Queer and proud

Robin Duff is a "queer" man, and he's neither afraid nor ashamed to say so publicly.
Yesterday, in his keynote address to the Inform 2008 Sexual Diversity Conference in Wanganui, the NZ PPTA president told conference participants he was "a queer man and proud of it".
Unfortunately, older people still had difficulties with the word "queer'". It made them cringe and it grated on their sensibilities, he said.
"But queer is the term now, and queer people have reclaimed the word and are proud of it."
Mr Duff was at the conference to talk about safety issues in schools for "queer students and queer teachers".
Violence, bullying and verbal abuse were constants at school for anyone who was queer and "out" and for those students and teachers suspected of being a bit "poofy", a fag or a pansy, he said.
Mr Duff remembered with horror his days at a boys' school in the 1960s.
"It was hell on wheels, believe me."
Even though he was far from overtly queer, his school life was fraught with fear and trepidation, he said.
"And very little has changed since then."
Mr Duff said safety in schools was paramount for all students and teachers.
"Schools need to be safe places."
Queer students shouldn't be reviled and hated, but they always have been and many still are.
"Things must change. People must learn to be kinder to one another.
"We must learn to be kinder to ourselves and our queer kids. They need our help."
Fear was the constant factor for these kids, because they lived in such a heterosexual environment.
"They self-harm. There are too many suicides. It is a tragedy, and it's not their problem."
Mr Duff said statistics from a recent survey at Otago University said it all.
Students and staff from several schools were asked whether they thought lesbian, homosexual and bisexual students would be safe at their school.
The resounding answer was no from 95 per cent of students surveyed and 92 per cent of staff.
"So that tells you everything, doesn't it?"
An Australian survey in 2006 revealed that, of the 13,500 complaints of violence and bullying in schools, only two were from queer students.
"Because they are too scared to say anything, they are too scared to be out, they live in silence for their own survival," Mr Duff said.
A United States survey last year showed 9 out of 10 queer students felt unsafe at school.
"Even students with queer siblings or parents felt unsafe," he said.
"Silence is the thing that affords some protection for them."
Mr Duff read a letter from a 16-year-old student asking for help.
" & I'm gay, I guess & I made a New Year's resolution to meet some more people like me, tell my friends that I'm gay and by the end of the year 'come out' to my parents.
"I've a few problems, though. My first one is that I go to a large school that is very homophobic and has a gang mentality & so my main worry is, if the word goes round school, that I'll get gang bashed & I know that when people find out, I'll get mob attacked."
Mr Duff said he could have written that letter when he was 16.
Being queer in school is a big problem. Homophobic bullying is a huge problem, he said.
"One could say it is the queerness of being and the queer kid is harassed so that sexual tidiness can continue. How sad is that?"