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Description
The aim of the project is to create tools to facilitate the implementation of inclusive, anti-violence legal solutions in schools, so that young non-heteronormative people are protected from discrimination by the school from an early age. The project addresses the needs of schools where students experience discrimination or violence because of their psychosexual orientation and gender identity. According to data collected by the Campaign Against Homophobia in 2018, there is on average one non-heteronormative person in each class. A study by the Fundamental Rights Agency (2020) revealed that 59% of LGBTQ+ people have experienced discrimination because of their identity in the last 5 years. As part of the project, we develop an inclusive school statute that includes anti-discrimination clauses that protect human rights at school, along with instructions for implementing these clauses in schools at different levels of education. We operate an email intervention service through which people experiencing discrimination and violence in their schools can contact us for comprehensive legal and psychological support. We also send a full information pack with recordings to schools. We regularly post ad hoc models of legal intervention on social media, created by a lawyer to address discrimination and violence in the school community. Examples of discrimination include the banning of single-sex couples from the prom, the failure of teaching staff to use transgender pronouns and first names, cyberbullying, or the school''s failure to respond to expressions of peer violence. The project is addressed to people of school age, in particular LGBTQ+ young people and their allies, as well as people involved in school life (teaching staff, parents) who are concerned about the well-being of learners, whatever their identity.
Summary of project results
The project was intended to respond to the needs of LGBTQ+ youth at their school. The project focused both on intervention activities - they were carried out in individual institutions, as well as on systemic activities - solutions were developed in the field of school statutes. The project was intended to legally strengthen young people who often faced exclusion and misunderstanding in the school community.
The project included: interventions in schools (an intervention e-mail was opened), an inclusive school statute (created in cooperation with a lawyer) as well as educational activities (recordings and webinars). At the very end of the project, a summary conference was organized in Wrocław. All documents, including the school statute template, recordings and descriptions of the intervention, are available on the foundation''s website and on the dedicated project subpage. The activities were carried out mainly in smaller cities and towns.
The project increased young people''s awareness of their agency at school and student rights. Additionally, young LGBTQ+ people gained the opportunity to assert their rights. 10 schools benefited from the assistance, where recommendations for changes to school statutes were issued, 30 people were supported through an intervention support program, and in addition, educational and promotional materials for the project also reached a wide audience. At the beginning of the implementation of the activities, an extensive diagnosis of the legal problems of LGBTQ+ youth in schools was also carried out, which is the first such catalogue. An intervention "model" has been developed for each situation, which allows young people to benefit from these activities also after the project ends.