Manchester plans to open in three years the first school for young LGBT students, although open to students of other sexual options. The project, which is accompanied by a strong controversy, is an initiative of the charity LGBT Youth Northwest and emerges as a necessity in the face of the alarming figures of harassment in schools. According to a study conducted by the charity Stonewall, practically the 50% of gay students in the UK have suffered bullying by their sexual condition, of them 60% denounces that the teachers who witness the episodes of harassment never intervene. Without reaching these extremes, everyone claims to hear homophobic insults daily in their study centers.
Considering that the 60% of people who suffer sexual harassment recognize that it affects their academic performance and that up to 41% claims to have attempted or thought about suicide, is meant the idea of a place that works as a refuge for extreme situations. In the words of Amelia Lee, strategic director of the organization Yourth Northwest, "It is not a question of creating a small secure enclave, far from the real world, but we have an educational system that leads to failure between 5% and 10% , because it is routinely unable to recognize and incorporate the needs of young people in conflict with their identities. We can expect all schools to become inclusive or we can recognize that we have not yet ll
there and that, for the moment, we need specialized schools. "
The center would host 40 full-time students and 20 part-time positions for those who prefer to continue with the bulk of their training in conventional centers. It would work with a tailor-made curriculum for each student, which would include self-esteem work techniques. The idea is inspired by the Harvey Milk Institute in New York, the first center in the world of these characteristics that operates from 1985 and that in the 2003 happened to be recognized as an official center subsidized with public funds.
It is evident that this is a pioneering initiative resulting from the need to preserve a particularly vulnerable group, but we must also think that creating a ghetto school for them means isolating them instead of working for full integration and normalization in the schools.
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