So Here's The Thing. I Recently Cam Out As Gay At My School But Not To My Family. (I'm Not Ready For That Bit Yet) Even Though I Feel Like I Should Be Feeling Better About Myself, Other People Just Won't Let Me Do That. I Go To An All Boys School, And Although A Lot Of My Friends Are Really Supportive Of Me, There Is A Pretty Large Group Of Other Boys Who Like To, Well, Hurt Me I Guess. Everytime They Manage To See Me Alone, I'm Punched Down To The Ground And Kicked By Around 7 Of Them. They Say Stuff Like "This Is Your Own Fault, You're The One That Wants To Be Gay" Or "People Like You Deserve To Die" I Get Really Scared To Talk About It Because I'm Worried That Any Influence From School Or Even The Police If My School Got Them Involved, Would End Up In My Family Finding Out About My Sexuality, Even Though I'm Not Ready For That Yet. My Teachers Have Noticed That My Grades Have Been Affected Recently, And They Always Pull Me Out Of My Lessons To Ask Me If There Was Anything Wrong And That I Should Talk To Them If There Was. I Always Say That There Is Nothing Wrong And Act As If Nothing Has Happened. I'm Worried That If I Carry On Hiding This, They Might Do Something Even Worse. What Should I Do? Sorry For The Long Paragraph...
You NEED to speak out and if that's not to your parents, it needs to be to a teacher. If you ask them, they will be completely confidential. At your age I was struggling massively with my sexuality and I was so close to being pushed to a limit where I could have done some really harmful things. It needs to end. As hard as it is, find that courage and bring those bullies down. What they're doing is probably against your schools policy and somewhat illegal (not sure regarding their age). Stay strong and don't let anyone make you think you're less of a person than they are.
Thanks, That's Actually Really Kind Of You To Say, And Maybe You're Right. I Feel Like I Have To Say Something For Obvious Reasons.
+1 to what Lewisss said. except a quick Google search suggests that there is no such thing as student-teacher confidentiality. whether or not a teacher reports something to someone else is up to the teacher, except under a few circumstances (self-harm, abuse) where teachers are actually legally obligated to report things. i don't think teachers are obligated to report bullying, but... it may depend on the extent of the bullying. i recommend that you tell whichever teacher you feel to be the most trustworthy. clearly tell them right from the beginning that you really do not want anyone else to know what you are going to tell them. hopefully they will be able to help you without getting anyone else involved.