No place for faggots! Homophobic violence in schools

Simon Maljevac and Jasna Magić

Summary:  The article introduces the results of a study on the everyday lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual (GLBT) youths in Slovenia. The study was conducted in 2008 by the non-governmental organisation Dru{tvo informacijski center Legebitra, and it illustrates the experiences gained from a program intended to raise education and awareness about GLBT issues. This research about the everyday lives of GLBT youths reveals that almost 98% of pupils have not heard anything (or have heard only very little) about homosexuality in schools. This does not necessarily mean that there is no access to information on homosexuality within schools, but such a lack of information about this particular topic could be interpreted to mean that the issue is not deemed important enough to be represented in public schools, or even that there are fears that readily-available information would represents a promotion of homosexuality. When Legebitra offered free awareness raising workshops to more than 100 high schools in Slovenia in 2002, only 8 schools responded positively. Indeed, discussion surrounding the topic of homosexuality at schools appears to be as random as it is inconsistent.