Together with the educational leaders in the UK, the LGBTQ+ youth charity Youth Mindset conducted a survey of 31,875 students, which included 4,340 primary school students aged nine to 11. The survey conducted in June revealed that 78% of the primary school pupils had encountered homophobic language at school, The percentage rose to 80% for secondary school students, aged 11-18. Among the primary school students, some mentioned that homophobic remarks were meant as a “joke” Someone remarked: ” We often hear individuals refer to one another as ‘gay’ in derogatory or humorous manner. This is due its popularity on TikTok.
LGBTQ+ father James stated that his son felt coerced in to participating in a TikTok challenge, where guessing incorrectly would result the loser to be labeled as “gay”. The boy declined and refuse to play, saying it was “hurtful” to use the word as an insult. Resulting to the child being called gay.