn and just be in that environment."
"I didn't come out as trans until I was 19 because I didn't have a language for it," he adds. "I didn't learn what it meant to be LGBTQ+ in school. It wasn't communicated to me that that was an OK thing to be, or even more so, that it was a wonderful thing to be, or that I could be myself or express myself and I would be accepted and welcomed into my school community. That, unfortunately, wasn't my experience."
"A large part of why I do this work, and I know why all my colleagues at Belong To do this work, is that we want to transform schools to be better than what we experienced, and what we know many of the communicated experienced."
To hear Jen's interview with Matt on RTÉ 2FM, listen back above.
If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, please visit: www.rte.ie/helplines.
