Tim Ramsey’s first encounter with homosexuality at school was negative. In a year 5 class, while studying a composer, a boy at his table referred to the composer as "gay" and a "faggot." Already aware of his homosexuality, this caused Ramsey much distress, which continued throughout his school and university years. It wasn’t until the age of 25 that Ramsey felt comfortable enough to come out. Now, he has founded School Diversity Week with the hope of changing the attitudes towards LGBT issues in schools and giving today’s pupils a more positive experience.
This year’s School Diversity Week, which runs from 1-5 July, will involve one in four secondary schools, as well as many primary schools, with over a million pupils taking part. The initiative is only in its fourth year which means it’s no mean feat. However, these are bleak times for those interested in changing the attitudes surrounding LGBT issues in the UK. The protests in Birmingham about the teaching of LGBT equality, Ann Widdecombe’s comments about science finding a cure for homosexuality and the support that Esther McVey has given to parents withdrawing their children from lessonsfocused around LGBT relationships are all worrying.
Ramsey notes that in Birmingham schools alone, more than one in 10 pupils might identify as LGBT. Therefore they will experience protesting near their school gates as their first encounter with these issues. A survey commissioned by Just Like Us, which is the charity that Ramsey set up, has revealed that nearly nine in 10 LGBT young people have experienced anxiety. LGBT young people are twice as likely to face discrimination, and three in four have experienced bullying. The statistics suggest that things are far from okay.
Ramsey is 29, and he had hoped that today’s children would have an easier experience than he did at Lancaster Royal Grammar School, an all-boys school covering the 11-18 age range. His conversations with young Just Like Us volunteers suggest otherwise. Ramsey explains how no teacher at his school ever used the term “gay” which became synonymous with anything negative. He was terrified of being the boy labelled as ‘gay’ and didn’t speak about it until the age of about six. Keeping the secret made him feel lonely, and that’s what caused him mental health problems.
Speaking from personal experience, Ramsey believes that LGBT issues are everyone’s business as people can save lives by supporting and being there for them. His school experience was difficult as he tried to hide his sexual orientation to avoid discrimination and rejection. He feigned illness to escape sports and didn’t touch alcohol so he would not inadvertently reveal his sexuality. When he got to university, where he studied classics at Brasenose College, Oxford, things did not get much better. He had expected university life to allow him to come out of the closet finally, but after hiding for seven years, he found it challenging to be open. His university experience was precisely what he had feared.
When Ramsey eventually confided in a college friend about his sexual orientation, things went from bad to worse. He drank too much, and his friend rejected him. Ramsey struggled to imagine his life in any other way than it was at that moment. What he desperately needed was someone to tell him that everything would be alright. Ramsey’s parents did not have any gay friends, and LGBT issues were never discussed at home. They loved him very much, but like many parents, they had hoped that his life would mirror theirs.
According to Ramsey, it is impossible to ensure that attitudes towards LGBT issues are consistent within every home. However, schools should strive to create safe and welcoming environments for children of all sexual orientations. After coming out at age 25, Ramsey met someone named Ben who had a comparable background but a completely different experience of being gay. "He was like the person I could have been: he was grounded, happy, and he had never needed to be secretive about who he was," Ramsey recalls. Ramsey concluded that having openly gay role models, such as an openly gay teacher, was vital. He returned to his former school to speak and inaugurated Just Like Us and School Diversity Week as a result.
School Diversity Week is a week-long school campaign that schools may adopt and access an online toolkit with lesson ideas. Some schools hold special assemblies, distribute rainbow badges, plant rainbow borders, or allow students to dress up in rainbow colors. Ramsey claims that it is about highlighting schools’ overall respect for minority groups, including LGBT+ individuals. Some Catholic, Church of England, and Muslim-majority schools have already implemented the program, which has been noted in some Ofsted reports. However, Ramsey acknowledges that the schools that do not participate represent one of his most significant challenges, and there is a geographic divide concerning the awareness and handling of the issue.
School Diversity Week will take place throughout England and Wales this year, with invitations extended to Scottish schools in 2022 and at some point in the future for Northern Irish schools. Ramsey foresees a difficult process, but he notes that it is well worth it. Ramsey concludes, "I want this to be something children in school don’t need to even think about. I want all schools to be places where all children can be themselves, fearlessly."
