Every one of our schools should be gay-friendly

SchoolsOUT campaigns for all schools to be safe places for LGBT students and staff to be out and proud. We do not believe the solution lies in segregated schools ( When school is out , 28 July), but we do believe that all schools should be "gay-friendly". What is the alternative – schools that are hostile places for gays and lesbians, where unhappy students skip school and self harm while unhappy teachers stay in the closet? Positive images of LGBT people should be as much a part of the whole school curriculum as are positive images of black and minority ethnic people. Many people rightly fought for antiracist teaching to be part of the mainstream in every school; now we need to fight a similar battle to stamp out homophobia in our schools. If having sexual orientation as a protected characteristic in the Equalities Act 2010 is to mean anything, surely it must mean that that our schools should be LGBT friendly. Does anyone in the 21st century seriously dispute this? Sue Caldwell Media officer, SchoolsOUT