Stop homophobic bullying

6.50.33pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 6th Jun 2006

All bullying has serious effects on victims, often resulting in failure to achieve their full potential at school, or to their truancy, self-harm and in some cases, suicide. Liberal Democrats have a general concern about all aspects of bullying. We are turning the spotlight on this particular problem because homophobic bullying is harder to monitor and tackle at the moment.

It is not about being "politically correct" but ensuring that all pupils know bullying will not be tolerated - and there are no exceptions.

Homophobic bullying affects not only pupils who grow up to be gay, but those with gay family members and pupils labeled "gay" by their peers. Words as "gay" are commonly bandied about as an insult, frequently unchallenged by staff in schools.

If homophobic bullying is to be successfully challenged then it needs leadership from the top to set high standards of expected behaviour and ensure all pupils can learn in safety.

For more information and to sign the petition follow the link

http://www.libdems.org.uk/campaigns/stop-homophobic-bullying.html