Amanzimtoti non-profit advocacy group Same Love Toti (SLT) has initiated a digital survey to assess the public’s support for a campaign it is launching. The campaign is to have it made compulsory for KZN schools to educate pupils around issues of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). As a champion of LGBTQIA+ people and issues, SLT hopes the campaign will ultimately make schools safer places for children, by challenging the ignorance that often fuels homophobic bullying.
The survey, which can be found at Google Forms and completed anonymously in less than two minutes, will form the basis of SLT’s approach to the KZN Department of Education around the need for this educational component to be made a compulsory part of the basic education curriculum. SLT hopes to have the department make it compulsory for schools to include SOGIESC education so as to allow knowledge to replace the ignorance that leads to bullying.
“Children that belong to sexual and gender minorities are targeted for humiliation, discrimination, bullying and violence. In spite of this, schools do not talk or teach about gender diversity, sexual orientation, intersex children or diverse bodies, which leave LGBTQIA youth without any information about their lives, and allows misinformation to fuel the harassment and violence which LGBTI youth are currently being subjected to,” said SLT founder Kim Lithgow.
“Schools are not only places of learning for sexual and gender minorities, but also places of trauma, so LGBTI youth often drop out in a bid to stay safe. This means that as adults, they will not be able to find meaningful employment or support their families.”
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Lithgow said all youth should be taught that gender diversity is part of the normal spectrum of human existence and that LGBTI youth are deserving of human rights and the protection afforded by South Africa’s Constitution.
The survey aims to make schools more inclusive and safe, and hopes to find support from students, teachers, parents and the community at large. For more information, email samelovetoti@gmail.com.
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