Homophobic and Transphobic bullying

You might also find information on these pages useful: bullying and hate crime, understanding my gender identity, understanding my sexual identity.

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“I’m being bullied”

What is homophobic bullying?

Homophobic bullying is when someone treats you badly because of your sexual orientation.

What is transphobic bullying?

Transphobia is when someone is scared of or dislikes transgender people.

What it’s like in school

When we spoke to young people at Outreach Youth (a youth club for LGBTQ+ young people), some of them felt that their schools failed to deal with homophobic and transphobic comments and bullying. 

Research from Stonewall found that homophobic bullying is the second most frequent form of bullying, after bullying because of weight.

But, within primary and secondary schools, 9 in 10 staff haven’t received any training at all on dealing with homophobic and transphobic bullying.

Find out more about homophobic bullying.

Advice from young people at Outreach Youth if you are being bullied

Some of the young people at Outreach Youth said there have been times when their teachers have passed comments off as ‘banter’, and not taken it seriously. 

Homophobic or Transphobic comments are not funny. Bullying someone based on their sexuality or gender is just as bad as bullying someone because of their race. 

Schools have a duty to tackle discrimination and bullying under law. If your teacher is turning a blind eye to comments or bullying, you must find someone who listens to you.

Try talking to your parents, a different teacher, your head of year, or even headteacher. You might not feel comfortable telling them, but its important that the bullying stops.

Keeping a diary of any comments or nasty behaviour that you receive will help your parents and teachers understand exactly what is going on, so they can help stop it.

“Homophobic bullying is a hate crime.”

Find your people – maybe join a group like Outreach Youth and look after your emotional wellbeing by finding support or speaking to someone,

If you feel your mental health and wellbeing is suffering, there is support for you. There are loads of organisations who provide information and support specifically for people who are LGBTQ+. Find out more on Mind’s sexuality and mental health page.

“What can I do next?”

If you find you’re not getting anywhere, you can actually report homophobic bullying to the police. It is a hate crime and against the law. If your school doesn’t deal with the issue, you can report the incidents to the police.

At Outreach Youth, a lot of the young people felt that if teachers had training on issues of gender, sexuality and homophobic bullying, and these things were talked about in school, then homophobia and transphobia would decrease.

You could speak to someone from Childline for support or get information on bullying and advice on coping and making it stop from their website.

Stonewall offer programmes and training for secondary schools to enable them to deal with and prevent homophobia. Try talking to your school/college to see if they could join the Stonewall Secondary School Champions Programme

Further links around hate crime and your rights can be found on the Mermaid website.