Why aren there laws against homophobic bullying already?
There are various anti-discrimination laws in place, but the problem is they do not go far enough. The 2005 Equality bill outlawed discrimination on the grounds of sexuality. In July 2000, the DFES issued the new statutory guidelines in Sex and Relationship Education Guidance, which includes the requirement that schools must provide for the needs of young gay men and lesbians. There is also the recent DCSF guidelines on how to tackle homophobic bullying in schools. The problem is none of this specifically requires schools to have policies on homophobic bullying or to provide support and training to staff on this issue. We also get the feeling that the government is happy to merely produce guidelines on this issue to silence campaigners, not wishing to draw criticism from the less tolerant members of society.
