Sue Sanders - who is one of the co-founders of LGBT History
Month - told the Croydon Advertiser that schools specifically in
that region need to be increasingly pro-active when it comes to
acknowledging LGBT scholars.
The comments come as Sanders is due to give talk at the Friends'
Meeting House in Park Lane, asking: What has homophobia done for
us?
"There are a lot of schools in Croydon, and I believe getting
children used to thinking about lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) and disabled people is so important," she
said.
"If they recognise different groups of people across the
curriculum and start celebrating diversity and becoming aware and
not frightened of differences in the community, ignorance just
wouldn't exist in society. It all needs to begin in the
classroom."
Sanders has been a long-term activist for thirty years.
"Now that we have the word 'homophobia' - which wasn't around in
the 60s and 70s - it enables us to identify and recognise the whole
oppressive concept," she added.
"It has enabled us to have Section 28 so we are protected by law
but we still have a lot of work to do. We are getting there slowly
- and I am sure Croydon will rise to the good work being done in
other parts of the country."
The talk, organised by Croydon Area Gay Society, starts at
8pm.
