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Spain: the textbooks forget sexual diversity

Gay activists claim that the history of the group is given beyond Citizenship Education and is a cross-sectional area

When Rubén Lodi went to his high school class of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), in the mid-eighties, his teachers never named, speaking of Federico García Lorca, who was gay. "And the teacher who spoke of Luis Cernuda almost called him a fag, caused a general laugh in class", remember this guy, gay activist and coordinator of the university association Arcópoli.

Senate California (United States) has recently approved the public schools of that state will have to teach the course from 2013-2014, the history of homosexuality. That is, how activist Harvey Milk revolutionized San Francisco in the seventies or how the local legendary Stonewall Inn, New York, brought the first protests in favor of the collective. The proposal, part of a gay Democrat Mark Leno, seeks to end homophobia in the classroom.

Bullying gay students is not unique to U.S.. In Spain, 30% of young men recognized haber participado en acciones homófobas (insultos, agresiones, burlas), según un informe de la Federación Estatal de Lesbianas, Gays, Transexuales y Bisexuales (Felgtb).

¿Y qué hay que hacer para parar la homofobia en las aulas, para que los alumnos vean normal que se hable de la condición sexual de Federico García Lorca? El sistema educativo español mira de reojo la homosexualidad, sin afrontar mediante una estrategia el desarrollo de la tolerancia en materia sexual de las futuras generaciones. La LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación) apuntó por primera vez, en 2005, el "reconocimiento a la diversidad afectivo sexual" como uno de los objetivos principales del sistema.

Sin However, the development of this point has followed the explanation of the constitutional family types manuals describing the Education for Citizenship. There is more advanced. Types of families



"Explain the types of families in class is always a first step, important, but the issue of sexual diversity should be a transverse field and not play only in courses where this subject is taught" analyzes the Education spokesman FELGTB Jesus Generelo.

The book received more criticism from the ultra-Catholic groups, who complained to the Justice manuals for Citizenship Education, was The publisher McGraw Hill. In its edition of 2007, homosexuality is treated only once under the heading of "New types of family," and lists among them the "couples open" and "homosexuals." The first are those in which each member of the binomial "homosexual or heterosexual" lives in her own home.

The gay groups demand that the Administration aware of this issue being a problem of long-term sensitization, but whose consequences are suffered today. A study that analyzed FELGTB homophobia among 4,600 students from towns in Spain indicates that 20% of the student population rejects homosexuality. "We have to work from children to avoid exclusion," says Generelo.

addition, one in two non-heterosexual people say they have suffered some form of violence in their school, according to the study. Nonsense



head sometimes prejudices come to the point that the teenager is forced to leave home. This is what happened to Ferdinand, 19, who after discussing and stand up to their parents, has gone to live halfway between the house of his aunt and grandmother. "When I told my mother he was gay, told me that yours is stupid head," says this guy, who lives in Madrid.

Fernando, that despite suffered bullying at school won the award for excellence in high school, is embarrassed because he has lost "the contact and the relationship that every mother should have with your son." This guy attended a Catholic charter schools, which also had to listen to "insults and nonsense." Similar stories



The stories are repeated among young people. Cristina Lucia, aged 25, he had to be "the lesbian of the school." "I came out of the closet and pointed me in the hallways, it was gossip," says this young. Cristina considers culture LGBT (collectively referred acronyms lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual) remains a taboo spoken of recently. "It is therefore essential to study in the classroom, it is no longer forbidden and end once and insults," he adds. Elena, 21 years old bisexual, says that when talking about their sexuality in high school that was summarized with people "who had fantasies."

Triangle Foundation The association organizes workshops in schools, especially in rural areas for students to learn to accept that not the same. It is in small towns where the boys are more prejudiced and where those who are not heterosexual are more costs out of the closet.

FELGTB, meanwhile, has worked on some projects from Children. "We use a story for children ages 3 and 4 years that explains how a square is forced to cut corners to enter the space of a circle. In the end, it teaches that it is easier to create another door for the square in without him damage, "explains Generelo. "Ultimately, the prejudices against what appear different at 12 and 13 years and the aim should be to tackle it before. They understand also normal for a child to be picked up from school her two mothers or two fathers," he concludes.