Nearly eight in 10 LGBTQ+ youngsters have heard homophobic language, whether it be in school hallways or on social media, a survey has found.
In a survey of 31,875 pupils across the UK, LGBTQ+ primary and secondary students described being taunted and harassed by their peers.
But some without their peers even realising they were being homophobic at all.
LGBTQ+ youth charityJust Like Us found that 78% of the 4,307 primary school children aged nine to 11 surveyed have heard homophobic language.
This was no different for secondary school students, with 80% saying the same.
Primary school pupils said they heard the word gay being used as a derogatory insult, especially in viral TikTok trends.
In schools across the country, LGBTQ+ students are more likely to be bullied and suffer from anxiety and depression than their straight peers, studies have found. Beaten, locked in toilets, kicked and taunted, half of LGBTQ+ youngsters don’t report such violence as they feel teachers turn a blind eye to it.
And the Just Like Us’ research was no different.
Mia Bladon, 20, who is an , told that growing up hearing the boys in her year seven classes hurl homophobic slurs didn’t exactly encourage her to come out as lesbian.
During a secondary school assembly, a teacher had to tell her cohort not to use the word ‘gay’ in a derogatory way as it was becoming so ‘widespread’ at her school.
‘I wasn’t aware of my queer identity while I was at secondary school, but looking back, hearing the term “gay” definitely contributed to the compulsory heterosexuality and internalised homophobia that I have had to untangle throughout my adolescent years in order to accept and embrace my lesbian identity,’ the third-year English Literature undergraduate at the University of York
‘When I was younger, only ever hearing the word “gay” used in a negative manner by my peers still distorted my perception of my lesbian identity at age 20, so hearing homophobic language used around me at a younger age definitely delayed the self-acceptance of my identity later on in my life.’
Many children and teenagers told Just Like Us researchers that their peers picked up homophobic words on TikTok, used by 50% of children in the UK.
One such trend is the ‘Do you speak English or Spanish?’ meme when a TikToker walks up to someone and asks them the question to ensure they can communicate.
The original creator approached a group of seemingly straight men and told them, ‘Whoever moves first is gay,’ before they froze still, according to the Know Your Meme, a database for the internet’s inside jokes.
Some videos replicating the original clip have been seen by more than 11 million people.
A parent of a nine-year-old child said they recently saw his friends play a TikTok ‘game’.
‘The rules were simple: if you guessed wrong, the others would say, “You’re gay”, the parent said.
‘At first, Jacob tried to join in, but after a while, he started to feel uncomfortable with the game. Eventually, he told his friends: “I’m not playing this anymore.”
‘One of his friends immediately shot back: “Well, you’re gay.”
‘Jacob, frustrated, replied: “No, I’m not, but my foster carers are gay, and what’s wrong with that?” His friends didn’t say anything after that, but Jacob was left feeling upset and angry.’
Given that Jacob has gay foster parents, he was confused, to say the least, as to why his peers were using gay as an insult.
Online homophobic bullying has been surging for years even as social media platforms toughen their anti-discrimination policies. TikTok says in its community guidelines it does not condone homophobic slurs or attacks.
Just Like Us conducted the sprawling survey with VotesforSchools, which engages children in political and social issues, in June.
But ‘gay’ being used as an insult is nothing new. Stonewall launched a campaign in 2013 to tackle the ‘epidemic levels of homophobia’ riddling schools, with 99% of youths at the time saying they heard the phrase, ‘That’s so gay,’ at school.
The survey reflects a climate in which hatred against LGBTQ+ people has become increasingly widespread. Campaigners describe the UK, once considered a beacon for LGBTQ+ rights in Europe, as increasingly unsafe for queer people.
Education, Just Like Us’ chief executive Laura Mackay said, is key to squashing the rise in homophobia. The charity has rolled out resources for teachers to help them encourage compassion in their classes.
‘Homophobic language should never be dismissed as “just a joke” because we know it has real-life consequences, impacting the self-esteem and feelings of shame among LGBT+ young people and those from same-sex families,’ she said.
Mia agrees. She feels young people are often ‘afraid or hostile’ to things they don’t understand like people of all ages can be.
‘That is why I believe that education is important for tackling homophobia, especially in young people, and that is one of the many reasons that I am a ‘Just Like Us’ ambassador, visiting secondary schools to give talks to students on what it was like for me growing up queer, in order to normalise queerness and conversations about queerness and promote acceptance and tolerance among young people, who are tomorrow’s young adults,’ she says,
‘I strive to make the world a better place for LGBTQIA+ people through my activism.’
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