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Stand Up Week will take place from November 13th-17th this year.
Join hundreds of schools across Ireland taking a stand against LGBT+ bullying this November.
We invite you to mark the dates in your school calendar and join us for Stand Up Awareness Week – now in its 8th year!
To help you prepare for this event, we are offering free CPD sessions for teachers, principals and members of the board of management. During these two-hour sessions, you will learn how to make your school a friendlier place for LGBT+ students. This year, for the first time, you can also attend a special workshop* focusing on the needs of transgender students.
- Cork, Ballyphehane: Tuesday, 26 September, 5:30-7:30pm, Deerpark CBS, 20 St Patrick's Rd, Ballyphehane, Cork, T12 K83R.
- Dublin, Blackrock: Wednesday, 11 October, 5:30-7:30pm, Dublin Blackrock Education Centre.
- Dublin, West: Tuesday, 19 September, 5:30-7:30pm, Dublin West Education Centre.
- Dublin, North: Wednesday, 4 October, 5:30-7:30pm, Location: Marino Conference Centre, Marino Institute of Education, Griffith Ave, Dublin 9. *Focusing on the needs of transgender students.
To sign up, simply email your name, school name and date of choice to info@belongto.org or call 01 670 6223. Refreshments will be served at each session.
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On Friday the Minister for Education, Richard Bruton TD, joined BeLonG To, the National LGBT+ Youth Organisation, to launch #StandUp2016 the largest anti LGBT bullying campaign in Ireland.
Children left out of progress
According to research, 1 in 3 young LGBT people aged 14 - 18 have attempted to take their own lives because of bullying, rejection, and pressures to hide who they really are. The findings make the strong case that young people are being left behind as Ireland becomes more progressive and inclusive of the LGBT community.
Now in its seventh year, Stand Up Week runs this week from Nov 14 - 18. 25% of post primary schools in Ireland participated last year making it one of the most important anti-bullying initiatives in the post primary school calendar. The Minister and BeLonG To are calling on even more post primary schools to participate this year to help address the issue.
Mental health and wellbeing
Bullying puts the mental health, wellbeing, and potential of LGBT students at serious risk. Students are still reporting high levels of LGBT bullying in Irish post primary schools. 67% of LGBT+ young people witnessed bullying of other LGBT students and over 50% of them personally experienced bullying. One in four missed or skipped school to avoid negative treatment due to being LGBT+.
Moninne Griffith, Executive Director, BeLonG To said:
‘Despite the great progress we have made in Ireland with equality legislation and marriage equality, most LGBT students are still facing very tough situations in their schools - rejection, bullying and pressures to hide who they really are. This has devastating impacts on their levels of self-harm and suicide. BeLonG To is calling teachers and parents to mind the mental health of LGBT students-- join #StandUp2016 and help build safe and supportive schools.”
Richard Bruton TD, Minister for Education said:
“I am pleased to stand here at the launch of Stand Up Week 2016 in support of all LGBT students in our second level schools across Ireland. I encourage every post primary school in Ireland to get involved in this excellent initiative to empower students to support their LGBT+ friends. My Department has provided funding for this initiative since 2013 as part of the implementation of the Action Plan on Bullying. We will be working hard over the coming year to continue to advance the Action Plan on Bullying and with Minister Zappone on the LGBT Youth Strategy.”
For further information on how to get involved with #StandUp2016 visit www.belongto.org/standup.
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"We welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, to St Paul’s today. It is a wonderful to see all of our 1 st years, our 2 nd years, our 4 th years and our 5 th years here to meet and to greet the Minister. We also welcome Fr. Eugene Curran, the chairperson of our Board of Management to the school.
The Minister is at the top of the Education tree. He is a member of the Government. As such he legislates for education and oversees the entire Irish Education System. These are turbulent times for schools but today is about students and more importantly about students’ health and wellbeing.
As part of the National Stand-Up Awareness against LGBT- related Bullying Week 2016 we are proud as an all boys’ school to be asked to launch this campaign. Bullying exists in so many forms and can have very lasting damage. To those here today who have been victims of any sort of bullying I say two things:
1. It is not your fault
2. Your oppressor has his/her own problems.
People find it hard to accept difference in any form.
The purpose of an Anti-Bullying week is to shine a light on behaviour, to make us think about our own behaviours, our own prejudices and our own fears. Anti-Bullying week also asks us to understand that as children of God everyone is born different – UNIQUE – and our challenge is to be able to accept people for who they are and not for what we want them to be.
Bullying occurs when someone uses their power, their size or their words to intimidate others and to make them feel bad about themselves. They want to impress their peers and to have a cheap laugh. This has significant impact in a school situation because we are all striving to understand who we are and to ‘fit-in’. This is our development phase and I want to say here and now that nobody has the right to intimidate, threaten or bully another person which may cause long-term damage to their mental health.
Our school mental health committee ‘Solas’ wants to shine a light on this situation. They want us to think about the impact of our words and actions on others. They want us to care for others and not to use people to make up for our own deficiencies. They want us to stand up to bullies and to make a difference. They want all of us to be happy and secure in our own skin.
So I ask all of us to use next week to reflect on who we are and what we want to be remembered for when we leave school. If you put yourself in someone else’s shoes it can help you to understand what it is like to see the world differently. It can help you to become a more understanding person and ultimately a better person.
I now want to pass you over to Sean O’Connor, a 5 th year student, who wants to share his experiences with us. I want you to listen carefully and consider what he has to say. Sometimes we say things and do not think of the impact of our words.
I want you to think about how our actions and words can affect others………."
- Michael Behan
Principal, St. Paul's College
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STAND UP!
2016 Stand Up! Awareness Week against LGBT Bullying is nearly upon us! Now in its seventh year, this initiative, one of the most important anti-bullying initiatives in the secondary school calendar, encourages post-primary schools across Ireland to get involved and empower students to support their LGBT friends.
Bullying puts the mental health, well-being and potential of LGBT students at serious risk. Most LGBT students are still facing very tough situations in their schools – rejection, bullying and pressures to hide who they really are. This has devastating impacts on their levels of self-harm and suicide. BeLong To are calling on teachers and parents to mind the health of LGBT students and join #StandUp2016 to help build safe and supportive schools.
You can find all the resources for Stand Up! 2016 in the Download Stand Up! Pack section of our website.
SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
With your help, we're taking over social media. We want you to take a picture with your friends, family and colleagues holding hands or hugging, similar to the picture attached.
Post it on Social Media, #StandUp2016. You can write a message of support or encourage other friends to get involved but please remember to use the #StandUp2016 so we can gather everyone's posts.
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For Stand Up! BeLonG To would like to commission a 3-4 minute “fly-on-the-wall” video to include film footage from Stand Up! week 2016 which takes place from 14-18th November.
We'd like most of the filming to take place in selected schools. The production will document the success and overall impact of Stand Up! A shorter, less than one minute video version of this is also needed for social media. The social media version will showcase the key messages from Stand Up! and will include the use of headlines, sub-titles, images and graphics.
The audience for the first video will be second level students, teachers, youth workers, state agencies, and relevant stakeholders. The second-level students and the general public will form the audience for the social media version.
Please download the tender pack here
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This year for Stand Up! we are providing advance training nationwide for teachers and youth workers. These training sessions will offer:
- a chance for teachers and youth workers to increase their confidence in tackling and preventing homophobic and transphobic bullying
- a chance to better equip themselves with skills to better support LGBT young people
- insights into the challenges faced by LGBT young people
- suggestions to make sure schools and youth services are friendly, safe, inclusive environments for LGBT youth
- ideas for ways to implement Stand Up! in local schools and communities
- small group discussions
- opportunities to ask questions
- copies of useful print and DVD resources
The training days for teachers include:
The training days for youth workers include:
Stand Up! packs will be sent to schools and youth services in October.
If you haven’t already, see the menu on the left to register for training or to make sure your school or youth service receives a Stand Up! pack
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Funded by the European Commision under the PROGRESS Programme (2007-2013)