Anti-LGBTQ+ bullying charity must urgently raise £100,000 or face cutbacks
Anti-LGBTQ+ bullying charity Diversity Role Models has launched a fundraising appeal. (Getty Images/ Marcos Calvo)
Anti-LGBTQ+ bullying charity Diversity Role Models has launched a fundraising appeal. (Getty Images/ Marcos Calvo)
Anti-LGBTQ+ bullying charity Diversity Role Models has launched an appeal to raise £100,000 or face cutbacks to its vital work.
The charity, which works to promote understanding, acceptance and end LGBTQ+ bullying in schools, took to Instagram on Tuesday (12 August) to share an urgent fundraising appeal.
“We must raise £100,000 in the coming weeks to continue delivering our life-changing anti-bullying workshops in schools,” the post began.
“If we don’t, we’ll be forced to cut back our reach when too many young people are facing bullying. And the situation is getting worse, not better.”
The post then shared statistics relating to LGBTQ+ bullying in schools, including that one in three children aged 10-15 experienced in-person bullying in 2023, and 45 per cent of secondary students say pupils who are gay or thought to be gay are bullied at their school.
As noted by the charity, the funding challenge comes amid government funding for anti-bullying programmes ending.
At the time of writing, the JustGiving fundraiser has raised more than £500 of its £100,00 target.
Feedback from a child focus group participant seven months after a Diversity Role Models workshop read: “Ever since Diversity Role Models came, people have been a lot nicer to each other, so it’s helped.”
CEO of Diversity Role Models, Alex Feis-Bryce, said: “As the proud CEO of Diversity Role Models, I’m personally asking you to donate whatever you can so fewer young people are bullied because they’re perceived to be ‘different’. Together, we can be part of creating a generation that understands the meaning of respect, empathy and inclusion.”
A study shared last year by LGBTQ+ charity Just Like Us revealed that trans students in the UK are five times more likely to face daily bullying than their cisgender peers.
A different study revealed that 80 per cent of secondary-school pupils, aged between 11 and 18, had heard homophonic language at school.
In a bid to combat homophobic language in secondary schools, Just Like Us launched free anti-bullying training for teachers.
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