At the end of January it was reported that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) kept a document to deal with LBGT bulling and hate crimes in schools from public view.
The CPS claimed that due to the content involving ‘real life’ stories that the document was not initially given a wider audience beyond teaching staff who could access the materials (if they registered with the CPS). The CPS would not have included details that could identify a child to teachers. This appeared to be an excuse to keep a controversial document away from the eyes of parents. This is in keeping with the UNESCO suggestions of 2018 (see en January 2020).
It presents a hierarchy of ‘hate crimes’. It belittles crimes against people in other protected groups, e.g. the disabled. LGBT bullying is seen as ‘much worse [that the bullying of the disabled]’ because, the CPS claims, it affects the whole community of LGBT people when one person is attacked. Attacks on LGBT people were seen as an attack on the person’s identity and hurt their self-worth. People who are disabled would obviously experience this too, but the CPS appear to value them less.
The document, produced with the help of gay pressure group Stonewall, can now be viewed here:
There is no statutory definition of a homophobic or a transphobic incident. Worryingly, the CPS defines a phobic act as: ‘any incident which is perceived to be homophobic or transphobic by the victim or by any other person.’ Using this, school children could be pressured into accepting relationships with transgender people rather than risk being guilty of a transphobic act.
