Homophobia in an all boys Secondary School

[queenceleste]

My ds is at a fairly old fashioned all boys' secondary school (except for girls in the 6th form)

He is very attuned to prejudice of all kinds and hates people being bullied or put down. He says his school is boiling hot on racism and boys have been suspended for making racist remarks or using abusive language in relation to race. I am glad they have zero tolerance in this area.

But apparently homophobia is rampant in the school and he says the teachers don't address it. I don't blame the teachers at all, it has to come from the top.

this Stonewall info looks good

I am just wondering how to ask the school about this policy. I hate being a trouble making parent and the HT is so arrogant in my opinion, I also don't know if I want my ds to have to be the poster boy for anti homophobic rights he's not the toughest child.

What's the best way as a parents and pupil to promote this kind of thing to a Leadership team without them immediately resenting you?

OP: have a dig around on the school's website and find out what the SRE curriculum and behaviour/bullying policies have to say about what should be happening. That might help establish a start point for working out the effective ways of raising it with the school.

Also, has your DS told you about specific incidents? If the conversations have been fairly general so far, it might be worth finding out more exactly what he has seen going on (as descriptions of problematic behaviour would again be relevant in deciding the best way to raise it).

Well he's just addressed a term's worth of being called gay by a boy he sits with in one class. It has ranged from just 'you're gay' to 'you'd have been gassed by the Germans for being gay in WW2 (followed by much laughter). The boy clearly thinks it was ribbing.
Any way ds finally told him to stop it or he would go to the Hd of Year and report him. The boy totally agreed to lay off.
I don't know if ds is gay or not but I admire his sense of injustice. He says that is it just as destructive as racist abuse and so it should be t reated with the same seriousness.
I think the general banter in the school falls to homophobia, I think they do get a lot of that from things like the Inbetweeners don't you think?
But I will check out the school website.

Good for your son whether or not he is gay is irrelevant, clearly he is a thoughtful young man.
Sadly homophobia is still not seen in the same way as racism by many boys (who are presumably influenced by their fathers?). The "banter" as you call it is a constant theme.

Your son sounds like a wonderful young man.

He's right - it should be treated with the same seriousness as racism.

I hope you do raise it and the school takes action.