Submissions | What No F*cker Taught You – Project Draft Submission

30 Jan What No F*cker Taught You – Project Draft Submission

Posted at 22:05h in Journalism Project, Level 6 by Platt

What No F*cker Taught You is a long-form journalism piece based on the 2017 School Report produced by Stonewall. It revealed that only one in five LGBT students nationwide had received sexual education on same-sex relationships, 40% of LGBT youth have never received any historical education on the LGBT community and 86% reported still hearing gay slurs in the hallways of their school.

The lack of social change and attitudes towards LGBT individuals amongst their peers can be put down to a lack of education from the system, and that’s why this project was created – to educate.

The asterix in the title of this journalism project is there to represent the silencing of LGBTQIA+ teens through the lack of LGBT+ education within the school system.

The project consists of four separate articles, interlinked so they fit within a longform template. The articles are built off conversations had between four friends that make up the letters of LGBT; discussing what they had to teach themselves as LGBT teens through the narrative of their personal stories. The topics discussed were LGBT+ history, sexual health, drugs and religion.

The longform piece will be presented on my website jordandavid.co.uk on its own page and I will be designing the layout with a website builder, through the use of CSS. The article will open with a parallax image of the Stonewall riots (it’s the image above). The audio content I’ve gained will be edited into little snippets of important points made, and they will be placed next to its written counterpart.

INTERVIEWEE	TITLE	TOPIC	TIME & PLACE
Niamh Shephard	Friend	LGBT+ history, sexual health, drugs and religion.	London, 9^th January 2018 (audio content)
Teddie Oates	Friend	LGBT+ history, sexual health, drugs and religion.	London, 9^th January 2018 (audio content)
Jay Whyte	Friend	LGBT+ history, sexual health, drugs and religion.	Manchester, 27^th January 2018 (audio content)
Vanessa Hamlet	Church of England Vicar-In-Training	Religion	London, 4^th February 2018
Stephen Whittle (if not, then a Stonewall representative will replace him)	OBE, Trans man, LGBT+ activist	LGBT+ history, sexual health, drugs and religion.	TBC
Dr Alan Gilman (if this interview falls through I will be talking to a member of the University)	GP @ Brinnington Health Clinic	Sexual health and drug misuse.	February 2018 (a specific date in February has not been set yet)

I aim to pitch this piece of journalism to publications like GAY Times, Pink News etc., once I graduate to become a weekly column, alongside a weekly podcast. Due to this I will also be creating a podcast trailer using the audio content collected from the interviews.

RESEARCH

Websites:

http://www.stonewall.org.uk/school-report-2017

This report is the original inspiration behind this project.

I am double-checking any facts taken from Wikipedia with this article from Stonewall to produce an accurate timeline of LGBT+ historical events. This particular article will be hyperlinked in my project as it’s the basis of Article 1, as it addresses the history of the community.

http://www.papermag.com/10-lgbt-activists-and-allies-who-changed-the-course-of-history-1427591537.html

This article educates on the most prominent activists in the LGBT+ community, and will be mentioned and linked with the project to allow for external information to be included that may not be necessarily relevant to the message of the project but provides context for the audience.

Books:

Oakley, A. (1972). Sex and gender. In: Sex, Gender and Society. Australia: Sun Books. p158-172.

LeVay, S. (2011). What Is Sexual Orientation? In: Gay, Straight and the Reason Why. Oxford: Oxford Press. p9.

LeVay, S. (2011). Childhood. In: Gay, Straight and the Reason Why. Oxford: Oxford Press. p84-85.

Various Authors. (2007). Confronting homophobia in UK schools: taking a back seat to multicultural and anti-racist education. In: van Dijk, L. van Driel, B. Challenging Homophobia: teaching about sexual diversity. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Limited. p75-84.

Various Authors. (2007). Starting global collaboration in education about sexual diversity. In: van Dijk, L. van Driel, B. Challenging Homophobia: teaching about sexual diversity. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books Limited. P3-18.

Clarke, V. J Ellis, S. Peel, E. W Riggs, D.. (2010). Section 2: Understanding social marginalisation in LGBTQ lives. In: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p79-148.

DRAFT CONTENT

What No F*cker Taught You

Did you know it has been nearly 49 years since the Stonewall riots took place on June 28^th, 1969? No? Me neither. I also wasn’t even slightly aware that it was a part of the gay liberation movement, or even understand what that movement entailed. It was shocking when I realised that my brain didn’t contain any of this knowledge or history of a community I adore and belong to.

So I took action, with the help of four friends who just so happen to make up the LBT to my LGBT sandwich, a doctor and a bottle (or three) of wine, to educate myself, so that we can educate you.

Let’s not take for granted what those who came before us accomplished, because we still have far to go, and the only way to push forward is to remember the past and learn from it. So, here’s What No F*cker Taught You – your go-to guide on the basics of what being queer means, and how far we’ve come to be able to have the right to act like the entitled millennials that we are today.

And the astrix? It’s not there because we’re scared to swear, but as more of a symbol of how, through a lack of education in our schools, the next generation of queer kids are being left out of the loop. But no more, because we’re about to give you the lowdown of our history, some same-sex relationship advice, and what drugs not to take – the answer to that is none by the way. Just don’t.

(ARTICLE 1) History | will be approx. 1000 words

The Stonewall riots erupted from the raid of a mafia owned bar called the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, NYC. The bar was frequented by the whole queer alphabet – it was a safe space in a time where there were not many.

Drag queens, transgender people, gay men and lesbians; all of which were regular patrons of the Inn, and when it was raided, during a time where LGBT+ friendly bars and clubs were being regularly ‘busted’ by police all over North America, it triggered a chain-reaction. One that was long overdue.

It was officially the start of The Gay Liberation Movement. Protests on a mass scale started to erupt everywhere – the queers that came before us began to demand their rights, and clearly, in peaceful (well, kind of peaceful) protest stood up for the ill-treatment of the gay community.

In the same year as the riots, in the UK, the North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee was established (which is now the Committee for Homosexual Equality) and acted as a starting point to attract support from various prominent figures in church, medicine and the arts. Although there was still was far way to go before we saw any real change, which is always the way, but the 60s onwards were filled with change, including waves made within the feminism movements and equal rights for all races.

In 1988, the UK branch of Stonewall was created in response to Margaret Thatcher introducing Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which stated that local authorities “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”.

Are you starting to see how suppressed the community was just 40 years ago? The age of most of todays youth’s parents. Just one generation between LGBT+ folk being considered inadequate and unequal.

Section 28 wasn’t made redundant in England and Wales until 2003. That’s nearly 15 years that local authorities could not educate anyone. Not one single person. And we all know what a lack of education leads to – ignorance. And ignorance is the root of most discrimination.

The Civil Rights Partnership Act was introduced in 2004 (more on this later) alongside the Gender Recognition Act, which provided Trans people with the right to be legally recognised as the gender that they identify as.

This article is not finished, and it will include the following:

I will be discussing the rights provided by the Government from 2004 onwards for the improvement of the LGBT+ community. From marriage, to adoption, Trans Europe and briefly touch on Pulse Orlando and how that showed the scope of homophobia that still exists in our global society.
I will briefly touch on The Club Kids, queer culture, how its represented in society, how it actually is, and how we can all benefit from being apart of it instead of shunning it.
Internalised homophobia and in-fighting will also be broached.
I will end it by touching on all four subjects spoken about in this longform piece of journalism.

SIDE NOTE: In the final layout of this project, there will be profile bios of the four friends involved to attached faces to the voice used throughout. Twitter handles etc., will be attached.

Also the style of writing in this project is not set in stone yet – I’m still working on it so the sound is cohesive.

(ARTICLE 2) Same-Sex Education and School | will be approx. 1000 words

Don’t have sex, and if you do, definitely don’t have safe sex. (I really hope you sense the sarcasm).

3% of students in the UK, according to Stonewalls 2017 School Report, have received sex education in regard to same sex relationships. 3%. How ludicrous is that? But unfortunately, it’s accurate. I never received any healthy same-sex education during my formative years in education either. None of us did. It just wasn’t spoken of, and we’re millennials. Entitled goddamn millennials, and we still didn’t receive the correct knowledge on how to conduct ourselves sexually in a safe manner.

Imagine if you did receive same-sex Ed? If it was a national requirement. (INSERT NEW LEGISLATION HERE) We don’t want to jump the gun, but the general consensus is that it’d have helped…a lot.

The reduction in LGBT-related bullying, assisting in the amount of self-harm that exists in our community, education surrounding body dysmorphia and societal norms not being set in stone could drastically help in eliminating members of our community having suicidal thoughts. These issues are very much a reality and education is the answer.

It’s a shame there’s a lack of it.

This article is not finished, and it will include the following:

I will be referencing Ann Oakley and gender learning
I will also be quoting Clarke, V. in this paragraph and discussing the depths of LGBT social marginalisation through a lack of education
Quotes taken from my interviews will be built into the article.
I am focusing on this book:

To show the ways and means in which we can successfully educate our queer teens and their hetero counterparts regarding important LGBT+ issues.

I’ll also mention how Section 28 was repealed in 2003 allowing for local authorities to educate on LGBT issues.
I will also be discussing trans rights in this article and how The Equality Act 2010 finally added gender reassignment surgery as a protected characteristic.
I’ll also be writing about how it took until 2012 for Ofsted to explicitly state homophobic bullying in UK schools will be under inspection. How this was only six years ago is not irrelevant, and I want to discuss that (and have done in my audio content).
This article will end on the basics of safe sex. And destigmatising STIs within the community, HIV and AIDS.
Each article will include references to external sources so the audience can educate themselves further from reliable sources.
Each articles will also include contact details for charities that can help anyone affected by the issues discussed, or simply relate to them, and want to discuss them in more detail with a professional.

(ARTICLE 3) Marriage and your rights | will be approx. 1000 words

Much of the Western world have dived head first into the 21^st Century recently, and legalised gay marriage. A step definite towards equality, but how and why? Is marriage an equal right? Is the word necessarily needed? And what comes along with it?

I personally didn’t see the necessity behind the actual word. I thought marriage, much like everyone else, was a religious vow taken when committing yourself to a person of the opposite sex, and not necessarily gender. I wasn’t aware that as a social construct, we deserve to use the term too.

The reason why I didn’t see a need for the word ‘marriage’, was because I was so hung up on the actual law rather than how society referred to my would-be future partner (if I can eventually get a guy to goddamn text me back) that I didn’t have a care in the world if it was defined by the term ‘civil partnership’. Let alone anything else. I took the stance give ‘em the word, let’s take the rights.

I was wrong though, because words are important. They give definition to our equality.

“I always wanted the word. I want to be able to tell my parents I’m marrying the girl I love. As a trans man, to me it’s special. I obviously want the same level of rights as my cis-gendered counterparts, and to me, the word marriage is a part of them rights.”

Marriage, the word and its legalities, gives you a lot. Just four years ago, in the UK, you couldn’t visit your same-sex partner if they were in the hospital, because you weren’t family. The law wouldn’t allow us to be.

This article is not finished, and it will include the following:

I will be including an interview conducted with Vanessa Hamlet (date stated above), a Vicar-in-Training within the Church of England and her views on marriage and its religious stance to provide a balanced view.
In this article I will be focusing on these two books:

LeVay, S. (2011). Childhood. In: Gay, Straight and the Reason Why. Oxford: Oxford Press. p84-85.

These two books both broach the subject of sexuality and the nature vs. nurture argument. I’ll be addressing this issue as it was used as an argument against equal marriage.

I will be talking about UK adoption rights of 2002 and ‘the family unit’. It was legal to adopt a child as a homosexual couple and build a family before marriage was equalised.
I’ll also be delving into the Civil Partnership Act of 2004 and how it was a ground-breaking step in the right direction – although the act limited our rights as a ‘married’ couple.
The article will end on the importance of the Marriage (Same-Sex couple) Act of 2013 in England and Wales, and how this step forward created a domino affect in the western world and brought LGBT+ issues to the forefront again, and how much further we have to go.
Each article will include references to external sources so the audience can educate themselves further from reliable sources.
Each articles will also include contact details for charities that can help anyone affected by the issues discussed, or simply relate to them, and want to discuss them in more detail with a professional.

(ARTICLE FOUR) Drugs and nightlife | will be approx. 1000 words

This article is not finished, and it will include the following:

Dr Gilman will be my expert interviewee for this article. I’ll be talking to him about mental health within the LGBT community, the misuse of drugs and ‘the gay lifestyle’.
The Guardian stated that drug use is ‘several times’ higher amongst gay men.
I’ll be including the discussion between myself and three friends around our misuse of drugs and how they are so embedded within the LGBT+ community.
The improvement in a wide range of LGBT+ representation on TV and in the media, and how its helped to improve the lifestyle of LGBT teens and adults.
I’ll be discussing the Stonewall report on drugs misuse amongst gay men due to embedded homophobia within society, and how it’s a bigger threat than HIV.
I’ll be including advice on how to avoid drug misuse, and the effects of certain drugs.
I’ll also be discussing The Club Kids within this article – educating readers on a large part of our community in the 90s, and how the stereotype of gay men stemmed from here.
Although The Club Kid movement promoted drugs misuse and promiscuity, it also promoted self-expression, art and just simply being proudly queer, and I want the latter to be what’s taken away from the article. You can be queer without having to live up to stereotypes set out for us by society.
Each article will include references to external sources so the audience can educate themselves further from reliable sources.
Each articles will also include contact details for charities that can help anyone affected by the issues discussed, or simply relate to them, and want to discuss them in more detail with a professional.

(ARTICLE FIVE) Religion | will be approx. 1000 words

This article is not finished, and it will include the following:

I will be including an interview conducted with Vanessa Hamlet (date stated above), a Vicar-in-Training within the Church of England and her views on religion and being LGBT+, whether you can be, if religion can fit within ‘the gay lifestyle’ and how is religion reshaping in order to become more accepting of what isn’t considered the social norm.
This article will also be interlinked with ‘Marriage’ (and still could be formed into one larger article depending on how well the interview with Vanessa Hamlet unfolds).
I’ll discuss the amendment to the Marriage and Civil Partnerships Regulations 2011. Allowing for Civil Partnerships take place in religious buildings and how this affected religion as a whole.
I’ll also be discussing The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement which is a charity based in the UK.
The discussion had between myself and three friends will also be included. We discussed our relationship with religion and how ostracised it made us feel.
Each article will include references to external sources so the audience can educate themselves further from reliable sources.
Each articles will also include contact details for charities that can help anyone affected by the issues discussed, or simply relate to them, and want to discuss them in more detail with a professional.

(UNEDITED) Audio Content | Snippets of this content will be used throughout the articles and in the podcast trailer.

Jays Trans experience and education

Jay discussing drug misuse

Niamh and Teddie discussing sex ed

SIDE NOTE: Two of my audio interviews were too large to upload. I’ve had to upload them to Soundcloud and privatise them as they’re unedited, so they can only be viewed by clicking the link below: