By Shirley-Anne McMillan
‘Learning from Each Other’ – since 1994
I often get the credit for starting Ireland’s first (possibly also the UK’s first) high school Gay Straight Alliance group at Shimna Integrated College in 2011. But actually, it wasn’t me! It was Jaime Creeth, an American friend of mine and art therapist who worked at the school for a year.
Sitting in our kitchen talking about how best to support LGBTQ students in the school Jaime said, ‘I’m wondering if starting a GSA might be a good idea.’ I knew straight away I wanted to be a part of it. Kevin Lambe, the principal, gave the go ahead and I asked Jaime if I could tag along to learn what a GSA was and help support our students.
If it hadn’t been for Jaime it might not have happened- certainly not when it did. As a teacher I really wanted to help our LGBT students to feel safe in school, but the idea of a GSA had not occurred to me.
GSA groups were simply not a ‘thing’ in Irish/ UK schools. I had heard of them through books and films- groups of students talking openly about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning. As the years went on we would add non-binary and a host of other identities to the discussion, and the GSA would come to stand for ‘Gender Sexuality Alliance’ to include everyone. But for us the key word was ‘alliance’: as an Integrated school we wanted everyone to feel welcome with a strong focus on standing up for one another, standing against homophobia/transphobia/biphobia and for, our school motto, learning from each other.
From the very beginning we felt it was important that the group was vocal and visible in the school. In our very first assembly we explained the terms: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender. We wanted the students to hear those words in their proper context. I had heard Kevin using the term ‘gay’ properly in assembly before when he addressed homophobia. He used to talk about his male friends, how he would tell them he loved them, and how there was nothing wrong with men expressing emotion, and also nothing wrong with being gay. It was powerful to hear a school principal speaking like this- as a beginning teacher I had never heard that before.
Despite this, we knew that for Kevin to support an LGBT group in school would be a brave act in a country where even the political leaders felt supported in being openly homophobic in public. I was nervous about it too. I expected some protest. I was ready for that. But it didn’t happen. In fact, after Catríona Ruane, the Minister of Education at the time, visited our group we began to get letters of support from all over the world. Catríona Ruane also chose Shimna to launch the first Department of Education guidance for schools on tackling homophobic bullying.
Over the years we enjoyed a lot of positive press, and several awards. Our students appeared on BBC Newsround, we were featured in the Guardian and on BBC Newsline, we won awards from the Northern Ireland Teachers Council, The Diana Award for anti-bullying, we were nominated for two GNI Awards, and we were shortlisted for a coveted Belfast Pride award!
When Jaime moved on after her year at Shimna I took over the running of the group. I had learnt a lot about running the group from her and we were well supported by the Rainbow Project and Cara Friend who gave us a ton of resources and invited our students to visit the Rainbow centre in Belfast. Their support for young people in NI is second to none and we’re so lucky to have them. Cara Friend now produces specific resources for schools who want to set up a GSA group and they will come out and do anti-bullying workshops and LGBT awareness training for both students and staff.
Being the GSA facilitator became part of my role as Alternative Chaplain. I was invited to speak to many different groups outside the school including Belfast City Council and the NI Civil Service, both of whom were setting up support groups for LGBT staff. So many groups wanted to hear about our school, what was going on, how we were doing it. Did we experience any pushback? Other schools began to start GSAs of their own. Other Integrated schools joined us at Pride: Hazelwood and Lagan, followed by other schools.
Over the years, our tiny group walking at Belfast Pride with our Shimna banner, became a huge bloc of schools and youth groups- so big that Cara Friend organised the Black Box space for us all to gather before and after the event. A large room full of students and teachers painting each others’ faces, making signs, eating croissants. The craic was mighty and the experience was a real privilege for me. For our students to be able to walk in that parade past so many supportive people cheering and clapping for them- people who had lined the city centre streets to show their support, was encouraging, and so important. It was particularly wonderful to meet up with Shimna OldScholars there to support us.
There were a few big events to attend as well. Notably the two rallies for marriage equality at which two of our students, Nathan and Maya, addressed a crowd of tens of thousands in the city centre to call for equal treatment as LGBT citizens. Shimna GSA students also attended the Pride of NI Awards, walked in Newry Pride, delivered SEELB training for youth workers, spoke at a conference for Integrated schools about mental health, and were invited to Stormont to an event marking the published results of the mental health conference. But our weekly meetings were just as important.
We organised leadership training for our senior students via Cara Friend, we had discussions about LGBT history, LGBT inclusion in sports, tackling homophobia in school, ways to come out to family members. We made art, had relaxation/meditation sessions, discussed current LGBT issues, and sometimes we just talked about ourselves- the upcoming exams, making subject choices, our favourite celebrities or TV shows.
The GSA programme was always led by the students, focussing on their areas of interest or questions they had. One year we made a short film about our group funded by the Dept of Education, another year we had a coach in to teach us how to play Ultimate Frisbee. We marked occasions like World AIDS day with fundraising and assemblies, we made lots of art including a zine during lockdown, we interviewed local politicians (from the Green and Alliance parties to the DUP), and we had other guests as well- a former student who came to share their experience as a transgender person, two men (one Catholic, one Protestant) who shared with us their experiences as gay Christians, Peterson Toscano- an American actor who performed some of his one-man plays for some classes, and local drag king/comedian, Gemma Hutton, who talked about what it was like being a lesbian woman in the entertainment industry here.
In Shimna we were vocal about our support for LGBT students because we wanted them to know that our school was a place where they could expect to be not only safe, but celebrated. The key was openness and transparency. The GSA was not a group that was hidden away from other students or parents. Our bright noticeboard with information about our group was in the school canteen, along with two large murals we had created in the early days with Jaime. We took regular assemblies explaining what the group was and inviting all supportive students to come along.
Most importantly of all, the school leadership was openly supportive of the group. Every student in the school would be aware that homophobic/transphobic language would not be tolerated, because they heard the message frequently. Year after year the students reported that they felt homophobia had decreased, or that they rarely heard abusive slurs in school, that they felt increasingly safe to be themselves with their classmates. Year after year we worked hard to achieve this, because school life is not static- it moves so quickly. The turnover of a whole school population is just seven years, and each year it changes a little bit, or a lot. So we knew that you can’t stop.
You can’t look back to the awards, the big moments of triumph, and think that the work is done. It goes on, and tomorrow there will be someone else who needs support, another student who needs to hear the principal saying that it’s OK to be gay or transgender, another student who needs a way to make friends with people they can be sure are trustworthy, because they’re considering telling somebody about how they feel about themselves. Jaime has moved on, and Kevin has retired, but their innovation and bravery must continue.
We still live in a society which struggles to attend to the needs to LGBT young people. Transgender young people in particular are facing a difficult time at the minute, and schools must be there to support their mental health so that they have the best chance of completing their education alongside their peers in a happy and safe environment.
