Practitioners
Baden Phillips and Julianne Campbell
“The biggest take-home message for us has been that transformation is possible. Students, and the community in general, are able to consider new ideas and are often quick to decide for themselves that they don’t have to be homophobic.”
Background Information
Baden Phillips is an educator and counsellor at Working It Out (WIO), a government funded community service celebrating and supporting sexuality and gender diversity in Tasmania.
Juilanne Campbell is a Lesbian Health Worker at Hobart Women’s Health Service.
In 2006 through WIO Julianne and Baden conducted a pilot of the six week program, Pride and Prejudice, in urban and rural Tasmanian high schools (two state and one Catholic). The program is designed to increase students’ understandings of gender and sexual diversity and to explore the impact of homophobia on young people in school environments.
Julianne and Baden, how did you come to be involved in Pride and Prejudice?
Julianne: I’ve always had a strong sense of social justice. I got involved in Pride and Prejudice to raise awareness of the issues so people become a lot more informed instead of having to rely on the old stereotypes which are all mostly negative. A lot of people still tend to fall back on that and are quite limited in their responses – especially in the school environment.
Baden: I wanted to be involved with Pride and Prejudice to help change environments, not just for LGBTI students but also their siblings and other young people who may be perceived to be gay or lesbian and who get a rough time because of their association.
How was Pride and Prejudice implemented in Tasmania?
Pride and Prejudice was presented by WIO in partnership with the Department of Education with funding through the Tasmanian Community Fund. The program involved students in health and wellbeing classes for one hour a week over six weeks. We started with general concepts of gender and sex role stereotyping, prejudice and bullying then moved on to the myths and stereotypes surrounding homosexuality. In week four students were able to direct their questions to a panel of young sexually diverse people from their local area, a component of the course many students said was particularly valuable.
How did the students respond?
What was exciting about the pilot was feedback from students, particlarly students who had been slow to warm to the program. They made comments like:
“This should be offered to the community. We found it challenging in class and when we went home and talked with our parents, they were even more challenged by it.”
“We should have had this in year 7. Year 7s should be having this stuff to avoid the negative messages around diversity sinking in or sticking.”
Some students thanked us because they had a sibling who identified as gay or lesbian and they now had a better understanding of how difficult it can be to be “out”.
The formal evaluation found that the attitudes of all participating students were significantly more positive after the program. This parallels the result of a similar study conducted by Deakin University into the impact of Pride and Prejudice in Victorian classrooms.
What was the highlight for you?
We were leaving one school with the panel of young people and some students who hadn’t been involved in the program were making disparaging remarks in the playground. One student from the Pride and Prejudice class put some of her new found confidence into practice and challenged those making the comments with: “How dare you talk to them like that. Don’t you understand these people are the same as us?!” She was just one person with a new perspective and the guts to stand up for it, and seeing her made us feel so proud.
What's next?
On the basis of the findings and recommendations of the evaluation, the Department of Education will extend funding to WIO to deliver the program to as many schools as possible by December 2008.
For long term sustainability, schools should be able to do it for themselves with their own community resources. Our organisations will continue to be involved, providing support with training, appropriate up to date information, and linking schools with local groups.
If Tasmania is to continue to be recognised as a world leader in challenging homophobia in schools, a lot more needs to be done. Pride and Prejudice is just one strategy in our progress towards safe and supportive school environments for all students.
To find out more
Pride and Prejudice: http://www.prideandprejudice.com.au
Working It Out, including information on the Homophobia Stops With You campaign: www.workingitout.org.au
Anti-homophobia initiatives in Tasmania: http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5658
A summary of findings and recommendations from the report Breaking the Spell of Silence: http://tglrg.org/more/255_0_1_0_M/
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