After this dad’s 11-year-old son came out as gay, he decided to do something amazing
By Will Stroude
One Scottish father is making a huge show of support for his 11-year-old son after he came out as gay.
Neil Dallimore has started a fundraiser for the Time for Inclusive Education (TIE) campaign in an attempt to combat classroom homophobia, after his son asked that the news be kept secret from his school for fear of being him “treated differently”.
The raise money to improve the lives of LGBT kids in the classroom, Dallimore will spend a week trekking almost 100 miles from Milngavie, which is just north of Glasgow, to Fort William in the Scottish Highlands.
“To hear your child ask that a part of his identity not be known to elders that are there to educate, protect and support him is a gut punch,” the 33-year-old said of the decision to take on the challenge.
“His reason was simple enough – another boy had been open about his sexuality last year and afterwards the teachers treated him differently in a negative way.
“Too often I hear stories from my kids about how they’ve either been the target of or personally witnessed homophobic bullying and it’s a problem that few teachers have seemed to know how to handle.
“It’s worrying and upsetting to see your child treated like an outsider by other children based on sexuality, and it must change.”
Time for Inclusive Education are a Scottish group who campaign for LGBT issues to be taught throughout Scottish schools.
The group are backed by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who recently reaffirmed her support for the group, saying: “I don’t want to live in a country, yet alone be First Minister of a country, where any young person has to feel that, somehow, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, they are subject to judgement or made to feel in any way less than any other individual in our society”.
You can support Neil’s fundraising efforts here.
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