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(London) A study into bullying in British
schools has found that boys as young as nine frequently use anti-gay bullying
"to
establish their masculinity".
The research was done by Dr Emma Renold, of
Cardiff University, in Wales.
She found that young boys often use the "gay" and "girl" as insults to
other boys.
Her report calls for new efforts to combat
homophobia and bullying at an earlier age than previously thought necessary.
The study was released at a weekend LGBT
conference sponsored by Stonewall Cymru, the Welsh LGBT rights group.
"These are key findings because it is very much time to
make the link between gender and sexuality in bullying in the
schools," said Stonewall Cymru director Dr Alison Parkin.
"What Emma is saying is that gender and
sexuality are connected within the school environment and it seems
there are still very narrow ways of being a boy and being a girl."
Parkin said that the
study shows a link "beyond the
lesbian and gay sexuality issue to gender and sexuality for all
children."
"Any intervention that is done in school
must begin in the early primary years," Parkin said.
The conference also
criticized the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff for saying gay teachers should be banned from Catholic
schools in Wales.
Archbishop Peter Smith, in a
BBC interview, said that gays in
active, open or casual relationships "should be avoided at all costs".
"If a homosexual is living an
'active' life, or on a casual basis, that would cause us difficulty as
it goes against the whole Catholic ethos," said Smith. "We would have grave difficulty
with that as we expect teachers to give a good example.
Last month there was a similar proposal from a
leading bishop in Scotland. After a public outcry the Roman Catholic prelate
of Scotland dismissed the suggestion. (story)
©365Gay.com 2005
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