Irish students show support for LGBTQ+ peers to mark Stand Up Awareness Week

Schools all over the country are taking part in Belong To's Stand Up Awareness Week, Ireland's largest LGBTQ+ anti-bullying campaign.

Top News . Written by Beatrice Fanucci.

Hands painted in rainbow colours for Stand Up Awareness Week 2022.
Image: Via Twitter - @PresKilkenny

Belong To’s anti-bullying campaign Stand Up Awareness Week kicks off today, November 14, bringing rainbow colours to schools all over Ireland.

Just like every year for the past 13 years, LGBTQ+ youth organisation Belong To has launched its Stand Up Awareness Week campaign to celebrate queer identities and let everyone know that transphobic, homophobic and biphobic bullying will not be tolerated in Irish schools.

This is Ireland’s largest LGBTQ+ anti-bullying campaign and its 2022 version will run from November 14 to 18, coinciding with Trans Awareness Week.

Second-level schools, youth services and Youthreach Centres from all over the country are taking part in the initiative, organising all kinds of activities to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ issues and identities among young people and to show queer students that they are seen, heard and celebrated.

https://twitter.com/Belong_To/status/1592082974799020035?s=20&t=ndaiQk_jJEmrOuApk4-k8w

Students at Larkin Community College in Dublin will be able to participate in talks, competitions and quizzes on LGBTQ+ topics throughout the week, while in Kilkenny’s Presentation Secondary School, they had their hands painted in the colours of the rainbow to prepare their school for Stand Up Awareness Week.

The BreakOut group in Donegal Youth Service planned window painting, t-shirt decorating and ‘Rainbow Cupcakes’ baking to celebrate the week, while students at CBC Monkstown Park are decorating the whole school building with Pride flags and messages of support for their LGBTQ+ peers.

To support schools and youth centres in preparing for Stand Up Awareness Week, Belong To has created an Online Toolkit with resources, activity ideas, a glossary of terms and a planning template. Moreover, this year they have partnered with the Irish Film Institute (IFI), which is offering 50 discount codes to schools to stream the Irish film Dating Amber.

If you wish to support this initiative but you’re not part of a school community or youth work setting, you can do so by spreading its anti-bullying message to your friends and family and by raising awareness for Belong To’s research on school climate, the results of which are out this Tuesday on their social media channels.

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