ST JOHN’S COLLEGE STUDENT Jamie Jackson has written an open letter to fellow Old Etonian Piers Torday, currently head of the alumni association Dragonflies for gay Old Etonians, highlighting the homophobic atmosphere of
his former school.
Torday, who attended Eton College in the 1980s, publicly spoke out about his experiences of being the only openly gay student in the school at the time. He described his experiences of attitudes towards LGBTQ students at Eton, saying, “There was some sniggering, but there was certainly no upsetting or traumatic bullying.”
His summative comment concluded, “By and large, what I’ve always thought about Eton is that people were very supportive, given that it was the late 80s, early 90s and the papers were full of headlines about people battling to block the age of consent and AIDS.”
Jackson wrote the letter in response to these remarks. In the letter, Jackson claimed, “The idea that Eton does not have a problem with homophobia allows the school to ignore these issues, rather than tackling them head on.”
Jackson continued by listing several instances of latent homophobia within the school environment, observing, “There was never any attempt to provide sex education that was not purely targeted at heterosexual students.
“Whilst some teachers did pick boys up on using the word ‘gay’ as an insult, many ignored it, and few even used it themselves as the punchline to ‘jokes’, and, worse, as an insult.
“I am not aware of the school’s policies on teachers attempting to use inclusive language, but there seemed to be no effort to try and use
such language.
“There were never any specific campaigns against homophobic bullying.”
When questioned on his motivations behind writing the letter, Jackson told Cherwell, “Piers Torday’s comments had somewhat been taken out of context, and he had been commenting on his personal experience which was then attached to his role as head of the OE [Old Etonian] Dragonflies.
Nevertheless, I recognised the attitude that homophobia is not really an issue
at Eton from statements by friends and other OEs and it is an attitude that is both incorrect and deeply frustrating to anyone that has witnessed it first-hand.”
The letter was published in PinkNews on January 18th, and has since garnered much attention and support. Jackson explained, “I wrote the letter much as anyone writes a frustrated status on Facebook: as an avenue for my anger
without expectation of satisfaction.
“I have received around 50 replies from current Etonians, Old Etonians, and staff members at the school. The stories they relayed are often deeply personal and affecting. I feel undeserving, if grateful, that I have sparked such responses.
I am determined to use such experience as a catalyst for change at the school.”
Jackson continued, “Oxford is, as universities tend to be when compared to school, a lot less bad for overt homophobia. Oxford is no liberal paradise, however; most gay or bi students I know are still reluctant to hold hands with
others of the same gender after dark.”
