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.

Activities: Sex, love, relationships and enjoying your life

Learning outcomes

At the end of this activity, pupils should:

• Know more about civil partnerships
• Understand ways that they can keep themselves safe emotionally, physically and sexually
• Understand the positive side of being LGB and the importance of honesty, support and acceptance for LGB young people.

Watch Clip 1: Finding love 08:21 – 13:42

• Opens with, 'In Leicester, Lewis is still on the pull.'
• Closes with, 'Amazing. So are you.'

Points for discussion

• What are the differences between Lewis' situation and Stephen and Kevin's? It is important that greater value is not placed on either situation;the main point is that they are different.
• What do pupils think of Stephen and Kevin's engagement? This may have challenged some pupils' assumptions and it is important that negative responses are fully explored. Why do you think that? Are Stephen and Kevin in love? Are they happy? How is this in any way different from a man and woman getting engaged? Mention Stephen's life before he met Kevin if appropriate.
• Have pupils heard of civil partnerships before? Explain that the Civil Partnership Act is not marriage but gives same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples. Discuss the importance of having relationships recognised by law.

Watch Clip 2: LGB sex 13:23 - 22:05

• Opens with, 'Hello, it's Saturday and it's Gay Pride in Brighton.'
• Closes with, 'Yeah, it was really wicked, definitely.'

Explain to pupils that you are going to carry out an exercise around keeping yourself safe. Ask pupils what keeping yourself safe means. In what ways can you keep yourself safe? Emotionally, physically, sexually.

Ask pupils to split into three groups. Give each group one of the categories: Emotionally, Physically and Sexually. Ask each to come up with five ways in which they can keep themselves safe in the category that they have been given.

• Emotionally: feel respected, don't be with anyone who makes you feel bad…
• Physically: let others know where you are going…
• Sexually: use protection, only do what you want to do sexually…

When each group has come up with their five ways of keeping safe, discuss each point and write it on a flipchart/board as a Safety Checklist. Draw out common themes, which are likely to be around self-awareness, respect for yourself and thinking about what you are doing.

Activity: Ending on a positive note

It is important that pupils are aware of the issues surrounding being LGB and have explored them throughout the series and in previous activities. However, it is also important that being LGB is not presented negatively. The following clip ends the series on a positive note.

Watch Clip 3: Positivity 21:26 – 23:32

• Opens with, 'A great day celebrating all things gay at Pride in Brighton.'
• Closes with, 'Yeah, I'm gay and it's so wicked - yeah it's brilliant.'

Points for discussion:

Holly says, 'I'm so lucky to be gay, I would not be straight for the whole world.' This is a refreshing and unusual thing to hear and something that pupils may not have heard before.

• What do you think of this? Why do you think Holly feels like that? She has accepted herself? She is in a supportive environment? She doesn't feel bad about being gay?
• Ask pupils to reflect on the issues dealt with in previous programmes – homelessness, depression, self-harm, rejection, bullying, violence – and compare it with the clip they have just seen. What are the differences? Reflect on the importance of support, openness and acceptance and the pupils' role in showing this - for themselves and others.