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The Aurora School Bullying Project

 

IDAHO 2006

In 2006 Aurora held a short ceremony on the 17th of May, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). It concentrated on four issues, one of which was the bullying of LGBT pupils in schools. Two narratives illustrated the issue:

Darren Steele

"Darren Steele was a 15 year-old choir boy. His mother came home to find that he had hanged himself. A note by his body explained that he had killed himself because of the bullying that he was suffering at school.

"At the inquest, Darren’s friends explained that he had been regularly taunted as a 'gay boy' and a 'poof' because he liked drama and cookery. He had been systematically punched, verbally abused and even burned with cigarettes by other students over five years.

"He never told a teacher."

Amy Vickers

"For Amy Vickers it seemed unlikely that she would complete her GCSEs. She had to change schools twice after other children found out that she was a lesbian.

"She said 'I had dog shit and eggs put into my bag; abuse written across my locker … Anything I didn't put in my locker would be covered in graffiti. I had words spray-painted onto my jacket. I had kids telling me that they were going to beat my head in.

" 'I got into a couple of fights, and had bruises and cuts around my eye. I had a bottle smashed over my arm at one point. One day in the middle of a cookery lesson I even had knives thrown at me. But I never told the teachers why it was happening because they'd tell my parents.' "

 

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