Last Thursday (20), Aloizio Mercadante, Minister of Education, announced a plan to combat homophobia in schools.
The announcement was made during a meeting in São Paulo with Humberto Verona, president of the Federal Council of Psychology. They announced an agreement to study violence against gays in schools and strategies to eliminate it.
“With this agreement, we expect intense work throughout the network, with field work, to develop policies for a welcoming school, a culture of peace, tolerance, coexistence with differences, with sexual, racial, religious plurality, which face prejudice and discrimination and put public schools on another level and prepare the country for this new era of knowledge”, said Mercadante during the 2nd National Exhibition of Practices in Psychology.
The minister also spoke about the importance of education, science and technology as social inclusion policies. “And education needs the intellectual support of psychologists”, he concluded.
But it is always good to remember the infamous “gay kit”, created during Fernando Haddad's administration and vetoed by Dilma's government. The anti-homophobia kit that would be distributed in schools didn't go anywhere due to the MEC's decision in May 2011. We waited for Mercadante's project to get off the ground.
