Bullying of teen gays is widespread, study finds

HOMOPHOBIC BULLYING is widespread and must be tackled, Minister for Children Barry Andrews said yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of a report on teenage mental health yesterday morning, the Minister said young people should be educated about the serious dangers of homophobic bullying. And he said it was particularly worrying to hear that some young people had experienced homophobic bullying by teachers.

The report, Teenage Mental Health: What helps, what hurts, was produced following consultation with 277 young people in Athlone, Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Sligo through the Office of the Minister for Children.

It found that self-image, school and exam pressure, and family relationships were the top three areas which affected the mental health of teenagers.

On self-image, young people felt they were constantly being judged by how they looked and compared to an unattainable image of beauty. They also felt the Leaving Certificate points race put them under too much pressure and continuous assessment would be a better option.

The report also found that teenagers were affected by bullying, peer-pressure, death, isolation and relationships with boyfriends and girlfriends.

Confusion and slagging about sexual orientation was cited as a big source of bullying in the report and bullying was experienced in school, on the internet, via mobile phones and in sports clubs as well as in large groups.

Mr Andrews said young gay people had told him their experiences of homophobic bullying were significant and damaging and it had traumatised some people.

“Homophobic bullying is widespread and must be tackled,” he said. “It can result in young people who are trying to come to terms with their sexual orientation self-harming or worse; that is not acceptable.”

He also said the use of new technologies in bullying, including social network sites and text messaging, meant the perpetrators did not see the consequences and so there was no restraint on their actions. He has had discussions with communications providers about this, he said.

The Minister also said he was particularly worried to hear some young people had experienced homophobic bullying by teachers. “There is clearly a massive challenge out there in society and in schools,” he said.

“There are a huge range of issues we have to tackle and I certainly will be taking that on personally.”

Six teenagers, Maggie Gethings and Danny Costello from Dublin, Martin Clancy from Leitrim, Claire O’Shea from Limerick, Julie O’Shea from Cork and David Matthews from Longford, who took part in the consultations, also spoke at the report launch yesterday, as did Minister for Disability and Mental Health John Moloney who said the fact that teenagers were comfortable to talk about what helped or hurt their mental health gave considerable hope that the tide was turning on the stigma associated with mental health and illness.

He said the National Office for Suicide Prevention would spearhead a campaign aimed at teenagers to raise awareness of mental health issues and would be informed by the report.