HOMOPHOBIA STILL EXISTS in Ireland. That is a fact. It doesn’t matter whether we legalise same-sex marriage or have a gay Taoiseach.

Those things change very little for teens coming to terms with their sexuality in secondary schools across the country, who face homophobic remarks and bullying from classmates week in and week out.

Many teachers have yet to be equipped with the skills to recognise and shut down homophobic bullying. Homophobic bullying is particularly difficult for kids to report because they’re struggling enough with their identity as it is and they can often feel like dragging an adult into the situation will complicate things way too much.

There’s that and then the fact that plenty of teachers can unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) use insensitive language.

Most LGBTQ people will have some experience with unwanted comments or bullying in school.

James Kavanagh is no different.

Yesterday, he shared a post to his Facebook account about a note that he received in secondary school. It was an uncreative dig at his perceived sexuality as a teenager.

He wrote:

From my diary in 2003/2004… When I was in 3rd year, there was a boy who was incredibly homophobic toward me and would torment me daily.

James, who everyone knows today as a confident and funny Snapchat personality who became popular after being the one doing the tormenting to his boyfriend William, is probably the last person you would expect to be shy.

In reality, that’s the case for a lot of young LGBTQ people who have their confidence knocked by the people around them when they’re teenagers and young kids. He goes on to say that he was “painfully shy” and unable to stick up for himself.

[The guy who wrote the note] was utterly obsessed with my sexuality and would invent new ways to try and bully me. This one day, he made this survey and ‘passed it around the class’ for people to fill in. He then proudly gave it to me after class with a little evil smile; “here you go, faggot.”

James later found out that all of the other boys in the class had refused to fill it in and that the bully had done the ticks himself with one of those four-colour Bic pens. He wrote that he was glad the others refused to fill it in.

Even though our Taoiseach is a gay man, it’s still a reality that this kind of stuff happens to kids in schools in 2017.

At least people like James Kavanagh sharing their stories about experiencing homophobia shows a lot of young LGBTQ people that once you get past secondary school, you can be or do anything you want.

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