A planned anti-bullying seminar has been cancelled at a Dublin school today, as the principal was concerned that “both sides would not be represented”.
LGBT organisation ShoutOut had been scheduled to give the talk at Coláiste Eoin in Booterstown this morning but was cancelled by principal Finín Máirtín due to concerns over a lack of balance.
According to Newstalk, the workshop was supposed to involve 120 students and organisers say that have been left “perplexed” by the decision.
“We got an email saying it had been cancelled with immediate effect, offering no explanation. One of our volunteers managed to speak to the principal, who said it was about representing both sides,” Declan Meehan of ShoutOut told the station.
“We were left perplexed by this, as ShoutOut isn’t a political organisation. We don’t advocate on political issues. We are an anti-bullying platform, trying to convey to pupils some of the homophobic and transphobic issues that LGBTQ students might face on a daily basis. What we do is offer free workshops on bullying, and those programmes do not take any sort of political stand relating to any upcoming referendum.”
