Out and proud? Social work's relationship with lesbian and gay equality

Major changes in the UK legislative framework to promote the rights of lesbians and gay men have challenged and challenge long-standing heteronormative and heterosexist frames of reference in both social work practice and professional education and the way these are organised. At the same time, government policy within ‘transformation’ and ‘integrated’ agendas and recent reviews of the role of social work provide many opportunities for social work to respond in new and different ways to the proposed changes. This Critical Commentary looks at the implications for increased visibility of sexuality within social work and the complexity of managing identities.We will examine how these are debated within the current social, political and legislative environment

The Italic I: between liveness and the lens

In this article, the question of ‘the alternative document’ is addressed with reference to The Italic I, a practice-based artistic enquiry developed through collaboration between writer-artist Emma Cocker and interdisciplinary artist Clare Thornton. Evolving gradually (since 2012) through a series of research residencies, exhibitions, publications and performance-lectures, The Italic I explores the event of repeatedly falling apprehended consciously as an exercise of mind and muscle, tested out in physical and cognitive terms. The conceptual implications of falling itself (conceived within The Italic I as both a bodily-kinesthetic and verbal-linguistic act) have been elaborated within other research articles, where we have framed the purposeful action of surrendering to a repeated fall as a training practice or exercise for cultivating a willfully non-corrective tendency in thought, speech and action; for operating against expectation, against normative conditioning (Cocker and Thornton 2016, 2017). For this context, our research focus shifts to address the functioning and performativity of the various ‘documents’ generated within The Italic I, exploring what is at stake at the threshold where live and lens meet, in the gap or interval between live performance and lens-based mediation, between event and document

The Italic I: a 16 stage lexicon on the arc of falling

The Italic I is a practice-based collaboration between writer-artist Emma Cocker and interdisciplinary artist Clare Thornton that explores the different states of potential made possible through purposefully surrendering to the event of a repeated fall.1 Rather than an accidental occurrence encountered by chance, within our artistic investigation falling is apprehended consciously as a training exercise for mind and muscle, tested out in physical, cognitive, and even linguistic terms. Within The Italic I the act of falling is slowed and extended through the use of both lens and language, as a means for attending to its discrete phases or scenes. Central to our performative-poetic enquiry has been the production of an artists' publication (of the same title as our project), comprising photographic performance-documents presented alongside a textual lexicon generated in the 'free-fall' of conversational exchange (Fig. 1). The publication is not conceived as documentation (of a performance), but rather as a performative enactment of our enquiry, an exercise companion. We approach the production of the publication as a form of training in and of itself, requiring a specific physical and conceptual practice undertaken towards building — increasing and deepening — our collaborative capacity. Less a step-by-step manual for instructing another on how to fall, we propose the publication The Italic I as a spur or prompt for cultivating a willfully non-corrective tendency in thought, peech and action, for operating against expectation

Rights through alliances; findings from a European project tackling homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools through the engagement of families and young people

This paper draws on key findings from a European project ‘Rights through alliances: Innovating and networking both within homes and schools’ (RAINBOW-HAS) conducted between 2013 and 2015. RAINBOW-HAS was co-funded by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship programme of the EU and aimed to build collaboration between six European Union countries; Bulgaria, Belgium, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK to analyse and improve the rights of children and youth vis-à-vis affective sexual diversity regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in educational settings. It looked at how participating countries builds bridges and alliances between and across Europe by sharing aspects of good practice through an evidence base and drawing on the strengths generated through learning and dialogue in the context of different contexts, legislation and policies, institution, cultures as well as socio-economic and political differences. RAINBOW-HAS brought important concepts from Europe into the individual domestic contexts through its direct engagement with young people and their families within selected local contexts. LGB parents in particular discuss their children’s experiences of bullying. They were found to be discursively and rhetorically designed to deal with a heteronormative and gender neutral social/political context. We explore whether reports of bullying are equally if not more risky for LGB parents, given the ongoing challenges and undermining of LGB parenting and ask critical questions about bullying by placing it in a broader political and cultural context. Thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews undertaken with a range of different families, schools and community associations (n=174) provided a snapshot of contemporary practice across the European context. Through this approach, we identified discourses used to address discrimination and the implications for developing a more in-depth dialogue with stakeholders. This has implications for promoting family and young people’s own engagement and in challenging homophobic and transphobic bullying and the need to question the relative silence of social work in addressing this. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2013) EU LGBT Survey: European Union lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survey: Results at a Glance. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Biblio-sitography of the UK context rights through alliances: innovating and networking both within homes and schools

This background context paper provides an overview and highlights from the UK in relation to homophobic bullying in schools. The paper was prepared for Workstream 1 of the Rainbow Has European Funded Project involving 6 European countries and which looked at the Rights Through Alliances: Innovating and Networking Both Within Homes And Schools between 2012-15. This paper describes the UK context and other participating countries prepared a similar background paper to inform a comparative approach and to benchmark activity across Europe. The full project report and other outputs from the programme can be viewed on the project website http://rainbowhas.eu

Positioning discourse on homophobia in schools: what have lesbian and gay families got to say?

This paper reports findings from a study in England, which investigated the experiences of lesbian and gay parents in relation to homophobia in primary and secondary schools. The study was part of a larger European Union project investigating the impact of family and school alliances against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools across six nation states. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews with seven lesbian and gay parents from five families were conducted to explore their unique experience and perspectives on these issues. Discourse analysis was used to facilitate understanding of how lesbian and gay families negotiated the outsider/insider and public/private spheres of the school and communities of which they were a part. Parents identified a number of strategies to address their experiences of homophobia within schools. The findings have implications for how social work recognises and promotes diversity and equality when working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families, as social workers have a powerful role in supporting families. This involves recognising the strengths of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families in their assessments

What is the impact of public care on children's welfare? A review of research findings from England and Wales and their policy implications.

The outcomes for children in public care are generally considered to be poor. This has contributed to a focus on reducing the number of children in care: a goal that is made explicit in the provisions of the current Children and Young Persons Bill. Yet while children in care do less well than most children on a range of measures, such comparisons do not disentangle the extent to which these difficulties pre-dated care and the specific impact of care on child welfare. This article explores the specific impact of care through a review of British research since 1991 that provides data on changes in child welfare over time for children in care. Only 12 studies were identified, indicating a lack of research in this important area. The studies consistently found that children entering care tended to have serious problems but that in general their welfare improved over time. This finding is consistent with the international literature. It has important policy implications. Most significantly it suggests that attempts to reduce the use of public care are misguided, and may place more children at risk of serious harm. Instead, it is argued that England and Wales should move toward a Scandinavian system of public care, in which care is seen as a form of family support and is provided for more rather than fewer children and families

Rights through alliances: findings from a European project tackling homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools through the engagement of families and young people

This paper draws on findings from a European project, ‘Rights through Alliances: Innovating and Networking Both Within Homes And Schools’ (RAINBOW-HAS), conducted in 2013–15. It built collaboration between six EU countries to analyse and improve the rights of children and youth regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in educational settings. The main focus of discussion derives from a secondary discourse analysis following thematic analyses of the qualitative interviews undertaken with a range of different families, schools and community associations across these European countries, which provide a snapshot of contemporary practice. We discuss the relative silence of social work in challenging homophobic and transphobic bullying, given their potential in promoting family and young people’s engagement

Positioning discourse on homophobia in schools: what have lesbian and gay families got to say?

Despite many changes in legislation in Europe that give lesbians and gay men the same legal rights and accountabilities as heterosexuals, most countries in the world continue to breach the fundamental human rights of their lesbian and gay citizens. At a European level, legislative changes have been insufficient in addressing the complexity involved (EUAFR, 2013) Significant evidence continues to demonstrate that homophobia remains a serious problem in many European States. This is the backdrop to Rainbow Homophobia and Schools (Rainbow HAS) research project, which involves 6 nation states collaboration to examine the problem of trans/homophobic bullying in schools. The English research team stream used a range of methods to investigate and understand these issues. This presentation focused on the qualitative interviews undertaken with a range of different families, schools and community associations in order to provide a snapshot of contemporary practice. Through this approach, we identified discourses used to address homophobia and the implications for developing a more in-depth dialogue with stakeholders. We draw upon one specific area of the study's findings, using a Foucauldian lens to examine the experiences of the 'new' families of lesbian and gay men, who had successfully negotiated the outsider/insider and public/private spheres of the school and communities of which they are a part. This has implications for promoting ideas around intersectionality in social work, challenging given approaches to understanding discourse in homophobic bullying and the need to question the relative silence of social work in addressing this. Reference: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2013) EU LGBT Survey: European Union lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender survey: Results at a Glance. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

Characterization and modulation of drug resistance of human paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines

The role of multidrug resistance (MDR) and p53 functional status in the treatment of paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma is unclear. We have characterized a panel of seven human rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines for MDR and p53 phenotype. None of the cell lines had P-glycoprotein (P-gp) or multidrug resistance-related protein (MRP) detectable by Western blotting, whereas immunohistochemistry suggested that very low levels of MDR proteins may be present in some of the lines. RT-PCR studies indicated that mdr-1, mrp-1 and lrp mRNA was present in 5/7, 7/7 and 5/7 lines respectively. The function of p53 is compromised in six of the lines, either through mutation of the p53 gene or by overexpression of mdm-2. The sensitivity of many of the cell lines to vincristine could be modulated above 2-fold and as high as 16-fold using two modulating agents, PSC833 and VX710 (with VX710 being a significantly more potent modulator of the rhabdomyosarcoma lines). PSC833 also increased vincristine accumulation in all of the lines from 1.2- to 2.2-fold. These results suggest that some of these cell lines have low levels of multidrug resistance. The level of MDR proteins is very low and therefore difficult to detect, but may be sufficient to confer low-level, but clinically relevant, resistance to some cytotoxic agents, especially vincristine. These cell lines will therefore provide a suitable model to test new strategies in treatment and for further understanding relationships between protein expression and drug resistance. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig