School cancels anti-gay bullying workshops because ‘both sides should be represented’
By Will Stroude
Students at a Dublin school are planning to protest over the school’s decision to cancel a series of workshops on homophobic bullying.
Coláiste Eoin in Stillorgan, Dublin, cancelled the workshops by voluntary organisation ShoutOut just half an hour before they was due to go ahead yesterday (January 27), with a member of staff telling the speaker the decision was taken because “both sides of the argument should be given”, the Irish Times reports.
Declan Meehan, the schools co-ordinator for ShoutOut, told TheJournal.ie: “My colleagues were baffled by this and questioned what he meant, but it wasn’t forthcoming”.
Meehan said that workshop had been booked several months ago and the cancellation was “out of the blue”.
“We’ve been out at Colaiste Eoin before back in 2012 and 2013,” he said. “It was actually the first school we ever did a workshop in and they’ve always been very hospitable to us,” adding that it was the first time the group had had a school cancel.
Encouragingly, students have reportedly decided to take a stand against the decision after organising protests on social media.
One student said: “We saw that the talk was cancelled and nobody’s happy about it,” she said. “We want to show that it’s not the students’ choice.”
A spokesperson for Coláiste Eoin has said that “the Principal, Finín Máirtín, will not be making a comment”.
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