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Abstract
This article draws on the experience of the charity Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) to explore the limitations of current practice around homophobic and transphobic bullying. Since 2002, EACH has worked to affirm the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people and reduce discrimination experienced due to sexuality or gender identity. The authors experience of working with LGBT young people and their schools are contextualised within the broader academic literature around homophobic and transphobic bullying. It begins with an overview of homophobic and transphobic bullying, moves on to explore three key limitations of existing approaches and concludes with suggestions for future research, policy and practice.
Notes
1. Trans is used as a shorthand for those whose gender identity differs from what they were assigned at birth. They may identify, for example, as transgender, gender fluid, genderless or intersex. Cisgender refers to people whose biological sex matches their gender. In other words, it is a term for non-trans people.
2. Cissexism is used similarly to refer to the unearned advantages of individuals who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth which accrue solely due to their cisgender identity. Neither heterosexism nor cissexism are widely used terms in the literature on homophobic or transphobic bullying; however, they are useful concepts for understanding the underlying attitudes behind this prejudice-based bullying.