Education in Human Rights and Homophobic Violence in the School Environment

the principals perception

Abstract

This article is part of a study carried out in a Graduate Program in Education whose main objective was to analyze possible situations of homophobic violence in the school environment, from the perspective of Human Rights. This is a qualitative research whose data were obtained through interviews with managers of six public schools in the State of São Paulo. In general, principals develop professional practices focused on respect for diversity and a culture of peace and, therefore, from the perspective of Human Rights Education. They treat issues inherent to homosexuality naturally, but recognize that, at school, there are situations of intolerance towards homosexual relationships on the part of some students and teachers, but not gender equality, demanding special attention from management. However, they do not allow affectionate relationships in the school environment, regardless of whether the couple is homosexual or heterosexual, some of them cannot say whether a trans person should use the men's or women's bathroom, suggesting an alternative bathroom for these people. Finally, it was found that some managers were unprepared to deal with the presence of homosexual couples and, thus, their professional practices tend to encourage homophobic violence at school.