It’s not OK to say “That’s Gay”

St Joseph’s Secondary School, Rochfortbridge, Co. Westmeath, 2014

CATEGORY: Relationships & Sexual Health Challenge

The Idea

The aim of this project is to tackle the issue of LGBT bullying in the school community and also the inappropriate use of the word ‘gay’.

The team selected this issue because they felt it was a reoccurring issue and had noticed that the word ‘gay’ is used negatively amongst the younger generation. They noticed that students are often perceived as homosexual as a result of the expression of their personality and students that are comfortable with their homosexuality are often stereotyped and bullied. It also coincided with the news that Russia has made it a crime for LGBT’s to show their love for each other in public. This angered the students and they wanted to advocate for the rights of everyone to be treated equally.

The Action

To learn more about this topic the group carried out surveys and contacted various groups such as ShoutOut and BeLonGTo; organisations which support and help to improve the lives of LGBT people.

With the knowledge they gained through research the group took many actions to improve the situation in their school and to create awareness of LGBT rights in their school and community. They produced a short film called “Actions Speak Louder than Words” which was screened at the CAST Film Festival in Dublin 2013 and nominated for Best Film award. They sanded the word ‘gay’ off the backs of the chairs in their school and launched a ‘It’s Not Okay to Say “That’s Gay”’ campaign throughout the school. They rewrote the lyrics to a popular song and filmed a music video to go with it which promotes equal rights for the LGBT community.

The group plan to take their campaign into the wider community by holding an awareness day and a flash mob in their local shopping centre to grab public attention. If possible they want to completely eliminate the use of the word ‘gay’ in the wrong terms in our everyday vocabulary. They have been sharing both their short film and music video online through YSI Hubsi and social networking sites in the hope of them going viral and reaching many more people.

The Impact

The project team ultimately want LGBT people to know that they are being supported and that people are working to change the negative attitudes some people have towards them. They hope that the change they bring about and the passion they have for advocating for social change will ensure that the next generations will not be brought up in a homophobic environment and we will be a lot closer to having equal rights for all LGBT people.

2014 Relationships & Sexual Health Challenge

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