‘I watched my classmate tear down my Pride poster – so I made an LGBTQ+ club’

Last September, Aoife watched as one of her fellow pupils tore down LGBTQ+ Pride poster she had designed.

As an 11-year-old in south east London, Aoife has, thankfully, never had any encounters with homophobia.

Yet, as a Year Seven student at the Addey and Stanhope School in Lewisham, Aoife had heard her classmates use ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ as insults.

But rather than let it put her off – she became defiant.

‘I thought,’ Aoife told Metro, ‘if you’re pulling that one down, I’ll put 10 more up.’

Her time at school isn’t unique – or new – in the UK. More than nine in 10 LGBTQ+ youngsters have overheard negative language about their identities, according to the queer young people charity, Just Like Us.

Such language, and whether the school openly supports queer students, can make a big difference on their mental health. While 74% of queer pupils have contemplated suicide, 65% have done so in schools that provide strong, supportive messaging about being LGBTQ+.

Aoife, who enrolled in September, knew what she had to do to prevent further incidents in the future: she made an LGBTQ+ after-school club.

Since launching it in January, the club now boasts 15 members who meet at 3pm each week to do queer quizzes, arts and crafts, run activities using Just Like Us’ Pride Groups resources or just sit back and chat with people who understand what it means to be young and queer.

‘If you fight fire with fire, the world goes up in flames,’ Aoife said. ‘This club means so much to me.’

She said the group is like a ‘little family’ to her now and her mum, who asked not to be named, said how proud she was of her.

‘It’s a big thing to do yourself, and mostly kids don’t run the groups, the adults do,’ her mother told Metro.

‘But we talked about it more, and that wouldn’t be the same. She wanted something peer-led; she wanted it to be her peer group.

‘She didn’t just want a teacher telling them, she wanted it to come from the pupils.’

Jan Shapiro, headteacher at Addey and Stanhope School, said that Aoife wrote to her about setting up the group in October.

‘Can you think of a plan?’ Jan replied. ‘Here’s the strategy,’ Aoife replied. She then spent months building interest and speaking at assemblies about the club.

‘She’s really… I want to say brave, but it’s not that, it’s completely authentic. I think that’s remarkable,’ Jan told Metro.

‘She’s a real, proper change-maker who absolutely, fundamentally understands equality and what that looks like, and that’s what it’s really about.’

During School Diversity Week last month, Aoife was given Just Like Us’ national Student Leader of the Year award by TV presenter Dr Ronx Ikharia.

‘I feel a little bit shocked [to have won the award] because it’s quite a small Pride group, but I think it’s quality over quantity,’ Aoife said.

But her teachers aren’t surprised. ‘Not only is she incredibly bright, charming and enthusiastic, Aoife is also humble and goes out of her way every single day to show her peers and our entire school community that she cares about them,’ assistant headteacher Joey Glover said.

‘Aoife has the determination it takes to change the world – and she will.’

Many of the students in Aoife’s club grew up in an era of LGBTQ+ rights in Britain, where marriage equality was legalised and Tom Daley, an openly gay swimmer, represented the nation in the 2012 Olympics.

At the time, the UK was one of the most progressive countries in Europe when it came to LGBTQ+ rights, ranked number one out of 49 nations.

But after losing the top spot on the Rainbow Map, compiled by the international rights group ILGA-Europe, in 2016, Britain has quickly tumbled down the chart.

As of this year, the UK is 22nd. A lack of a conversion therapy ban, mistreatment of queer refugees and trans rights being increasingly restricted are among the reasons cited for the UK’s downfall.

LGBTQ+ teenagers have also watched as anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes spiral in the streets, and queer people aren’t fairing any better across the pond, with trans young people being made public enemy number one by some US state legislators.

For Aoife, her Pride club is an escape from this. The future for many LGBTQ+ people her age can seem uncertain, but inside the classroom, there’s hope.

‘Being kind is one of the most important and meaningful things a person can be – to ourselves and to others,’ Aoife said.

‘Hatred towards others or ourselves is only ever destructive.’

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