ABSTRACT
Mental health statistics for LGBTQ+ pupils are distressing. A Stonewall report from 2017, looking into the school experience of LGBTQ+ students, found that 92% of trans pupils have considered taking their own life. For non-trans pupils who are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, this figure remains worryingly high at 70%. The collection of essays from the LGBTQ+ contributors in this chapter, along with a short author commentary on each contributor’s experience, highlights and explores the complex relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and masculinity. This chapter includes accounts of being an openly gay teacher in a primary school, the experience of one trans teacher transitioning openly with the support of her school, being involuntarily ‘outed’ as gay while a secondary student, being ‘out’ as a secondary school teacher, and the experience of setting up a support group for LGBTQ+ students in schools. Attention is also drawn to the systemic homophobia experienced by some contributors as they navigated their way through the constraints of Section 28 legislation, and the chapter highlights the fact that the LGBTQ+ experience of education is, for many, still a minefield despite the progress which has been made in the last 30 years.
