Seanad: Statements on Homophobic Bullying
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On Monday, we flagged up the Statements on Homophobic Bullying that was scheduled for 3.45pm yesterday. Doubtless most of you took a half day off and stood in anxious groups around laptops for the live stream of this ground breaking stuff. Ok, probably not. But we did, so here are the highlights for those of you missed it.
Lynch mob’s the Seanad
‘Statements’ is a bit misleading, it was really a ‘statement’. Deputy Kathleen Lynch, speaking on behalf of herself and the Minister for Justice and Equality Deputy Alan Shatter thanked Senators Norris and Zappone for proposing the discussion (we missed Zappone’s contribution in our research for Mondays piece – sorry!) and she had the following things to say about homophobic bullying.
Tolerance of homophobic bullying is simply not compatible with respect for the intrinsic dignity of each human being.
Amen. Good start, Deputy Lynch, we’re all cheering your name.
Then she began talking about ‘robust teasing’ and ‘banter’ and its important place in Irish society.
It has an important place in social interaction, in building camaraderie and friendships. It can nudge us out of depression, help us see the funny side of situations, think more optimistically and can add enormously to the quality of life.
True certainly, in my house we can go weeks at a time without a sincere sentence, but in a statement about homophobic bullying? For a minute there, I didn’t know what to think.
After stopping briefly for refreshments at Sure We’re Only Having A Laugh Avenue, Lynch hit the road again. She was, to be fair, very quick to acknowledge that what one person feels is banter can be very damaging to another (as my mammy used to lecture us, “It’s only fun if everyone enjoyed it”) and she reminded her Oireachtas colleagues that
the ground-breaking 2009 survey of Irish LGBT people, Supporting LGBT Lives, found that to avoid being threatened or called abusive names by work colleagues, almost one in ten respondents had missed work.
When we talk about bullying most of us usually picture school children, so I thought that this was a particularly thought provoking example to use.
Image from visualimage.com
Bully for her
Next she spoke a bit about the legal definitions of bullying and harrassment, where the “fine dividing line between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour” is deemed to be. Most of us have only a gut-instinct understanding of bullying and harrassment so it was interesting for me to get a sense of how the law has codified tricky subjects like harrassment (apparently a once-off incidendent that undermines ‘the individual’s right to dignity’ can be harrassment).
These are powerful definitions. They make it quite clear that certain kinds of behaviour are totally unacceptable in law. This is not because of any concerns of political correctness. Such kinds of behaviour are unacceptable precisely because they are harmful, both to the individuals targeted and to wider society. This point should by now be beyond dispute.
Though I had cringed slightly at the earlier part of her statment, I increasingly warmed to Lynch while she talked and she certainly takes no prisoners in her closing sentences.
We know that bullying and harassment cause harm… heightened levels of psychological distress arising from stigmatisation and harassment, leading to significant levels of self-harm and thoughts of suicide. Being physically threatened or attacked, or experiencing homophobic bullying in schools, were identified as risk factors for those who attempted suicide. Recent research from the United States goes further, and suggests identity-based bullying, such as homophobic bullying, impacts more severely on the victim than other forms of bullying.
Bullying is an issue very close to my heart, and I’m glad to see it given due attention, but I feel like this could have done better. Deputy Kathleen Lynch said some powerful things, and some very important things, but most of them were about bullying in general rather than specifics about homophobic bullying. So why just homophobic bullying?
The research that she references Supporting LGBT Lives was about all LGBT people, not just those where are gay, and I suspect that those harrassment figures were pushed up by the trans* people in our community. Under the LGBT umbrella, the L and G are best sheltered. I’m glad our Senators and TDs have copped on to how damaging and unacceptable homophobic bullying is, but I feel like it’s biphobia and transphobia that really needs a government seal of disapproval.
The full transcript of Deputy Lynch’s statment is here.
![Trans* Education and Advocacy [TEA]](http://www.gaelick.com/wp-content/themes/gaelick/images/mpu/transMPU.jpg)
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There were some great contributions yesterday from Senators unfortunately this guy had my jaw on the floor with his dismissive ignorance: Senator Eamonn Coghlan: “I only became aware a number of hours ago that this issue was being discussed in the House today. I would like to share my thoughts and observations on the subject matter with the Minister of State.
Homophobic bullying as a problem in schools is an issue which has only been explored since 2004. We are all aware that society and in particular our youth, not alone in Ireland but worldwide, are experiencing many problems, including alcohol abuse, misuse of drugs, obesity and racism. I do not foresee the problem of homophobia going away for a long time. I am not necessarily sure if the efforts through education will make a major difference. I note that 41% of teachers say that homophobic bullying is more difficult to deal with than is any other form of bullying in schools, the reason being their fear of also being targeted by the bullies.
I wanted to contribute to this debate this afternoon because as a coach and mentor to many young boys and girls over the past number of years I have dealt at first hand with victims of bullying, in particular young men. They have told me of how at school they were called “gay”, “queer” or “fags”. This type of slagging affects self-esteem and increases anxiety, often causing depression. Those slagging do not necessarily always know they are being bullies. However, bullying often becomes physical. When, as I once witnessed, a young man is thrown through a glass door in a secondary school, resulting in his head being cut open and him having to be brought to hospital, that is homophobic bullying.
Another young man whom I mentored was told when he tried to get into a nightclub that he could not go in because the bouncer at the door did not like his friend. The bouncer turned to his friend and said: “Get out of here you gay queer.” When the first young man defended himself and his friend to the bouncer, he was dragged into the nightclub, had his trousers pulled down below his waist and shoes taken from him and was brought into a dark room and beaten. The Garda Síochána were called, and the gardaí believed the bouncer. The young man was imprisoned in Kevin Street Garda station over night and had to eventually, after six months, plead guilty because he did not want to have to go to court. What kind of homophobic bullying is that?
In another instance of which I am aware, a young man was travelling to town in a taxi with a male and two female friends. They had not met each other for approximately three or four months over the summer. When the taxi driver asked where they were going and they told him, he turned and called them “queers” and told them to get out of his taxi. The young man took issue with this. The taxi man stopped in the middle of the Stillorgan dual carriageway and told them to get out of the car. When they did the young man slammed the door and told the taxi driver to go you know where. The taxi driver got out of the car and beat up the young man. I saw the photographs of the young man following that beating. He had blood pouring down onto his chest. The Garda were called, but gardaí did nothing. They provided no protection whatsoever for the young man concerned. There are no rights for these type of victims and action will not be taken against the perpetrators of homophobic bulling.
Young men and women are not only emigrating from this country because of economic difficulties and unemployment. They are emigrating because of homophobic bullying. I do not believe it will ever come to an end. We must work hard with schools, sports clubs and society to try to educate people of the harm done physically and mentally as a result of homophobic bullying.”
Actually this transcript isn’t quite accurate. if you watch the video back he pretty much said that that we will always have homophobia and that he didn’t think edcuation could do much to change that. He also doesn’t think that ‘slagging’ is homophobic bullying- it’s only homophobic bullying when it gets physical.
I missed the stream on Monday, so I am not sure what exactly was said, but did they really avoid talking about trans*phobia and biphobia altogether? That is so disheartening, especially since the TGEU conference was held here less than a month ago.
I’m not sure if the video footage is available after the fact, but you should be able to read the transcripts of the statements here.
(If that link doesn’t work, go to http://www.oireachtas.ie/ – then go to “Oireachtas Business” listed across the top and click “Debates and Publications”; then click “Current Debates” on the left hand side panel, and click on “Seanad Eireann”; then, to get debate from the date you want, click on “2012″ and opposite the month of September, click “25″.)