Prince William stands against LGBT bullying
Prince William at the bullying workshop (Pic: Diana Awards / Twitter)
The heir to the British throne has attended a workshop on bullying at schools, including the targeting of LGBT youth.
On Monday, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, took part in the event at the Hammersmith Academy in London, organised by The Diana Awards to highlight its #Back2School anti-bullying campaign.
The initiative empowers youth to not suffer in silence by seeking support from those around them.
William took part in a training session focusing on support networks, cyber-bullying and LGBT bullying issues. He observed how anti-bullying ambassadors are taught to recognise signs of bullying and how they can encourage victims to seek help and speak out about their concerns.
During the training, each young person was asked to identify five trusted sources they could seek support from.
When it came to William’s turn he named his five trusted people as his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, brother Prince Harry, father Prince Charles, grandparents, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, as well as his pet dog, Lupo.
The Duke also met a number of young people from across London who’ve been victims of bullying, including 17-year-old Tom, from Bedford, who revealed that he’s been bullied most of his life.
Pic: Kensington Palace / Twitter
“It was homophobic bullying for being different because I’m gay. I didn’t feel worthy and it was painful for me – it made me feel like I shouldn’t really be living. They actually told me to die. I would go home and cry and wish I could fall asleep and not wake up. I moved schools and now I’m an Anti-Bullying Ambassador championing LGBT awareness,” he said.
The Daily Mail reported that in another session, William was asked how he would respond to witnessing homophobic or transphobic bullying.
“I would try to confront, to tackle the person. I usually find myself right in the middle of problems so that’s pretty much where I’d be,” he said.
The Diana Award’s Anti-Bullying Campaign has trained over 16,000 young people in 3,000 schools across the UK to lead on anti-bullying initiatives.
Leave a Reply