Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva

“LGBT people are going through “hell continuously” in schools and at universities and that’s why serious reform of the curricula and textbooks is necessary in order to combat prejudice against the gay community and minority groups”, it was said on the 24^th of September 2013 at the panel discussion entitled “Homophobia in Schools”, held within Pride Week.

Research of Yucom and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights has shown that as many as 80% of high school students support discrimination against LGBT people, whereas only 16% of students think that LGTB people should have the same rights as everybody else.

Deputy Ombudsman for the Rights of the Child, Tamara Lukšić Orlandić, said at the meeting that textbooks are out-dated and do not address the topic of different sexual orientations, while teachers are “conservative and cemented in their positions”.

Professor at the Faculty of Law in Belgrade and University Ombudsman Branko Rakić said of LGBT people and their environment that the wider community has no understanding of their situation, but that “80% of high school students should not be considered maniacs, but rather children burdened with prejudice and a lack of understanding”, which is why schools should develop understanding about the right to be different.

Source: Beta, taken over from www.euractiv.rs