Homophobic Bullying on the Rise

Homophobic bullying is an “effective and powerful” form of abuse and a growing cause of concern for youngsters, according to research due to be published this week by the NSPCC children’s charity. Calls about homophobic bullying accounted for 27% of the April 2006 calls relating to sexual orientation issues to the NSPCC’s child protection helpline, ChildLine, the report reveals. The charity’s analysis of the calls represents what it claims to be the first detailed insight into the extent of homophobic bullying based on the recent experiences of teenagers.

In order to better monitor how many young people are calling the helpline about worries relating specifically to sexual orientation, homophobia and homophobic bullying, ChildLine introduced this as a new category in April this year.

The 218 calls received on these issues during that month would, it says, be 2,725 when extrapolated for a whole year – the equivalent of close to 2% of all 157,000 calls received in 2005-06. Homophobic bullying was the most common single problem cited by this group of young people.

The report says: “There is a sense from callers that homophobic bullying may be an especially effective or powerful form of bullying, because victims are particularly unwilling to seek help, as this would force them to discuss why they are being bullied.” It warns that this kind of bullying may be more successful because it is often not taken as seriously as other forms of bullying.

During April, 60% of the young people who called ChildLine about sexual orientation, homophobia or homophobic bullying were 12 to 15. Thirty-four per cent were aged 16-18, and 6% were 11 or under. Boys account for 55% of the calls in this category, even though they represent only 25% of all calls to the helpline.

According to the callers to ChildLine, homophobic bullying can become the defining aspect of a young person’s school life. “Because being gay is seen by many as ‘wrong’ or ‘not normal’, callers indicate that friends are more likely to be unsupportive, to join in with the bullying, or even to initiate it,” the report says.

Callers were also critical of teachers, complaining that they seemed to do little or nothing to stop homophobic bullying. Young people claimed to be in “a catch-22 situation”: by reporting the bullying they would “out” themselves.

The Department for Education and Skills requires every school to have an anti-bullying charter.

A DfES spokesman said: “No child should suffer the misery of bullying, regardless of race, sex or anything else – every parent agrees with this.

“We are working to ensure that schools provide a clear focus on responding to homophobic bullying in anti-bullying training and materials for schools and teachers.”