LGBT Activities

©Amnesty International 2007-2011

Activities for Young People and Teachers, created by Amnesty International UK

This set of activities for teachers, created by Amnesty International UK, aims to encourage students (age 14+ - KS4) to explore human rights, diversity, intolerance, and in particular the human rights of sexual minorities. Through role-play, research and case studies, students are invited to examine the use of language, the nature of prejudice and how it can be challenged in the UK and around the world.

The exercises introduce the experience of lesbians and gay men around the world as an example of how people have been oppressed for their identity and how they are overcoming that oppression.
Within the framework of the Citizenship Orders of the National Curriculum for England these activities cover:
• Knowledge and understanding of the legal and human rights underpinning society, the significance of the media in society, the diversity of identities in the UK and the need for mutual respect and understanding, thinking about topical moral, social and cultural issues, problems and events
• The development of the skills of enquiry, analytical thinking, of participation and oral and written communication, justifying an opinion and using their imagination to consider other people's opinions and express views that are not their own, and reflecting on the process of participation.

ACTIVITIES
click on the activity

Activity 1
WORD POWER
Language shapes the way we think, the way we perceive ourselves and others and the world around us. Students are encouraged to examine and pool examples to make a common list of taunts, grouped into aspects of 'difference', e.g. skin colour. size, physical impairment, sexuality, etc.

Activity 2
KILLING TUNES
Recent moves have been made in the UK (autumn 2004) to ban performances and records and appearances on music award shows by a number of Jamaican Reggae artists whose lyrics include the advocacy of violence, especially against gay men. The students hold a debate on the banning of bands that are recording music with sexist and homophobic lyrics.

Activity 3
LANGUAGE SURVEY
In this activity, students investigate the power of words by carrying out their own research and critically evaluating language that is used from different perspectives.

Activity 4
IN THE PAPERS
As a follow-up exercise, groups of student can scan newspapers and magazines, cutting out articles that they can find that deal with issues of sexuality and human rights, either in the UK or abroad.

Activity 5
IS IT A CRIME TO BE GAY IN BOLDOVIA?
We ask students to read the handout describing the background situation in ‘Boldovia’ (The situation in the fictional country of Boldovia has some parallels to the recent situation in Romania in 1997, when homosexual acts between consenting adults were still illegal as they were in a third of the countries around the world)

Activity 6
QUEER CELEBRITIES
Around the world and across the centuries, homosexuals, bisexuals have made extraordinary contributions to culture, knowledge and discovery. The students will be presented with a list of distinguished figures who are believed to have been gay, lesbian or bisexual. The group will be invited to search on the internet or in the library or in encyclopedias to find a picture of the personalities and information about their lives: where they are from, their dates, and their contribution.

Appendix1
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
ON SEXUAL MINORITIES AT RISK

Appendix2
SUMMARY OF THE
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

You can also purchase the
FREEDOM Human Rights Education Pack

from Amnesty International UK
Click here

Many thanks to:

Dan Jones
Creative Coordinator
Education and Student Team
Amnesty International UK
The Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EY
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