Wear a pink shirt on Wednesday, February 27 for the sixth annual Pink Shirt Day. By wearing a pink shirt, you’re saying that bullying won’t be tolerated.
Pink Shirt Day honours the actions of two brave boys from Nova Scotia who took a stand when they saw a Grade 9 boy being bullied for wearing a pink shirt. The next day, David Shepherd and Travis Price got 50 of their fellow students to wear pink shirts.
Sexual minorities and those who are perceived as gender-nonconforming are often the targets of bullying. Almost half of Canadians students report hearing anti-gay epithets at school – almost 10% of LGBT students report hearing frequent homophobic comments from teachers.
74% of trans students, 55% of sexual minority students, and 26% of non-LGBTQ students reported having been verbally harassed about their gender expression.
More than one in five (21%) LGBTQ students reported being physically harassed or assaulted due to their sexual orientation.1
Many schools are actively trying to eliminate bullying, and rightly so. However homophobic bullying is often ignored. According to Gerald Walton, doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, the education system reinforces the idea that “straightness” is “normal”.
Heterosexuality in schools is validated through pervasive discourse on teenage other-sex dating; straight sexual mechanics and pregnancy in sex education classes; straight territorialisation (such as high school dances and prom nights); and mass media images, textbook representations, and fictional stories exclusively about and featuring heterosexual relationships.2
Consider that in the US, gay and lesbian teachers are often fired simply because of their sexual orientation. In 2010, an Oregon teacher was fired for mentioning to a fourth-grader that he wasn’t married because he couldn’t legally marry a man. The school principal told the teacher that his comments regarding his marital status were “inappropriate”.3
Last year, a St. Louis music teacher was fired after marrying his long-time partner. The Catholic School said it couldn’t condone acts that were “contrary to the church”.4
And earlier this month, a Catholic school administrator was fired for supporting marriage equality – despite being a heterosexual man who is married to a woman.5
Katherine van Wormer of the Department of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa contends that, instead of firing openly gay and lesbian teachers, schools should be hiring them to serve as positive role models.6
“Unfortunately, in the U.S. and Canada, school social work tends to be crisis-driven rather than prevention-driven (Loughborough, 2000). This needs to change. School bullying, which takes a tragic toll on gender-nonconforming youth, can and must be stopped through effective adult intervention.”7
[1] Egale Canada, National Climate Survey on Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia in Canadian Schools.[2] Walton, G., (2004) Bullying and Homophobia in Canadian Schools: The Politics of Policies, Programs and Educational Leadership. The Haworth Press.
[3] Mirk, S. (September 30, 2010) Beaverton Student Teacher Says He Was Fired for Mentioning in Class That He Would “Choose to Marry a Man”. The Portland Mercury.
[4] Browning, W. (March 1, 2012) Gay Teacher Fired for Getting Married. Yahoo! News.
[5] Newcomb, A. (February 12, 2013) Catholic School Worker Fired for Supporting Gay Marriage. Good Morning America.
[6] van Wormer, K. & McKinney, R. (2003) What Schools Can Do to Help Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Youth: A Harm Reduction Approach.
[7] Idem