Campaign to tackle homophobia launched at St Asaph

Oct 13 2008 By Andy Davies

A DVD produced by gay rights group Stonewall Cymru was launched on Monday at Ysgol Glan Clwyd to help schools across Wales tackle homophobic bullying.

Spell It Out, which is backed by the Welsh Assembly Government, was launched jointly at the St Asaph school and Cardiff County Hall.

It hopes to give teachers a better understanding of the problem and how to deal with it.

An existing Stonewall poster campaign has also been extended into schools.

The posters carry the slogan "Some people are gay, get over it," and started as a billboard campaign earlier this year.

Stonewall said the posters were supported by all major teaching unions and were developed with 150 secondary schools.

Education Minister Jane Hutt said: "I urge all schools to use these materials as a starting point to engage young people in classroom discussions to better inform them about bullying of this nature.

"I sincerely hope that these resources, along with Welsh Assembly Government guidelines that will be issued next year, will help towards bringing an end to the victimisation of individuals based on their sexuality."