Homophobic Bullying

The person being bullied...

• may be LGBTIQ+
• may have a friend or family member who’s LGBTIQ+
• may be gender non-conforming (e.g. boys disliking sports)
• may identify as straight and cis-gender

Homophobic bullying is used to demean someone and to enforce the idea that being heterosexual or cisgender is somehow superior (heterosexism).

Homophobic bullying is also used to intimidate or exclude LGBTIQ+ people, even when they’re not the one being bullied. Homophobic bullying creates an environment of fear and intimidation.

Homophobic Bullying can include many different acts including name-calling, hate speech, violence, physical intimidation, victimisation, exclusion, “joking”, or sexual harassment.

Within institutions (schools, colleges, workplaces etc.), homophobic language and/or jokes create a climate which is more subtle but still excludes, threatens, hurts and humiliates people. Homophobic bullying attacks a person’s identity, making it more harmful as it targets their sense of self, something they can’t change.

Anyone can be homophobically bullied, whether they are LGBTIQ or not. Sometimes young people are homophobically bullied because others think that they are LGBTIQ+, because they have LGBTIQ+ family or friends or often because they are seen as different or not conforming to traditional gender stereotypes, (not a ‘proper boy’ or a ‘proper girl’).

Also, in environments with strict gender roles, sometimes homophobic bullying is used by the bully to assert their own gender; to try and prove that they are either very masculine or very feminine (a “real” man, or a “real” woman). In these situations, homophobic bullying is used to warn everyone that non-conformity will be punished or attacked. This can be common in patriarchal communities and is very limiting and controlling to everyone.