Chatting to Combat Isolation

School staff have a responsibility to end bias-based harassment and bullying, and to check their OWN language and behaviors. LGBTQ students judge their safety in school on how likely staff are to reinforce safety.

LGBTQ+ folks are subject to institutionalised discrimination in Singapore’s schools, as their identities are often erased, avoided, and vilified.

The problem of institutionalised discrimination is compounded when it happens in an education system. As children grow up in a system that tells them — directly or indirectly — that being LGBTQ+ is “wrong”, they turn into adults who subconsciously hold onto that belief. When they rejoin the school environment as teachers, principals, counsellors, or ministers, they reinforce the same beliefs back into the system. The cycle of discrimination repeats.

We need to end this cycle of discrimination in schools. Our children — all of them — deserve to grow up in safe and nurturing environments.

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