At a conference in Galway, Ireland on Thursday, members of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) heard of how some openly gay educators were being harassed by students in secondary schools, with administrators turning a blind eye.
“Our LGBT colleagues fight to overcome the huge fears they face in their schools every day,” said Limerick teacher Patrick Hogan. “These fears are not just of losing their jobs, but fears of homophobic bullying they face on the corridors of their schools.”
Hogan told the Irish Independent of one teacher who needed to be transferred because the homophobic bullying was so bad. “She has since been transferred back in there and faces [bullying] on a daily basis.” Hogan said administrators at her school knew of the harassment, but it continued unabated.
The TUI passed a motion to encourage the ministry of education to better protect gay and lesbian teachers.
Photo: APA
MuscleModelBlog.com
Students bullying the teachers? How terrible. The ministry of education needs to do something.
balehead
Shameful! Great teachers are great teachers..no matter who they love…
kennetho9322
And Ireland was just voted as being one of the Top Ten Friendliest Nation’s on Earth.
bdog
SOME openly gay teachers are facing these issues, which have clearly been deemed newsworthy and alarming by the Irish media and teacher’s organisations. As usual, Queerty has a flair for the dramatic when it comes to writing a headline. Ireland remains deserving of its reputation as a friendly country, as well as one that is considerably more liberal and gay-friendly than the United States.
viveutvivas
We had gay teachers, and students used to gossip about them, but the teachers were never bullied, because that was in the time when teachers could mete out corporal punishment.
DOFEK
HOW can fucking Catholic country can be GAY friendly??. AdamHomo
gppm1103
Ireland is very gay friendly…however, the bigots are still there…what to do?
Maybe if we could just eliminate the church.
Ireland will be fine.