Stand Up Awareness Week
#ComeInStand Up Awareness Week
Villiers School celebrates the LGBTI+ Community
Students at Villiers School are recognising and celebrating the LGBTI+ community in Limerick by participating in a national campaign to end LGBTI+ bullying.
For 12 years now, the BeLonG To Youth Services campaign, Stand Up Awareness Week, has been a time for schools, youth-reach centres and youth services to take a stand against the anti-LGBTI+ bullying, harassment, and name-calling that silences many LGBTI+ young people. Last year, nearly 70% of post primary schools took part in the week-long campaign.
As part of our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, Villiers School has been taking action to create an LGBTI+ friendly environment that protects young people against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. As part of this, we are promoting Stand Up Awareness Week, running from November 15th-19th. During this week we are carrying out activities, designing lessons, and holding events to highlight the issues faced by members of the LGBTI+ community and to promote a culture of inclusion, allyship and acceptance for all members of our school community.
Research from 2019, the School Climate Survey, revealed that an alarming 73% of LGBTI+ students attending schools in Ireland feel unsafe when at school. Additionally, some 77% of LGBTI+ students experience verbal harassment (name-calling or being threatened), 38% experience physical harassment (being shoved or pushed), and 11% experience physical assault (punched, kicked, or injured with a weapon) based on their sexual orientation, gender, or gender expression in schools in Ireland.
By participating in Stand Up Awareness Week, schools and youth services are taking an essential step in creating an environment where LGBTI+ young people feel safe to be who they are.
“We applaud the BeLonG To Youth Services campaign for Stand Up Awareness Week and we value our participation in it. We are proud to fly the rainbow flag at the front of our school, and we know that true commitment to inclusion will be to ensure that the messages and learning of Stand Up Awareness Week permeate through the school community, not just during the week itself, but at all times in our school, and we hope that our students will be allies and ambassadors both within Villiers and in wider society. .”
Jill Storey, Headmistress – Villiers School
“We are so proud of Villiers School for joining hundreds of schools and services around Ireland participating in Stand Up Awareness Week. Through this important campaign, they are showing solidarity with LGBTI+ young people to ensure they feel seen, heard, and safe, and to ensure everyone knows that biphobic, homophobic, and transphobic language and bullying will not be tolerated.”
Moninne Griffith, CEO – BeLonG To Youth Services
About Stand Up Awareness Week
Stand Up Awareness Week 2021 (November 15th-19th) is a time for second-level schools, youth services, and Youthreach Centres in Ireland to take a stand against homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying. BeLonG To Youth Services has distributed Stand Up Awareness Week Resource Packs and Posters to all second-level schools and Youthreach Centres in Ireland. For more information, visit www.belongto.org/standup
About BeLonG To Youth Services
BeLonG To Youth Services is the national organisation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) young people in Ireland. Since 2003, BeLonG To has worked with LGBTI+ young people to create a world where they are equal, safe, and valued in the diversity of their identities and experiences. The organisation also advocates and campaigns on behalf of young LGBTI+ people and offers a specialised LGBTI+ youth service with a focus on mental and sexual health, alongside drug and alcohol outreach.
Choose words that heal, not hurt. #ComeIn
