Harassment in the classroom is a reality for the LGTBI community. This is evidenced by a new study that the LGTBI+ State Federation (FELGTB) presented this Wednesday on the occasion of the start of the school year. The survey State of LGTBI+ Education 2024conducted by the 40db agency, conducted a survey among over-18s to find out about their experiences during their schooling: almost one in four (23%) said they had been the victim of harassment. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, 64%, the centre “did nothing” in this situation.
This is the majority answer given by the 800 respondents to the question of what the school or institute did in the face of the harassment suffered. In 16% of cases, it “inflicted a punishment” on the person who committed the harassment, while in some cases, the reprimand reached the victim by describing what happened in a conflict between two parties: thus, 9.8% of respondents maintain that the punishment was applied to both of them and only 6% to the person who was harassed. 3.8% do not know or do not remember.
The study reveals that these types of experiences are more perceived in the age group between 25 and 34 years, in which the percentage rises to 28.7%. Those between 18 and 24 years say they have suffered 24.9%.
Harassment, discrimination, physical violence and cyberbullying are the types that stand out the most among the victims while, by educational level, it is at the ESO that the greatest number is concentrated: in the 3rd and 4th years of the ESO, 16.13% of the people interviewed suffered from it and 14.5% in the first two courses. 11.5% in Primary and 10.75% in Baccalaureate.
Furthermore, almost half of the LGTBI group, 41%, consider having witnessed an act of LGTBIphobic harassment during their studies. Although the research questions a vital phase that was left aside for the respondents and does not constitute an x-ray of the current situation, among experts and the educational community there is a consensus that the new generations have broken with the heterosexual norm and are in an open and diverse environment that, however, coexists with LGTBIphobia and the rise of hate messages.
We don’t talk about diversity
To avoid this, the FELGTBI calls for diversified education in the classroom as “a key element to combat misinformation and stereotypes that are based on increasingly frequent hate speech and that permeate the young population,” said the coordinator of the Education Group David Armenteros at the presentation of the report, in which the federation launched the campaign Silencing the myth to try to dispel “myths” about the LGTBI community that “end up promoting discrimination.”
What the group claims collides with a reality that the report also quantifies. And 60% of those surveyed say that lectures on emotional and sexual diversity were not given at their center. Although it must be taken into account that people who studied more than three or four decades ago also responded to the survey, when you ask those who have just left high school, the numbers improve, but they are far from covering the entire student body. .
Thus, among 18-24 year olds, 47.9% responded that “they were questions of sexual orientation”, 43.5% analyzed prejudices against the LGTBI community, 40.8% trans issues or family diversity and only 33% responded that their center prevented them. LGBTIphobic hatred.
In this context, the FELGTBI recalls that the so-called Trans law obliges educational administrations to promote diversity training for teachers and to collaborate with centers to develop prevention actions, which “is not happening,” according to the organization. “We will not let the law remain a dead letter,” it warns.
