Almost all Australian LGBTQ+ high school students hear homophobic language at school, study finds

More than 90% of LGBTQ+ students hear homophobic language at school, with more than one in three confronted with slurs on a daily basis, a study of Australian high school students has found. Despite common experiences of homophobia, just 6% of gender and sexuality diverse students said that teachers within earshot always intervened, with some reporting that adults are actively participating in the bullying. The Western Sydney University study, which surveyed 2,376 LGBTQ students aged between 13 and 18 at government, independent and Catholic high schools across Australia, found almost 30% said they had either witnessed or been the victims of physical harassment targeted towards gay, lesbian and bisexual students. About 57% of the respondents went to public schools, and most participants identified as female or male, with almost 9% identifying as non-binary.