In many schools across the country the word “gay” is used as an insult, with the word still carrying many negative connotations. The impact this can have on young LGBT people is undeniable. One survey of 2,200 young people, published in March, found that 56 per cent of LGBT 14-18 year-olds had self-harmed, while 70 per cent had seriously considered suicide. Part of this anxiety comes from having to socialise, study and make friends in an environment that many LGBT young people see as hostile.
Four years ago, a group of Trinity students established an organisation to tackle this. ShoutOut, which is still run by volunteers today, aims to address homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools across Ireland.
“Nearly one hundred per cent of the time when people use it, it’s not out of malice”, Bella Fitzpatrick, Trinity alumnus and managing director of ShoutOut, tells The University Times. “It’s just getting them to realise the effect it can have.”
Getting students to realise the effects of homophobic and transphobic bullying is one of ShoutOut’s main objectives. They deliver workshops to second-level students that try and deal with this bullying, as well as educating students about the LGBT community as a whole. While initially workshops were only given in the local area, they are now a national organisation. Last September saw them give their first ever workshop in Northern Ireland. It’s been an impressive rise for such a young organisation. Fitzpatrick put their success down to the fact that, quite simply, it’s a fun way for volunteers to spend an afternoon: “I think it’s because it is just a really enjoyable way to volunteer. It is really fun and because of that we have a really good volunteer base”.
That volunteer base is also a committed one. Last year, ShoutOut gave 151 workshops. Each workshop was run completely on a volunteer basis, which sometimes required students to make long journeys to and from the schools. Fitzpatrick herself works thirty hours a week for free for ShoutOut. “It does take a lot of work. I work part time in my day job solely so I can run ShoutOut”, she explains. Fitzpatrick’s work is complemented by the organisation’s team of directors, Owen Murphy, Claire Kelly, Eoin O’Liatháin and under them what Fitzpatrick calls “a fantastic army of volunteers”.
If I had gone to a ShoutOut workshop when I was at school it would have saved me four to five years of utter and complete confusion about who I am and why I can be proud of who I am
One of those volunteers is the current President of the University Philosophical Society (the Phil), Matthew Nuding. His choice to dedicate time to the organisation stems from his personal experiences with the LGBT community. “I have a lot of friends who are LGBT. Even one of my own sisters just recently came out as lesbian. So I suppose it’s just trying to do my bit to make school as good for LGBT people as possible”, he explains. He is also motivated by his own school experience and seeing friends who didn’t feel comfortable enough to come out: “I feel like if someone had done a workshop and come to our school that would have made such a difference to them and their time in school.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Fitzpatrick. “If I had gone to a ShoutOut workshop when I was at school it would have saved me four to five years of utter and complete confusion about who I am and why I can be proud of who I am. It would have meant so much for me and therefore I know it means so much to the people we do give them to”, she says. For her, the work itself also reminds the volunteers of the impact they make and why what they do can be so important. “There are times when I’m getting up at six in the morning to go to a school in Dundalk and being like ‘Why am I doing this?’ but I’ve never ever once left a school wondering that.”
In the four years since ShoutOut formed, Ireland has passed the Marriage Equality Act. It was a huge historic step forward for LGBT rights in this country but a recent report carried out by Trinity and commissioned by Glen and BeLonG To shows that serious problems remain. According to the report, 50 per cent of LGBT students had experienced anti-LGBT bullying. Those who were bullied suffered from higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress and alcohol use and were also more likely to self-harm. Only 20 per cent said they felt they belonged completely in their school. The report also contains a potential reason for these persisting problems. It cites a 2009 study that shows that the curriculum is “virtually devoid of any LGBT content”. Speaking at the report’s launch last March, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese said: “The problems are at their worst in our second level schools and while there is some evidence of positive changes in LGBTI experience of schools, the sad reality is that today in our country there are significant numbers of very sad and fearful teenagers afraid to go to school, afraid of being picked on because of their sexual orientation, uncomfortable, full of dread. Does anyone think such an atmosphere is going to help their mental health or their attention to studies or their steady growth into a comfortable confident adulthood?”.
Does anyone think such an atmosphere is going to help their mental health or their attention to studies or their steady growth into a comfortable confident adulthood?
Fitzpatrick agrees that there is still work to be done: “I think a lot of schools thought we wouldn’t have bullying just because we have marriage equality, which is obviously completely untrue.” However, there are positive signs. The Department of Skills and Education in 2016 supported both GLEN’s “Being LGBT in Schools” report and BeLonG To’s “Stand Up Awareness Week against Homophobic and Transphobic Bullying”, both of which offer guidelines for schools on how to make school an open and inclusive environment for LGBT students. ShoutOut’s success also shows that there is an appetite within schools for better LGBT education. At the moment, there are more workshops being requested by schools than ShoutOut can handle.
The workshops themselves are designed to make students more engaged with the meaning behind the words they toss around and the potential effects. “The ShoutOut workshop is really specific. It’s not just go in and be like, ‘I’m gay!’. There is a really strict structure to the workshop”, says Fitzpatrick. A lot of time is spent on language and labelling: “We define LGBTQI. We go into the difference between sex and gender”. They also try and get the students to see ideas such as gender identity, sexual orientation and even biological sex as a spectrum rather than something black-and-white. Fitzpatrick notes that this can be a new concept for many students. An important part of the workshop is a walking debate, where students move to one side of the room or another depending on much they agree or disagree with a statement: “It allows us to have this conversation. We make the statement ‘My school is a supportive place to come out’ and then generally we watch all the straight kids say that it is and the one gay kid says, ‘No, it’s not’. That allows us to open their minds to thinking in different ways.”
It’s a workshop that the volunteers themselves seem to believe in. Nuding certainly does: “The two things that the workshops do are: one, they help non-LGBT students to become allies of the LGBT community, and two, I think it helps the LGBT students themselves and shows them that their school can be a supportive place.”
Even just standing there at the top of the room saying ‘I’m an LGBT person and I’m still alive and it gets better.’ Even that is a lifeline
It is clear that ShoutOut is making a difference. They are often asked back to the same school year on year and every so often a student will get in touch to say that the workshop really made an impact. However, there is still a long way to go before this bullying can be completely eradicated. Fitzpatrick notes that the volunteers still run into the same homophobic and transphobic attitudes. Particularly around the issue of femininity: “It’s just prolific. It’s like you can be gay as long as you’re not a ‘faggot’. I hear stuff like that all the time and it’s sickening”. Transgender issues can also create a lot of resistance from students. “It’s a serious issue. You meet a lot of people who think that they’re cool with the gay thing, they’re an ally, and then you get on to trans issues and they’re not with you at all. I think one of the main things I would say is you’re not an ally unless you are an LGBTQ+ ally”, says Fitzpatrick.
ShoutOut will continue to try and tackle these issues in a hope to further eradicate homophobic and transphobic bullying in our schools. Next year they aim to do over 220 workshops and try to reach more rural schools. Another area they are considering is creating workshops for teachers says Fitzpatrick: “A one-hour workshop in a school isn’t going to have as much impact as the teachers knowing how to follow up on everything and the parents knowing as well. Ideally we would get involved in every aspect of the school environment, including parents and teachers.”
To achieve these ambitions, however, they will have to secure more funding. This can be difficult considering the fact they offer all their services to schools for free. Schools can donate but it’s not mandatory. It’s a problem faced by many volunteer organisations. Recently, they have come up with an innovative solution. “We started doing work in companies. Giving the equivalent of a ShoutOut workshop. Then they would pay us for that”, notes Fitzpatrick. It’s an interesting idea but they still rely on fundraisers and charitable donations.
It’s hard work but, for Fitzpatrick and the other volunteers involved, it’s worthwhile: “You never know who you’re speaking to. Even just standing there at the top of the room saying ‘I’m an LGBT person and I’m still alive and it gets better.’ Even that is a lifeline.”
