Breaking the spell of silence

As Dr Bridge, notes in his final report on the effectiveness of Pride and Prejudice in Tasmanian schools, until recently there was “a largely untested assumption that anti-homophobia programs taught on a whole class basis may lesson discrimination and bullying in schools”.

This gave free rein to people like Australian Family Association Victorian vice-president, Angela Conway, to reconfigure the old myth that prejudice is unassailable, and only inflamed if it is challenged.

In the Sunday Herald Sun on October 15 last year she declared that tackling class room homophobia, “would have the reverse effect (to that intended) and, by highlighting sexuality, encourage bullying”. Victoria’s then Opposition education spokesperson Martin Dixon agreed saying that “focusing on differences in sexuality could have a negative impact”.

Dr Bridge’s study into the impact of Pride and Prejudice shows this to be completely untrue.

The study was conducted earlier this year through the Faculty of Education’s Institute for Inclusive Learning Communities in three of the secondary schools currently implementing Pride and Prejudice (two state and one Catholic, of which two are urban and one rural).

Based on rigorous pre and post course testing the study found, "attitudes held by secondary school students toward gay men and lesbians were significantly more positive after the program". This result parallels the result of a similar study conducted by Deakin University into the impact of Pride and Prejudice in Victorian class rooms.

Both studies leave no room for doubt; prejudice against gay men and lesbians is not an inevitable fact of school life and can be reduced. They hold out the hope that schools can be places where everyone thrives regardless of their sexual orientation. In a small but important way, and in direct contradiction to Conway and Dixon’s pessimism, these studies vindicate the great Enlightenment dream of individual and social improvement through education.

Interestingly, as well as substantiating long-held assumptions about the efficacy of anti-homophobia programs, the Tasmanian study explodes other long-held assumptions.

It fails to find any significant correlation between homophobic prejudice and either racist prejudice or low self esteem.

What this says to me is that education authorities must continue to tackle homophobia directly and not assume that general programs about prejudice, or raising student self-regard will do the job.

The study also found that while programs like Pride and Prejudice are necessary they are not sufficient.

After the course’s implementation the attitudes of a tiny number of students remained untouched.