Stonewall held their annual Education for All Conference in London, on Monday 7th July, attended by The Rainbow Project, Cara-Friend GLYNI and NUS-USI LGBT.
Participants from all across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland attended a one day long conference in the historical capital, focussing on Homophobia in Education, hosted by Stonewall England.
The event, opened by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg MP and chaired by Stonewall’s Chief Executive Ben Summerskill, attracted professionals from across the board in education and youth work.
Representing the voice of LGBT Youth in Northern Ireland were our very own Liam Larmour (Project Coordinator for Cara-Friend GLYNI, and also Mental Health Officer at The Rainbow Project), Steve Williamson (Coordinator, Cara-Friend) and Chris Geddis (recently appointed as LGBT Officer for NUS-USI Northern Ireland branch).
The day’s events included workshops on engaging young people in tackling homophobic bullying, tackling bullying in primary and post-primary schools, and working in partnership with local authorities.
On the event, Liam states: “It was good to see the commitment of staff and volunteers from a vast variety of youth-service providers, sharing their experiences and offering insights into the efforts to tackle the plight of homophobic bullying in the UK.
This is definitely an issue in Northern Ireland, and we welcome Minister for Education Catriona Ruane’s commitment to tackling this prejudice, particularly in the formal education sector, head on.
Education is indeed for everyone, and we all share an equal responsibility in ensuring that it is delivered equally and fairly across the board. The mental, physical, sexual and emotional health and wellbeing of LGBT young people should not be treated any less equally than that of their heterosexual counterparts.”
Speaking on the highlight of the day: “Meeting Sir Ian McKellen, who gave the keynote closing speech as a co-founder of Stonewall, was a dream come true. He is such an inspiration, and has worked effortlessly throughout his career to promote inclusion, equality and acceptance for LGBT people of all ages. He asked questions about the experiences of LGBT youth here, and spoke of his many visits to Belfast to support fundraising efforts in the early days of the AIDS Crisis.
I had a good wee chat with him, and was thinking the whole time ‘I can’t believe I’m talking to Gandalf!’. We presented him with leaflets from the various groups in Belfast, including Family Ties – A Guide for Parents of LGBT Children and Young People, and ‘What’s In Your Closet?’, a coming-out support resource for LGBT youth produced by members of Cara-Friend’s Gay & Lesbian Youth Northern Ireland.”
He gave me his autograph and wished us all the best of luck in our efforts in Northern Ireland to tackle homophobic bullying.
The conference was a one day event, but will certainly have its impact on the three visitors to London. Despite the early wake-up call (4am) and travelling all day, it was considered to be worth every minute of it.
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