ACTIVITIES

Guidance

Ideally, all five programmes should be watched in order as the stories develop throughout the series, offering more complex and authentic insights into these young people's lives.

Coming out, family relationships and homophobic bullying are issues that are central to many LGB young people's lives and are therefore addressed in every programme. Different issues are explored in depth in the Activities of each programme, but learning can be enhanced by viewing other programmes in the series.

Gay to Z enables discussion regarding homophobia, sexual orientation and society's attitudes towards LGB people. Sensitivity and respect for everybody in the classroom should be uppermost in teachers' minds - pupils should be reminded that there are LGB people in the school and many people in the school have family and friends who identify as LGB.

If this is the first activity undertaken, carry out the Group Agreement exercise in Programme 1: Activities. If this has already been done, consider whether it is worthwhile revisiting the Group Agreement before proceeding.

Clips

To view 4Learning video clips you will need Windows XP/2000 and Windows Media Player 9, 10 or 11. Unfortunately, the clips are not supported on Macintosh computers.

The video clips may contain a few seconds of extra material at the beginning and end. We have therefore included opening and closing descriptions to help identify the intended scene.

Activity: Support networks

Learning outcomes

At the end of this activity, pupils should:

• Have thought about the range of people they seek support from and what they get from these people
• Understand that homophobia and lack of support may lead to mental health problems in LGB young people
• Be aware that some families have same-sex parents and that their love and support for their children is no less than that of mixed-sex parents.

Before viewing

• Ask pupils to name the people in their lives who they would turn to for support or who they would like to support them. Examples of people in their lives might include family, carers, friends and professionals. The range and variety of people named should be mentioned.
• Ask pupils to discuss what they feel like when people support them. Stronger, loved, understood, backed up?

Introduce the following clip, explaining to pupils that this will show some young people who have had no support and who have reacted in different ways. If pupils have not touched upon self-harm in the past, it might be useful to explore this before showing the clip.

Watch Clip 1: Self-harm and drinking 00:00 – 10:08

• Opens with, 'My ideal day would start with me winning the lottery.'
• Closes with, 'I can't see what the problem is.'

Discussion points:

• What were the problems shown by the young people in this clip?
• What could have helped them? More support, more acceptance, less homophobia, more control over their lives, openness, honesty?

Revisit the idea touched upon before viewing: that love and support can come from a range of people and the source is likely to vary from person to person. Introduce the idea of families with same-sex parents with the following clip:

Watch Clip 2: Having LGB parents and being an LGB parent 18:41 – 20:54

• Opens with, 'When Logan fell in love with Sarah she got more than she bargained for.'
• Closes with, 'Mummy can't drive.'

Discussion points:

• Do pupils think that Logan, Sarah, Matthew and Sian have a 'normal' family? Have pupils ever thought about there being families with same-sex parents before? Be sure to fully explore any negative comments made – why do they think this? Is the love and support pupils enjoy from the people in their lives, discussed before viewing, any different to the love and support that Matthew and Sian get from Sarah and Logan?