Olympic speed skater Blake Skjellerup has told his story of surviving homophobic bullying at high school, and now he wants you to tell yours.

The video, supported by Q-Youth, Rainbow Youth, the Mental Health Foundation and Number 8 Films, highlights Blake’s successes as an adult after having to deal with taunts at school.

“When I was in high school, I was bullied for being gay. It made me feel like I was the only person in the world who was going through this. It turns out, I wasn’t.

“After the Olympics I decided to share my story on what it was like growing up gay. I believe that you shouldn’t wait to leave school for things to get better; we can change things now. All over the country there’s thousands of people like you and like me writing to the Prime Minister – writing to get him to take action; writing to get him to make our schools safe. I’ve told my story and I want you to tell yours.

“Because it doesn’t just get better – it can be better right now.”

[story continues below]

Video director Chris Banks, of Number 8 Films and the Mental Health Foundation, says on his website www.bipolarbear.co.nz, “Why should young people, gay or otherwise, have to wait till school’s over till they find that life isn’t supposed to be a daily parade of psychological and physical abuse?

In his release about the video, Banks says, “Bullying was a major issue for me at high school in the 1990s, and some of the stories I hear now from gay youth and other young people both frighten and frustrate me,. Only last week I spoke with a 15-year-old boy who had some bullies try and run him over in a car because he was gay [see Chris' bullying story HERE at gayexpress.co.nz]. This story is one of many, and it’s just not acceptable.”

Andy Jalfon, head of production at Number 8 Films, says storytelling is a vital part of social change. “Through our films, we focus on stories and documentaries about characters and people who don’t normally get time on screen. We’re proud to be supporting Blake, the queer youth groups and the Mental Health Foundation in encouraging young people to get their stories heard, irrespective of their sexuality.”

Banks says, “We’ve heard the evidence, we know from the Youth07 study that more than half of New Zealand’s gay students have been hit or physically harmed in the last year, but these personal stories will bring life to the horrifying facts, and hopefully encourage some action to be taken.”

Meanwhile, as Pink Shirt Day letters make their way to John Key’s office, independent MP Chris Carter has criticised the Prime Minister’s recent interest in the problem of bullying in schools, stating that the current National-led government has done more harm than good for bullied teens.

“In July 2008 I launched a comprehensive range of initiatives aimed at making schools safer places and to ensure they had anti-bullying programmes and resources in place,” says Carter on his website. “I wanted schools to be focused on the issue of bullying and on changing school culture to encourage zero tolerance to bullying. At the time National ridiculed my package as ‘PC nonsense’ and ‘another example of the nanny state at work’.

“Labour’s initiatives included web-based resources for all schools, student materials and new action by the Education Review Office to ensure that every school had in place procedures and programmes which addressed bullying. I said at the time that every parent had the right to expect their child to be safe from bullying in any New Zealand school.”

Carter says Key’s call for schools to address bullying “rings hallow when the reality is that the 2008 comprehensive anti-bullying package has subsequently been gutted by funding cuts”.

Pink Shirt Day is on Thursday April 14th. Students can log on to www.pinkshirtday.org.nz and send their letters directly to the Prime Minister via the website before then, or they can download information to write and send in their own letter.

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