A leading North East LGBTQ+ charity has launched a new initiative to promote inclusivity within schools.
Northern Pride, which organises the annual Pride festival in Newcastle, has revealed plans for its Pride in Schools campaign, sponsored by Your Homes Newcastle, to deliver outreach services to students around the region.
The charity will provide schools with workshops, seminars and group exercises to support LGBTQ+ young people and their families, along with pupils coming from LGBTQ+ households.
The campaign was created in response to changes to the relationships and sex education curriculum, which comes into place in September 2020.
Under the new guidelines, all secondary schools will teach students about sexual orientation and gender identity, while primary school pupils will be taught about different types of families, which can include LGBTQ+ families.
Lou Liddle McGhee, family and youth engagement manager at Northern Pride, believes the campaign will have a positive impact.
«Stonewall reports that 45 per cent of LGBTQ+ young people experience bullying at school and the only way this will change is by challenging these attitudes with open channels of communication», said Lou.
«Those growing up LGBTQ+ or in LGBTQ+ households deserve to have a safe, comfortable and fun school experience just as much as their peers and we hope our Pride in Schools initiative will help to facilitate this».
Tina Drury, Managing Director at Your Homes Newcastle, said: «The Pride in Schools campaign is a really important cause that we are delighted to be supporting».
«School years can be a confusing time for many young people, but opening up the conversation about different types of families and attractions will hopefully mean a lot of students will feel less alone».
Northern Pride has created a survey for schools to complete, which will help the charity plan their sessions around the most relevant topics. The survey can be found at www.northern-pride.com and the deadline for responses is 19 July.
For more information about Northern Pride, visit the website or search northernprideuk on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
