well, i agree they shud deffinately teach about being gay in school. people need 2 know about things like this and the dangers of it.
but i dont think it wud be a gd idea 2 cum out 2 ne1 at my school coz my school seems prety str8. most places in manchester do even tho we hav the gay village on canal street! (weird) <br /><br />Post edited by: badboyz13, at: 2007/06/02 11:19

thats a bit off, topic but if people had a understanding about gay sexuality then it must be a good thing and if it was put in the coriculum at school as apart of the education then theres a better understanding for evry one but the hard bit is the age the school starts to teach sexuality and i think there should be a bit about homophobes too to balance it out and give the whole picture like sex =babies and gay =bulling the whole cocept of gay needs to taught

we talked about homosexuality in our discrimination unit in Current Issues. a little different than talking about it in health, but it still shed some light on some people.

I really don't think homosexuality should be discussed in any more depth than a brief reference when teach about contraception. I think making the student body of a school more aware of homosexuality and how there's no choice could improve difficult situations for some gay teens.
However when sexual health is taught, students are at a very confusing and hormone driven time in their life and making them aware and promoting homosexuality as 'normal' could make them believe they are gay.
This could lead to a sudden increase in 'out' gay teens whether they are genuinely gay or not. (Which sounds good to me!) but on the other hand this increase in gay and Bi teens would do pro-creation no favours, not to mention send the contraction of STI's soaring.

Maybe that's thinking into it way too much

All I'm saying is, these educational changes are very sensitive and need to be dealt with appropriately at an appropriate age. Or else they could have the opposite effect and make being gay the 'butt' of even more jokes!

We are a minority, and thus, they have no particular obligation to go in depth with what it means to be gay, just like there is no &quot;Hispanic History&quot; classes or things of that nature. Public schools are tailored to teaching the things that MOST students would need to know. 90% of students don't need to know about gay sex, and thus, they don't teach it.

A school has to do what is &quot;right&quot; for the majority and usually that means what will cause them less hassel from parents of the students in schools. This is why things such as homosexuality is quite taboo. I do think there needs to be some time spent talking about it. It isnt fair for a select number of people to feel isolated cus' their sexuality isnt talked about. Its gradually becoming better and better for people of different orientations. In england we have R.E. (or we use to) and it goes the same for some alternative religions such as paganism or wicca. I did a report on wicca for my R.E. class and my teacher made me do it again even tho paganism is like the oldest religion lol. In time things will improve it sucks for everyone now but we should be able to sit happy knowing that our children will live in a mor accepting world and class room where homosexuality is spoken about.

Personally, my experience has been that most people at my school find the idea of homosexuality amusing - whilst its hard for most people to keep a straight face talking about heterosexual intercourse, i doubt much would be achieved by teaching about homosexual - so i dont feel that PHSE is the place for teaching about homosexuality.

Perhaps it'd be better discussed in RS or Ethics lessons - allowing an exchange of views on a wide range of issues concerning homosexuality?

They should definatly talk about being gay and what it is like. I'm gay and when we had the sex talk at my school, they made no mention about homosexuality except for what condoms do, but they made no mention about what people feel like or what they go through in life. I think if they talked about being gay and what we go through like gay bashing and sex, there would be much less prejudice towards gays because people leed by example. If they have homophobic parents all they learn is to be homophobic and to be cruel to gays or if they are gay themselves and don't know what being gay means, they will find out much too late.

For those of us in the UK there is a very strong feature on Teacher's Tv tonight at 11pm. Presented by a gay rapper, it highlights the very real prejudices we face at school. (it even mentions THIS site - yay). I have seen it before and I think this is definately what should be shown in schools. Lets push our teachers to watch it so they can get the message too. Then maybe they will hear us!!

Forgot to mention - the program is called &quot;Coming out to class&quot;. Interested? Then watch it.